"It is not the job of an ag news broadcaster or agricultural journalist to be an 'advocate'." ..."covering all sides of a story is a responsibility for any reporter."
Interview with Barry Wilson, correspondent for the Western Producer., Publication of the Canadian Journalism Project, Ryerson University, Université Laval, and Carleton University
1 page., Author expresses concerns about disappearance of trustworthy news content and urges agricultural readers to be "cautious in whom you trust and what you believe in the 24/7 news cycle. We deserve to know all sides of a story, not just the one that the 'conservative' or 'liberal' media outlet wants you to believe."
Perspectives on the role of an ethical public communicator in "this toxic political situation called the environmental debate." Author concludes that in this information environment "the real ethical issue lies with us - the informed citizenry. An ethical citizenry would be rhetorically savvy in order to make sound choices about their local economies and their global environment."
4 pages., Via online., "The chief ethical fear for the past 99 years of agricultural journalism has been that one of our number would cuddle up closer to advertisers than others of us, and reap unethical benefits of that. The chief charge of every Ethics Committee [of AAEA] has been to protect our collective readers from any hoodwinking that would come from such collusion. As I look toward that 100th year, I wonder who needs protecting from whom." Examines pressures on agricultural journalists in the wake of divided audience perspectives about the role of agricultural media in covering contentious political issues
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 140 Document Number: D06122
Notes:
Pages 66-71 in "Ethics, efficiency and food security: feeding the 9 billion well," The Crawford Fund 2014 Annual Parliamentary Conference, Canberra, ACT, Australia, August 24-28, 2014. 157 pages.
