"Sources" in Journalism

How important is a source in a story? Remember back to the beginning of the year when we looked at ethics in Journalism?

What about what type of source it is? The last few weeks have been interesting to say the least when it comes to what sources to believe, what sources to report, and who is a "victim"?

This week, hackers broke into Sony's email system and published several emails. Now, many are saying the media should not be able to publish "personal"property that was stolen. You can read more about it here. What about when celebrity photos are hacked? Should we be allowed to publish them?

Also, another story appeared last week where the popular magazine "Rolling Stone" supposedly did not fact check a story, and instead of interviewing multiple sources from all angles, just interviewed one. Some are saying that journalists are not "doing their job." You can read more about that story here.


Read the two articles and post commentary about it. What makes a journalist "do his job?" What are the responsibilities of a journalist? Do they have any? What could the writers in both situations have done? Lastly, post any other commentary about viable news sources and what makes someone a "good" journalist.