Earlier this week at a Texas high school, 9th grader Ahmed Mohamed brought a clock to school that he made, hoping to show it to his teachers and peers. He ended up being handcuffed and interrogated by police officers because they thought the clock was a bomb. There were many news stories and many reporters covering this story from all around the country, but some news sources did not follow an important rule of the 7 yardsticks of journalism- fairness.
Many news sources covered this story and most of the stories were fair, well-rounded, and included interviews from people of both sides of the event. For example, CNN covered this event and made sure that they included an interview from Ahmed, Ahmed's father, Mayor Beth Van Duyne and a spokesperson from the school district. The New York Times also covered this story and included quotes from Ahmed, President Obama, Josh Earnest (the White House press secretary), Ahmed's father, Irving Police Chief Larry Boyd, and a few other people.
Stories that include interviews and quotes from many different people or at least both sides of the story are often the stories that are the most interesting. News stories that follow the 10 elements and 7 yardsticks of journalism also are easier and more interesting for readers. Unfortunately, there were some news organizations that covered this story and did not interview people from each side of the controversy which is not following the yardstick of fairness.
Fox News Insider was one of the sources that did not follow the fairness rule. Fox News Insider covered the story by giving readers very few details and very little background information. They also didn't include any important interviews from the other side of the controversy. The only quote that they included was from Ahmed's father. If Fox News Insider would've included at least an interview from Ahmed himself and maybe an interview from someone from the school district, this story would have been much better journalism and it would follow the elements and yardsticks of journalism.
Fairness is a very important part of journalism. Journalists should make sure that they are being fair and writing a well-rounded, unbiased story that always includes both sides of the controversy. Good journalists don't leave the audience hanging by not giving them enough information and they do not just cover one side of the story. They always make sure that the information they provide for the people is descriptive and FAIR.
The yardstick of journalism known as "fairness" says that journalists should cover at least one other side of the controversy or event. Fox News Insider obviously did not cover any other side of the event because they only interviewed one person, and that one person didn't even contribute very much to the event. Fox News Insider failed to follow the 7 yardsticks of journalism and that definitely had a negative impact on the overall news story.
You can read Fox News Insider's story at-
http://insider.foxnews.com/2015/09/16/ninth-grade-student-ahmed-mohamed-arrested-bringing-homemade-clock-school
Check out CNN's story at-
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/17/us/texas-student-ahmed-muslim-clock-bomb/
And the NY Times article at-
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/us/texas-student-is-under-police-investigation-for-building-a-clock.html
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