Journalism

One way to understand how journalists differ from other sources of news, such as propagandists and advertisers, is to consider the detailed code of ethics that the Society of Professional Journalists has compiled. For example, the code specifies that journalists must base their stories on truthful sources; identify sources wherever possible; not stage events; avoid stereotyping; distinguish between advocacy and news reporting; avoid pandering to lurid curiosity; respect the different privacy rights of private people and public officials; and avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.

Although journalism is not synonymous with news, any analysis of journalism as an industry in the United States must focus on the business of news and the media. Journalism provides much of the content that the news media disseminate, so the current state of journalism depends greatly on the health of the news media. Journalistic content now appears in more media than ever before, and the number of outlets for each medium keeps expanding, with the notable exception of the newspapers.

In 2024, more than half (54 percent) of U.S. adults said they sometimes got news from social media, according to a survey by Pew Research Center. The top social media platforms they got their news from were Instagram, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter). The percent of Americans who often get news from television has dropped over the past few years, from 57 percent in 2016 to 33 percent in 2024. Radio and print publications have also dropped as popular sources for news. In 2020, about 16 percent of Americans reported they often got news from radio; in 2024, this number was down to 11 percent–a significant decline from 54 percent in 1991. About 10 percent of Americans often got news from print publications in 2020, and by 2024, about 6 percent got news from print publications. Nearly a quarter of Americans say they prefer to get their news from news Web sites or apps.

The news business falls within several different industries that the Bureau of Labor Statistics covers. One of these is newspaper publishers, an industry that employs a total of 98,960 workers, including 15,250 journalists and about 14,670 editors. Another industry is broadcasting and content providers, for which the total workforce is about 354,980, including 23,570 journalists, news analysts, and reporters, and 10,040 editors. Still another is other information services, which includes news syndicates but also other Internet publishing services; this industry employs a total of 324,550 workers, including 5,100 journalists, news analysts, and reporters, and 9,740 editors.

A small fraction of the countless bloggers—people who maintain Web logs—do work that can be considered journalism. In fact, judges in some states have ruled that bloggers are entitled to the same right to protect their sources as newspaper employees, although the debate continues and, as of this writing, Congress was working on a "shield law" for journalists that would encompass bloggers.