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  • Essay / Publishing Fake News: Lying in Journalism

    Professional journalists are authoritative sources that the public trusts to receive current and accurate information on a variety of topics. Unfortunately, this is not the case for some publications. “Faking It Sex Lies and Magazines,” by Liza Featherstone, reveals the truth about racy magazines. Journalists admit that major magazines often embellish stories about sex or make them up completely. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay It's hard to believe that magazines can actively lie to their readers who trust them as a reliable source. Some journalists don't even try to hide it. According to Featherstone, the editor of Elle magazine admitted "we lie about sex" and the panel did not deny it. Journalists are supposed to be the informants and recorders of our daily world. When “many blame the lies on deadline pressure,” that’s no excuse. Regardless of the profession, it is not acceptable to take the easy way out. A journalist reporting on the spread of a particular disease cannot simply make up a story about who was infected or how they contracted the disease. First of all, it is morally wrong, it would ruin the reputation of the publisher and finally, the reader would not be properly informed. So that doesn't happen. Fact-checkers will review an article for inconsistencies to ensure the public is properly informed. However, articles about sex are not considered “a priority” during fact-checking. In Featherstone's article, a fact-checker admitted that magazines often claim that sex can help you lose weight, but that's not often the case. Women read these articles as a source of reliable information, but the publications allow these stories to be published based on the fact that none of the articles' claims "can be proven false." Fitness magazines offer research to back up the diets and workouts they suggest, otherwise they would not be a reliable source. It is unfair to hold journalists to different standards. It was a little tricky trying to find relevant articles, but Cosmo and Marie Claire had examples of some of the issues raised in the article. In the article “The Orgasm Deficit,” writer Heather Wood Rudulph began with an anecdote about a girl named Brittany who only had one orgasm in her entire life. However, at the end of the article you find out that "the names have been changed," which, according to Featherstone's article, "could mean anything, including 'Totally Made Up.' " After learning this, the reader should question the integrity of the article as a whole. Later in the Cosmo article, Rudulph claims that the FDA has approved 26 treatments for erectile dysfunction and has none developed none for women However, there is an FDA approved treatment According to WebMD, there is a device called Eros that helps increase blood flow to the genitals The Cosmo article would have been correct if it said. that the FDA has failed to approve a sex-enhancing drug for women This incident is not an intentional lie created by Rulduph, but it shows that fact-checkers failed to recognize his poor choice of words. .Even if it is immoral for a journalist to publish a mainstream sex article containing false information, it must be an unsatisfying job...