This paper will argue journalists have a moral duty to generate awareness by uncovering
and addressing unsavory practices and behavior in society. The agency problem will be applied
to media to show, when principal agent relationships form between media and the public, moral
hazard arises. The current structure of media does not support public service reporting. By using
the lens of economic theory and data about current media, this paper will predict how media
content may lose its moral force if the current structure is not adjusted. This paper suggests a
structural solution. Moral hazard between the media and the public can be reduced by forming
two branches of journalism—one dedicated to local, breaking news and the other to investigative
news. With this two-branch structure, media will be able to survive in the current
commercialized climate while still fulfilling their moral duty to the public.