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Ethics in Journalism

Ethics in Journalism. 4 Major Dilemmas Journalists (TV, Print, Bloggers, Radio) Face. Whether to be honest How to be fair How to be sensitive How to be responsible. What’s the temptation not to be ethical?.

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Ethics in Journalism

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  1. Ethics in Journalism

  2. 4 Major Dilemmas Journalists (TV, Print, Bloggers, Radio) Face • Whether to be honest • How to be fair • How to be sensitive • How to be responsible

  3. What’s the temptation not to be ethical? • If you don’t have to worry about ethics, you can write the “best” story, have the best quotes, get the most attention and accolades.

  4. Jayson Blair • In 2003, at just 27 years old, he was a rising star at the New York Times—too bad he made up quotes and other facts, as well as plagiarized stories, at least 73 times.

  5. Janet Cooke • In 1980, reporter for Washington Post who won the Pulitzer Prize for her story “Jimmy’s World,” about an 8-year-old heroin addict. The problem? It was fabricated.

  6. Truthfulness • Being accurate, using credible sources • Christopher Dornerstory on alternet.org: “Yet no element in the Dorner drama was more disturbing than the performance of mainstream media. At every point, major news outlets complied with law enforcement calls for self-censorship, and still demonstrate little interest in determining how and why a lethal fire started on a snow-covered mountain in the dead of winter. As a quintessentially American tragedy reaches its denouement, the truth remains buried beneath a smoldering pile of ashes.”

  7. Fairness • Insider friendships • Conflict of Interest: The “DownieRule” at the Washington Post: “… a strict set of ethical guidelines, governing potential conflicts of interest. We certainly couldn't accept paid speaking engagements. Nor were we allowed to accept gifts of any sort. When we took sources out to lunch, we had to pay. The editor of the Washington Post, Leonard Downie, even goes so far as decline to vote, because he thinks that casting a ballot will compromise his objectivity…The rules at the Washington Post were intended to protect the paper's status as an objective source of news. The perception—and fact—of objectivity is central to the mission of a modern newspaper. • Checkbook Journalism: Reporters who pay their sources for stories • Bias: can you be fair if you have a bias?Is having an opinion the same as having a bias? Can you be fair even if you have a different opinion? Can you be biased simply because of your race or gender or class?

  8. Privacy • There are no hard and fast rules for this. • Some people think everything is fair game, but generally it is understood that children and victims of rape should be treated gently in the press. • What about people’s health conditions?

  9. Responsibility •  How to gather information is as important as what you do with what you’ve gathered. • Staging accidents or incidents • Not properly checking that documents aren’t fabricated • Must make sure that sources don’t have a hidden agenda

  10. Next Class: • We are touring the radio station on Thursday, 3/7. Make sure to be on time and meet us at: WHCR, 90.3FM NAC, Room1/513 You can read more about the station here: www.whcr.org

  11. Assignment (Due 3/7) •  Write a one-page essay, using the readings and other sources that you gather, on ONE of these topics: • Can you critically (and ethically) write about a culture if you are “outside” of it? Use examples from popular culture to support your argument. • Do you agree with the Downie Rule? Why or why not? Use examples.

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