Kelly Godzik: Blog 5 – Positive Reflections

The two most important ethical lessons I’ve learned this semester in Comm 409 regards plagiarism/fabrication and the invasion of privacy.

I will never forget the first few days of this class. Watching the film about Stephen Glass was a very efficient and intriguing way to get me, and I am sure other students, very interested about the important topic of plagiarism and fabrication in the media. It was not until I saw this film and had a discussion about it in class that I knew plagiarism and fabrication was such a serious matter in journalism. I always knew not to use other’s works as my own or make something up out of thin air, but learning about Glass’ case study taught me that there are “journalists” out in the field who will try and use these unethical tactics to get further in their career. Seeing how Glass’ career went down the drain after he was caught, was a great way to show the austere consequences of getting caught when plagiarizing or fabricating stories.

The other ethical lesson that stood out to me was invasion of privacy because I feel that it is especially relevant to our generation, as it is much easier to retrieve various types of private information through multiple forms of advanced technology. I really appreciated learning that a good test for figuring out if something potentially private is important enough to report is by asking yourself, “Does the information’s value to the public outweigh the harm inflicted on the subject?” I always wondered how to come to an ethical decision when it came to releasing sensitive potentially private information, and from now on I know I will ask myself that question in order to decide.

I believe this course is of utmost importance in providing a great foundation of ethics that I can carryout through my career. I intend to write for a magazine on arts/entertainment or fitness and often times ethics are tied more to hard hitting news, but I think ethics is something an individual should consider at all times through everything they do. If your name is attached to any type of written or media produced work, I think it is only natural to know how to carry out projects ethically. This class made me think a little deeper about certain photographs included in the paper or how a certain source for a story was interviewed. I would even recommend this class to those not going directly into journalism. In the ever-evolving 21st century, it would be helpful for everyone to know how to conduct themselves by the highest ethical manner on twitter, facebook, and other media outlets whether they are a business, IST, or medical major.

In terms of how to improve this class for the future, I honestly can’t think of much to change. I attended every class this semester and enjoyed that the format of the class incorporated many different ways to learn, like listening to lectures by Dr.Z, attending other lectures, guest speakers (for our section on photography), watching movies, doing case study group projects, and writing blogs. I was never bored when doing my work. This was one of my favorite courses I have taken thus far in my Penn State career.

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