The ethics of journalism was a class that I believed would challenge my ideas of right and wrong and push the boundaries of what I thought were ethical actions. In this class we dealt with a lot of situations that fell somewhere in between what people thought were right and wrong that uncomfortable grey area where students were unsure of raising their hands because the situations weren’t simply answered. Being in class and talking about whether to publish a photo of someone who attempted suicide or whether to put a gruesome image on the front page of a newspaper exposed me to new viewpoints that I may have not thought of if I considered the issue in private.
One of the most important ethical lessons that I learned in the course was about plagiarism and fabrication. This was one of the first ethical lessons we learned and it opened my eyes to just how damaging they could be to a journalist’s credibility and career. It also taught me that you can even plagiarize your own work. The damaging effects were well illustrated in the movie Shattered Glass about Stephen Glass’ rampant fabrication of stories the he wrote for The New Republic.
Another important issue that we covered in class and was discussed in my group’s case study was the issue of naming victims of sexual crimes and very violent crimes. When we discussed this issue in class there were a number of interesting and valid opinions on whether a journalist should or should not release the names of those victims. I concluded that these situations must be evaluated on a case by case basis and that gathering multiple opinions from people you trust on the issue was important when making the final decision, and for me it also raised a question about naming the accused in the crime.
The most helpful thing that I learned in this course was that ethical decisions aren’t always black and white and that many people have differing opinions on them. What makes it even more difficult for a journalist is the fact that they have responsibilities to multiple parties including their employers and the readership which may have conflicting viewpoints. Taking this course has caused me to slow down and listen to other’s opinions and to not want to rush to a decision so I have the gratification of having an answer quickly.
I think the one way to improve this course would be to look at even more case studies because they are as close as we can come to making difficult ethical decisions as students who haven’t faced real-life pressures of being professional journalists yet.