The two important ethical lessons that I have learned from this course are the five decision-making principles and conflict of interests. In case for those who are not familiar about the five decision-making principles, they are: Rule-Based Thinking, Ends-Based Thinking, The Golden Rule, Aristotle’s Golden Mean and Blending Rule. These classic ethical theories will influence your decision making in some form or rest assured will guide you to gain some clarity to make progress in the right direction. Knowing what I know now, I’ve become more aware to the possible obstacles that I can possibly face in the future, which is a reassuring feeling to feel. I say this because these are the two that I will either encounter more often in my future career, whether that be through a conflict of interest within my position and personal life or having to rely on and refer back to as a resource to remind myself on how to make the best ethical and logical decisions for a story, or situation and etc. I think a valuable way to appreciate what I have learned in this course would be having the prior knowledge to a primary source that I can always revert back to which is, “The Ethical Journalist”, by: Gene Foreman. This comes in handy because like in all sticky situations I will be able to recognize or understand the need to have an outsider’s opinion and this reference will remain reliable and convenient at any given time. A prime and recent example, who should have done this when her editors and co-workers had not given her the proper and ethical advice, would have to be Sabrina Erdely. Her mistake to listen to her peers and take the plunge by posting the infamous, but faulty UVA article, even though she had doubts to do so, is one to many mistakes to not listen and decipher between what’s right from wrong from the source within your head.
From the course, the case study that really resonated with me would be Case Study No. 17 in The Ethical Journalist (p.262-263) because it deals with the situation about covering a public suicide. This story impressed me the most because although it’s a very shocking, disturbing and sad story, it does bring up a very important question of what you’re willing to run or not? This case study led me to question would I make the same decisions as the other broadcasters and newspapers have made. Pictures capture the true essence then a few note worthy words can. Therefore, since the case deals with a touchy subject, it challenges your definition of ethics to a strong degree because it still remains as a subject that is continuously handled with great care and filtered in the way it gets reported. So what you define as appropriate or inappropriate images for a story in the best interest of public knowledge and or for the company you represent can hurt the translation of the story itself.
What I envision on the impact that this course will do for my future career and life is saving me from making crucial decisions that will ultimately be considered as the “make it or break it” moments to my career. It prevents me from making silly mistakes that can damage my reputation, lose my credibility and respect as a journalist as well as to other fellow journalists. Sometimes we have cases where journalism is looked upon as the worst occupation because we have instances of journalist who’ve changed the pavement of how the occupation and the way journalists are written off as. On one hand, it’s unfair to the creditable and worthy journalists, but then is quite understandable as to why their views have become altered overtime.
As a whole, I believe this course not only has taught me about the limits I have grown to obtained in different circumstances for the near future, but it has also helped me learned a little more about myself in becoming the future journalist I hope to become.
Reference:
Foreman, Gene. The Ethical Journalist: Making Responsible Decisions in the Pursuit of News. Chichester, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print.