Two important ethical lessons I took away from the class that are pivotal to journalistic success were reporting graphic stories and truth in journalism. Truth in journalism ties back to the first lesson we learned about the Glass story. Telling the truth in journalism is THE single most important element that I will ultimately have to carry out in my career. If there is a choice between being first or being right, being right wins every single time. It is better to tell the truth and not fabricate, embellish, or alter stories because it all comes back around in the end.
Reporting on graphic stories was my second most important ethical lesson because there is just so much more graphic content happening today that it is important to know how to handle that situation, especially with me wanting to go into TV for the rest of my life. Although stories are sometimes tough and gruesome, they still must be told. This class showed me that there is always an angle to take in order to tell the story itself.
One case study I found particularly interesting was the “Car in the Canal” study featuring a woman who sank to her death and the 911 call was featured on the newscast. This case stuck with me because it put me in the position asking myself if I were in charge, how would I handle it? Would I run the story fully? If not, how would I run it? I found myself taking the most away from this case in particular because I gained a sense of “in the field” knowledge that I can apply to a newsroom hopefully after college.
As far as my career or future as a whole, my goodness this class is beneficial. Ethics is the clay in which journalists can mold their career. It can be molded in a good way or a bad way depending on how the ethics learned are molded by the journalist. Instead of walking into my first job unsure of some journalistic situations, I can use these skills to adapt and overcome in in those situations.
Before this class I was not very familiar with many ethical principles, and now I can comfortably understand ethical principles in depth. It is easy to learn in a class what something is, but learning why certain things happen or are in place is what is really important and that is what I learned in COMM 409.