The case of Frank Whelan has brought a number of ethical issues in journalism. Two main ethical dilemmas depicted in Whelan’s case include “conflicts of interest” and “minimizing harm.”
Frank Whelan was a feature writer for The Morning Call. Although he was told by his editors to not attend the event, Whelan went to a gay rights parade to celebrate his long-term relationship with his partner, Bob Wittman.They warned him that his attendance would be a breach of the code, and there will be consequences if he attended. As a result, The Morning Call suspended him for two days without pay (Brown and Young). Morning Call spokeswoman Vicki C. Mayk said the company’s ethics policy bans employees from participating in “any kind of public demonstration in favor of or in opposition to a cause.” Due to the parade advocating for “marriage equality,” Whelan’s appearance with Wittman became not only a demonstration of gay pride but an advocacy issue (Kraus, 2006).
Avoiding conflicts of interest may be a huge challenge for journalists. The SPJ code doesn’t give any details about what would make a conflict unavoidable, therefore gives journalists different ways to shape their emotional attachments and understand conflicting views (Matchett, 2017). Some say that it is impossible for journalists to not experience ethical conflicts not only between their given duty to stakeholders who are involved in conflicts of interest but also between their organization’s interests (Kim and Ki, 2014). So why should journalists avoid a situation perceived as a conflict of interest even when no real conflict exists? It is important to avoid conflicts to protect the profession’s integrity. Journalists are able to fulfill their obligations if they only focus on seeking the truth and reporting it (Matchett, 2017).
A reporter shouldn’t be an advocate for a particular subject he or she is covering. In Whelan’s case, he was not reporting at the time, but rather celebrating freedom of sexuality. However, in the eyes of his editors, his appearance at the parade appeared as if he were making a political statement. Although Whelan went to the parade without having the idea to advocate, he still broke The Morning Call’s code. Therefore, I agree with The Morning Call’s decision to suspend Whelan because he violated the organization’s rules. However, if he had been fired from his job, then it would’ve been an unfair punishment.
“Minimizing harm” refers to ethical journalists treating sources, subjects, and colleagues with respect. In this case, Whelan walked out on his job after being upset by his employer’s reaction. However since Whelan took two days off, they considered it an unpaid suspension. The editors minimized harm by being fair to a long-time employee by not firing him (Brown and Young).
From Whelan’s case, I’ve learned that what a journalist does in his or her personal life could affect the organization they work with. If The Morning Call didn’t mention anything regarding going to political protests or parades then it shouldn’t have been a problem for Whelan to attend one. But since it was apart of their ethical guidelines, Whelan should have respected that. I understand that The Morning Call wants its employees to be careful so the organization would not come across as having bias stories.
References
Brown, F., & Young, N. (n.d.). Ethics Case Studies. Retrieved October 29, 2015, from http://www.spj.org/ecs16.asp.
Kim, S. and Ki, E. (2014). An Exploratory Study of Ethics Codes of Professional Public Relations Associations: Proposing Modified Universal Codes of Ethics in Public Relations. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 29(4), pp.238-257.
Kraus, S. (2006, June 24). Columnist: Call suspended me for riding in gay pride parade. Retrieved October 29, 2015, from http://articles.mcall.com/2006-06-24/news/3662328_1_gay-pride-parade-grand-marshals-ethics-policy.
Matchett, N. (2017). Conflict of Interest: What Does it Mean?. [online] Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists. Available at: https://ethicsadvicelineforjournalists.org/2015/04/16/conflict-of-interest-what-does-it-mean/ [Accessed 1 Nov. 2017].