1. Two important ethical lessons
One of the most important ethical lessons that I learned in this course was ‘Invasion of Privacy’. The journalists of today often overlook and encounter an ethical problem of ‘Invasion of Privacy’ with their mistaken decisions with an attempt to yield more readership with their appealing reports. When journalists are in a situation in which they have to report on the controversial or accidental events that involve a death of a innocent citizen, we as journalists must keep in mind that it is our duty to cover the story to give the unbiased, and accurate information with our consistent effort to minimize the harm for the audiences. We must remember that our actions can yield negative consequences to both the readers and journalists. With underlying emotions of great sorrow, we have to keep in mind that the family members of victims are still undergoing the saddest moments in their lives. Thus, we should be a responsible journalist to inform accurate information and a compassionate human being to protect and respect personal privacy of the readers as they have rights to be protected.
The second ethical lesson that had a significant impact on me during this course was ‘Stolen Words, Invented Facts and Other mistakes that can kill a career’. There is an increasing number of journalists who cross the line of ‘Giving the accurate information to the public’. Under the massive pressure, journalists frequently publish information that is manipulated, and plagiarized. As the Executive Editor of The Commercial Appeal, Mark Russell, mentioned, the field of journalism today is facing a problem of skepticism as the trust of journalism declined as a result of manipulation, plagiarism of work with fake news that led to the significant damage of the credibility and reputation. Therefore, we should recognize that altering reported material is a violation of the fundamental function of journalism in the first place. Then, we should show that trust is very vital and trustworthiness must be shown by being transparent and showing the methods as journalists are more reliable and respectful to the audiences by being honest and transparent with their methods. One should also think about the long term consequence of decline of trust and credibility as journalists who make wrong decisions about the matter like plagiarism and fabrication could ultimately lose their jobs and careers.
2. Case Study
One case study I learned that impressed me the most was the case of ‘Stephen Glass’. We watched a film ‘Shattered Glass’ during the lecture and examined the consequences of plagiarism and fabrication. Stephen Glass, a respected writer for the New Republic, fails to follow the ethical path of journalism. Instead, he decides to fabricate the stories for the magazine. Subsequently, it turned out that at least 27 of 41 articles produced by him were fabricated with the invented quotations and incidents. As a consequence, Stephen lost his job and became a humiliation. I am strongly convinced that if Stephen did not overlook and followed the ethics code, he would have been a successful writer with rich experiences by now.
It was a great chance to see how this movie was a reflection of a yellow journalism that was prevalent at the time in the field of journalism. This case study of ‘Stephen Glass’ exemplifies both short-term and long-term consequences with a conflict between the colleagues, decline of his trust and credibility in the workplace and the loss of his job. I learned how this case took a national attention and can be a big deal for both journalists and the society, and we can relate our course materials to the film, learn a lesson and prevent further from crossing the line of ‘ethical behavior’ .
3. Impact on Future and Life
After taking Comm 409 course, I am convinced that the materials covered from the lecture, the textbook, and the guest lecture speech will significantly benefit my future life in general. Throughout this eye-opening and informative class this semester, the class has offered some of the different viewpoints of solving an issue that involves ethical decision-making process and how I could react to it to minimize the harm as a journalist. It also has provided me an opportunity to experience and learn different topics with different specific case studies that helped me allow to understand the crucial principles of ethics for each. As a person who pursues to be in the field of TV and broadcasting, I have to keep in mind that I have to build my credibility as well as reputation through the effective communication skills as well as ethical decision-making and behaviors such as respecting the privacy of the readers, importance of publishing unbiased and accurate information, the negative consequences of plagiarism, and fabrication, undercover reporting and conflicts of interest.
Overall, I am very pleased that I gained and boosted my knowledge on ethics, and behaviors following the ethical issues. I will set the path of my life, behave and think based on these ethical lessons from the course.
4. Reflection on the course
I really enjoyed this course so much due to the effort of Dr. Z who brought many different and interesting materials into the course. For example, I was so pleased to hear different guest lecture speeches from the actual people who are working in the field of journalism with rich experiences. I also liked how we looked and examined different ethical topics with specific case studies that focused on the crucial principles. The course has allowed me to see and think about the part I could not see before taking the course. By applying my ethical thinkings, I have gained some better viewpoints as well as knowledge that will be applied in my future life. I would recommend the course to someone in the Communication major. More than just a requirement for the major, I have gained so much information and knowledge that will certainly benefit and guide me as a ethical human being in the future.