Blog 5 – Reflections on this course by Patrick Burns
Part 1: Two most important ethical lessons
While I’ve learned plenty of ethical lessons from this class, there are two that stick out to me. First, I learned just how evil deception can be. Watching Shattered Glass at the beginning of the course set a nice precedent for the rest of the semester because it showed the repercussions of simple lies. While watching it, I learned that those who lie once are more likely to lie again, which is really drilled into my head today. Glass lied in 27 of his 42 articles for The New Republic, which shows just how bad the issue is. No amount of success makes being dishonest worth it because it’ll catch up to you eventually. The second ethical lesson that proved to be essential to me is learning how to cover rape. Kristen Houser provided so much impactful insight about how delicate journalists must be when covering sexual assault cases because the terms we use have such a profound impact on how the public perceives certain people, and in some cases, reputations can never recover.
Part 2: Case study that impressed me the most
The “Car in the Canal” case study was super effective in showing the importance of a person’s right to privacy. When learning how to report graphic stories, we saw how differently a group of Miami TV stations handled the coverage of a 911 call that came from a woman whose car sank in a body of water off the side of the road while on the phone. It was quite a traumatic call, and we spent the whole class deliberating how sensitive to be. Each station handled it dramatically differently, with some playing the call, others providing a transcript, and some omitting it altogether. It showed how different stations operate under different standards, but more importantly, the due diligence that must go into reporting some standards under proper ethical code.
Part 3: Envisioning the course’s impact on my future career and life
I now know that careers can be completely derailed from not spending the proper amount of time considering the impacts of certain ethical decisions. As a result, this course has impacted more than just as an aspiring journalist. Every day, I think about the effect that my actions have on others and how they might alter the course of my career down the line. I’m proud to say that I’m more prepared to enter the industry and I’m ready to take these lessons with me.
Part 4: My reflection on the course as a whole
I’m not going to lie, sometimes it was difficult getting up for a class at 8:30 a.m., especially considering how little sleep I’ve gotten this semester as a result of being so busy. But, I really appreciated this class and I know that it’ll be very useful for me in the future. Dr. Z brought a really interesting perspective each day, and I’m glad that he was able to share his knowledge with our class. My only complaint is that I wish we had more guest lecturers. I learned so much from Kristen Houser, Mark Russell and John Beale and I wish that we took advantage of more of these opportunities. All things considered though, this was one of my favorite classes that I’ve taken and I definitely enjoyed the “Learn & Connect” motto.