Blog #5 Reflections on this course
By Yifan Xu
Important Ethical Lessons from this Course
Throughout the entire semester, I learned various ethical issues and concepts which led me into in-depth thinking. But only few of them brought me touching feelings and thoughts. One among them was the topic “Invasion of Privacy.” When the traditional media system transformed into new media, it was even more convenient and rapid for information to spread. When we insisted on providing authentic and enough details of news, how should we balance the relationship between audiences and victims? How could we do to minimize the harm to people and negative feelings of innocents? Further than other ethical elements such as honesty, conflicts of interests, fairness, etc., more and more ethical issues also reminded us about the significance of privacy. It was also people’s duty to protect everyone got involved in the news besides representing the truth.
Another ethical lesson I was taught was the transparency of news. This concept could be easily discovered throughout every cases we discuss and thus, represented its essence. One of the major duty of journalists was to keep the truth of stories and provide as much as they can. But after the discussion of transparency in this class, this concept seemed to have more functions than it appeared to be. Transparency was not simply a key element to show journalists themselves and audiences, it was also a standard recording everything for people getting close to this news. Not only did transparency need to be achieved in today’s media world, it should also be revealed in the most proper way.
Case Study Reflection
Among the numerous cases we had discussed during this semester, the most impressive one to me was the case of “Car in the Canal.” This was a case used as an illustration under the discussion of ethical topic “Reporting Graphics.” Since I had done a specific case research in this field, I was even more attracted by this car case. “When a broadcasting tape was all about a helpless woman’s 911 Call asking for help and survive, should this call still be used on-air?” This question heavily hit everyone’s mind.
The first thought and ethical analysis came to me was the usually overlooked part in news reporting, “how to protect the victims thoroughly.” It was already a misfortune for these people to experience the troubles and get everyone else view their trouble. However, it was even crueler to get these points enlarged by the strength of media. “Protecting the privacy of characters” was more than simply considering the information given out, it was also a duty to feel about them and care for them. This was also my second thought that journalists should get themselves in the condition of these weak characters and then consider what to do. Maybe one day, we will also meet bad conditions which can be even worse than sinking in the water. We need to consider “helping others” sincerely and authentically instead of simply caring about the news.
Impact on Life and Future
Before taking this course, I have never built any clear moral value on journalism ethics. As a “Communication Major” student, this course is just like a starting point of my future career and life. Learning these ethics not only helps me bring myself a more complete and authentic identity, but also gets me ready to prepare more for the future planning. Ethics remind people the importance of being honest and transparent. Ethics make people to consider questions more thoroughly and consider issues from more perspectives. Ethics also make people become a better person and therefore become happier in life. These benefits all happen on me. No matter what career I will step into in the near future, today’s me has already obtained a clearer blueprint on moral principles, life and future.
Overall Course Reflection
I’m more than thankful and glad that I chose Dr. Zhong as my COMM 409 instructor. This is the best class among all I have taken in my college life up till now. I truly learned so much on course materials, but I even learned more from Dr. Zhong and his teaching method. As Dr. Zhong always cares about us a lot sincerely and always tells us numerous life experience from him and other ones, the atmosphere for us to learn the “ethics” is just awesome. When the teaching method fits the course theme, we are more willingly to learn everything. Even till now, I can still remember clearly every example given on class based on different cases. This is impressive. Just as Dr. Zhong said, “Learning ethics is a happy thing.” I really feel grateful to choose this course and I will still choose Dr. Zhong’s other courses if there’s still future opportunities.