Situation Definition:
Douglas Blackmon, is a highly notable journalist that has been recognized with the honor of a Pulitzer prize. Blackmon grew up in Mississippi at the young age of 15 and began to write for his local newspaper. In the results of his upbringings he became fascinated with the observations of the amount of obstacles black people experienced in comparison to white people. Most of his career focuses on the exposure of racism throughout our country that still exists today.
Analysis:
The first ethical message I experienced was the overall subject of race and how to write about such a nationwide know yet extremely touchy subject. Race is a nationwide issue that influences the world and the people within it. As a journalist you are assigned to talk about hard subjects like racism because these are the things that make not only an impact on people but in some ways it’s a subject people want to hear about. Being that Blackmon grew up in Mississippi he watched from a young age just how different the lives of African Americans were due to the color of their skin. He observed and compared just how much easier it would be for him to be successful because he is white. He used his experiences from when he was young and the opportunities to travel to places like Croatia to formulate a book call Another Name for Slavery. In this book he is forced to talk about the hard ships of segregation that happen in today’s society. He touches on how the civil war ended yet we still face this ongoing issue that divides are country into two sides. “I think racial tensions should be covered as a major story, and there’s a way to cover it without aggravating the situation” says Nicholas Lemann, a national correspondent for Atlantic Monthly. With all subject especially racism there is a way to go about it, people take offense because it’s such a sensitive topic and that is also why being a journalist you need to be unbiased as well.
The second ethical issue I wanted to talk about is just how unbiased a journalist needs to be in this field. Blackmon wrote an entire book about racism yet left out his own personal opinion and focused his book as insight to the world we live today with active race issues. Being a journalist isn’t easy and most of the time when writing one could get distracted and voice their own bias towards the subject itself.” There is a dominant culture which tends to regard skeptically lobby groups interfering with journalistic professionalism and seeking to bend coverage to match their own biases” says William D. Wright. The habits of writing sometimes alter the article and voice the opinion of the writer without them even knowing. One bias word or sentence can change the tide of the passage and infuriate the viewers reading it. Blackmon made an effort to stay biased even though his childhood and his experiences may have swayed him to write the book in the first place.
Conclusion:
Overall attending Douglas Blackmon lecture was extremely influential. I learned that even though racism is a scary subject to write about it can be done unbiased but still well written. Blackmon taught me that sometimes the hardest subjects are the best ones to write about because your readers are more impacted by your words. I also learned that life experiences really do make you into the writer you are. Douglas Blackmon gave examples of life experiences that have made him into the powerful and well known writer he is today.
References:
Court, A. (1990). Can the Press Do the Right Thing? Iii. What Is the Right Thing? Columbia Journalism Review, 29(2), 27–30. Retrieved from http://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=22688781&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Chapter 6: Race/anti-racism matters. (2001). In Ethics for Journalists (pp. 71–83). Taylor & Francis Ltd / Books. Retrieved from http://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=17153585&site=ehost-live&scope=site
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