Blog 3––John Eligon and Doug Blackmon: Ethical Lessons from Foster-Foreman Lectures
Situation definition:
John Eligon, national correspondent for The New York Times, came to speak on October 24th to the Penn State Community about his career reporting on race. Eligon has covered topics including the Boston Marathon bombing, the death of Nelson Mandela, and more. Eligon’s speech brought light to the ethical message of remaining unbiased and leaving out your own opinion as a journalist when reporting on the issues of race.
Douglas Blackmon, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, had the opportunity to present his stories and experiences on October, 25th. Blackmon has covered a wide range of significant events including Hurricane Katrina, the BP oil spill, the election of Barack Obama and many more. During Blackmon’s speech, he reflected upon one of his endeavors to Yugoslavia where he experienced a near-death experience in addition to a story where he was arrested by Croatian police for photographing civilians burning and killing their own community of people and their homes. Blackmon’s speech brought attention to the ethical concerns of journalists and the traumatic scenes they can be exposed to.
Analysis:
Eligon, being an African American, has traveled to Germany to attend a Neo-Nazi festival, has interviewed a white supremacist, as well as been placed in several other situations where his presence did not go unnoticed. Eligon explained that while he does express a fear of the unknown when putting himself into these situations, he does it anyway to understand why. Why these individuals feel the way that they do and where the root of their thinking is coming from.
While attending the Neo-Nazi festival in Germany, Eligon shares his encounter with a man who looked at him, laughed, and pulled back his shirt to expose a t-shirt with a KKK symbol that said white power”. Eligon also shared his story about interviewing a white supremacist in North Dakota who expressed his hatred for African Americans directly to Eligon’s face. Despite the fact that Eligon is put into these uncomfortable and very opinionated situations, he states that when reporting he observes what he sees and tells the details about the event however he does not convey his opinion or thoughts in his writing. Eligon mentions that by placing himself in certain situations it elicits a certain response and that is all a part of his story. While reporting on individuals who are very opinionated, Eligon does not include any of his own personal judgements and strictly reports on what they say. This addresses the ethical message of the importance of remaining impartial in your writing regardless of how you as a journalist feel and simply stating the facts.
According to Serving the Country with Unbiased Reporting, Dan Rather, anchor for CBS news states “we best serve the United States when we try to be accurate, fair and objective”. Rather reveals the importance of remaining unbiased when reporting and the importance of sticking to listing the facts in order to uphold your credibility as a journalist (Serving the country with unbiased reporting, 1985). By remaining unbiased when reporting, you are delivering the unaltered truth of events and leaving it up to the audience to react how they do. Especially when discussing sensitive topics such as race, remaining impartial in your writing is ethical.
Blackmon’s stories address the ethical concern of the trauma journalists can be exposed to while working in the field and reporting. In Blackmon’s story about being in Yugoslavia, he encountered a situation when he was driving and Serbian guerrillas were shelling the area with explosions. He crashed his vehicle at one point and was in fear of his life. Although Blackmon was able to escape the situation and return safely back, this was still a significant event that he will never forget. Blackmon also explained that he witnessed the burning and killing of Croatian individuals and their villages. Although it is necessary to obtain information on the world’s current events, sometimes these events can be extremely traumatic to the journalists who are conducting the reports.
During Blackmon’s question and answer session, someone asked if there are resources that he has been offered at work to assist with the mental impact this kind of traumatic exposure to these situations can have. Blackmon explained that there are not programs in place at the places he has worked to help with the trauma. I think this is a very prevalent ethical concern due to the fact that journalists are being placed in extremely intense situations and not receiving the support they need afterwards to recover.
In a study conducted by Tess Browne, Michael Evangeli, and Neil Greenburg, the findings reported that higher levels of exposure to work‐related trauma were significantly correlated to higher levels of PTSD symptoms amongst journalists (Browne, Evangeli, & Greenburg, 2012). According to Between a Rock and a Hard Place, “creating spaces for reflective practice can assist journalists in considering principled ways of covering trauma” and their mental health afterwards (Kay, Reilly, Amend, & Kyle, 2011). These studies emphasize the importance of a program or service available to journalists after their return from traumatic events.
Conclusion:
Overall, the Foster-Foreman lectures have provided valuable insights into the daily lives of journalists and the ethical issues they may face whether it be in their writing or in the field. A lot can be learned from the lectures of John Eligon and Doug Blackmon including the importance of remaining unbiased when reporting as well as the issue of the post trauma many journalists may face after their endeavors.
I think that when reporting on topics as prevalent and sensitive as race, it is necessary to remain opinionated in your pieces as a journalist and strictly list the facts. I also believe that while there are not programs currently in place in the work place to assist journalists in their mental recovery after covering topics that may be disruptive or traumatic, that is an opportunity for these multimedia news sources to install.
References:
Journalism: Serving the country with unbiased reporting. (1985, Nov 11). Broadcasting (Archive: 1957-1993), 109, 92. Retrieved from http://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/docview/1014717459?accountid=13158
Browne, T., Evangeli, M., & Greenburg, N. (2012, April 20). Trauma‐related guilt and posttraumatic stress among journalists. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/doi/abs/10.1002/jts.21678
Kay, L., Reilly, R. C., Amend, E., & Kyle, T. (2011). Between a Rock and a Hard Place. Journalism Studies, 12(4), 440–455. https://doi-org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/10.1080/1461670X.2010.506054