Blog 3 – Ethical Considerations in Douglas Blackmon’s Lecture
Part 1. Situation Definition
On Thursday, October 25, I attended Douglas Blackmon’s talk, an event that took place as part of the Foster-Foreman Conference. Douglas Blackmon was raised in the small town of Leland, Mississippi, where racial segregation played a major role in the community. Blackmon is a renowned journalist known for his coverage of some of America’s most pivotal events in recent history, such as the election of President Barack Obama and the BP oil spill. Further, Blackmon was awarded the Pulizer Prize for his book Slavery By Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II.
During his talk, two ethical considerations became apparent in Blackmon’s work as a journalist. First, it is clear that Blackmon has toiled over covering event that could not only cause distress to the readers, but to himself as the journalist. Here lies the ethical question of what sort of emotional treatment journalists receive for the trauma they undergo. Further, in relation to his book, the subject of race has been an obvious point of interest, which brings about ethical questions in regard to his personal background as a white man from the south.
Part 2. Analysis
In the debrief following his speech, an audience member asked Blackmon about how he deals with the mental and emotional trauma he has undergone as a reporter, and if he feels that news sources today support their writers in handling these issues. Immediately, Blackmon responds “generally, just like soldiers, or maybe even more so than soldiers, journalists don’t get any of that stuff, until they like break down and are like drunk on a street corner somewhere or something.” Essentially, no support is shown for the journalists who undergo trauma from the stories they cover.
Following this,Blackmon tells us about his history as a journalist. He first started his professional career as a police reporter for the Arkansas Democrat, a newspaper that he referred to as being one of the most “confederate” news sources out there. As a police reporter, Blackmon was responsible for covering crimes, which included murders. As Blackmon explains, many of the victims of these crimes were young black men, who were often caught up in street violence.
Part of Blackmon’s job in covering these stories was to speak with the victim’s family, and get a quote from one of the victim’s loved ones, ideally the mother. On one specific occasion that Blackmon clearly recalls to this day, he went to talk to the mother of a terribly tragic murder victim. Immediately after, Blackmon reported back to the Arkansas Democrat and said to his co-workers, “for the record, on this day forward, I am unable to find the mother on every other story I will ever cover in the future.” Without going into too much detail, Blackmon said that he still feels guilt about prying into the private life of this victim’s family to this day.
Unfortunately, serious mental illness as a result of trauma is far too common amongst journalists. According to the American Journal of Psychiatry, the “lifetime prevalence of PTSD was 28.6%, and the rates were 21.4% for major depression and 14.3% for substance abuse” (Feinstein, Owen, & Blair). Still, “journalists were not, however, more likely to receive treatment for these disorders” (Feinstein, Owen, & Blair). This calls into question the ethical concern of placing a news story over a writer’s mental health. Although Blackmon is not severely affected by the trauma he has undergone, he brings up the point that news organizations should take responsibility in assuring that journalists who experience psychiatric disorders as a result of the trauma they underwent in reporting various events receive adequate support and treatment.
Another ethical concern presented by Blackmon is his heavy discussion of race. In the Q&A portion of his talk, A young black woman asked Blackmon if he has received backlash for his book from black historians. Blackmon eagerly answered this question, as he said that the topic is not talked about enough.
He began by mentioning that even though many fail to recognize it “we live largely segregated lives” even to this day. Blackmon talked about his upbringing: “Although I recognized that I did not grow up in a family with any great prosperity or anything like that, I realized that the lives of the black kids that I grew up with had obstacle after obstacle.” He said that growing in the deep south, he recognized that he lived in a heavily segregated society, and that the only place that black and white people ever really interacted was in school. With that, he began to ask the question “why are things the way they are?” Blackmon said that he never received an answer to this question when he was young, and that it was this question that drove him to write his book.
With that, Blackmon said that he has received backlash from some black historians. He said that many people have approached him saying that he could not possibly understand what it is like to be a black person in America, and that he should not be speaking for them. Blackmon’s response to this was that he is not trying to relate to the discrimination that black people have undergone in this country, but rather answer that question that has haunted him. Although, he said that discussing the topic of race is something no one can win. Blackmon explains that although he receives backlash from Civil Rights activists, if a black person were to write the same book, they, too would receive backlash as they would be called biased.
Blackmon’s words align with those of Derrick Bell: “…the journalist trying to do his or her job and maintain a measure of integrity must be tough. And if that journalist is a person of color, the task becomes a continuing challenge of truly awesome of proportions” (Bell x). Blackmon said that to tackle the topic of racial discrimination in the United States is never easy. No matter the race of the writer, one will always receive some sort of backlash for simply discussing this topic, and that needs to change, because racism is never going to change if we cannot have a simple conversation about it.
Part 3. Conclusion
I think some the ethical issues that Blackmon brought light to during his talk are some of the most important for journalists to consider, especially in today’s political and social climate. Blackmon truly brought the importance of mental and emotional support for journalists to my awareness. I was ignorant to how common it is for journalists to be affected by trauma, as I am sure many people are. To bring light to this topic is vastly necessary for the field as journalists continue to uncover some of the world’s darkest stories.
Further, I was fascinated by Blackmon’s response to the backlash he received from his book. One would almost expect for any author receiving such discrediting criticism to respond defensively. Instead, Blackmon was very understanding to where his critics are coming from, and acknowledged their struggles. But at the same time, he recognized that any person would received criticism for simply discussing race.
The talk that Douglas Blackmon gave really brought the need for discussion to my awareness. Both of these topics–mental health and trauma of journalists and addressing race–are not nearly talked about enough in a neutral light in American media, and when they are, they receive backlash, just as Blackmon did for his book. In order to tackle society’s ethical questions, it is imperative that an honest and open conversation about these topics takes place.
Part. 4 References
Blackmon, Douglas. “Douglas Blackmon.” Foster-Foreman Conference of Distinguished Writers. Foster-Foreman Conference of Distinguished Writers, 25 Oct. 2018, University park, The Pennsylvania State University, Freeman Auditorium, HUB-Robeson Center.
Feinstein, A., Owen, J., & Blair, N. (2002). A Hazardous Profession: War, Journalists, and Psychopathology. American Journal of Psychiatry,159(9), 1570-1575. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.159.9.1570
Newkirk, P., & Bell, D. (2002). Within the Veil. Retrieved October 25, 2018, from https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=MRoVCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=public reaction to black journalists&ots=dX-JCrdMjV&sig=UBZqxl_YsriJvkiNPOGYy7pXeYs#v=onepage&q=public reaction to black journalists&f=false