Situation Defined
On Thursday, Douglas Blackmon spoke about his experiences as a professional journalist at Penn State’s Foster-Foreman Conference of Distinguished Writers.
Throughout his presentation, I received intense ethical messages when Blackmon talked about ethical dilemmas he faced throughout his career, including his disturbing experiences reporting overseas and reporting on race relations.
Analysis
As a child, Douglas Blackmon constantly questioned the world around him.
Blackmon realized at a young age that his race granted him more privilege than those of his African American peers. As a journalist, he spent time turning those inferences from his personal life into stories he pursued as a journalist.
Blackmon released “Slavery By Another Name” — a book that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2008 and was named a New York Times bestseller, investigated how slavery persisted into the 20th century.
That said, an ethical message Blackmon raised was the challenges he faced handling reporting on race issues in areas where racism was rampant. Eventually, Blackmon grew interested in investigating racism in Atlanta, Georgia — and handling it in a delicate way to show that racism is much deeper and darker than many white people understand.
If I were in Blackmon’s situation, I know it could potentially get awkward at times for a reporter to hold back their emotions if they disagree with a racist source — to not fight a source upon disagreement. When reporters remain unfazed in their reactions, the audience can still understand that a source seems racist.
According to Jacqueline Karen Kott’s “The Role of Ethics in Employee Behavior,” a journalist needs to possess moral awareness in such situations. If a journalist does not possess moral awareness, the ethical decision-making process cannot begin, (Kott, 5).
Additionally, another deep ethical message that struck me was the need for reporters to be thorough and unbiased, given that every person has a story worth telling.
Blackmon mentioned that growing up in a town where he was not necessarily the “majority” helped him to value individuals for the human qualities that make them stand out.
“I come from poor people and racist people, crazy fundamentalists. I’ve got it all,” Blackmon said. “The more powerful thing is recognizing that that there is a story inside everything. Something that is overlooked by almost everybody is that it’s [only] important people who should be written about.”
Conclusions
When reporting on challenging issues — especially issues a journalist can’t completely relate to, like reporting on other races and cultures — journalists need to listen to their sources as reporters and humans.
Through evaluating Blackmon’s ethical concerns, I’ve concluded that reporting on “touchy subjects” needs to be approached in a headstrong fashion to find the truth, but also with sensitivity and an understanding mindset.
The Atlantic Monthly national correspondent Nicholas Lemann expressed similar sentiments.
“I think racial tensions should be covered as a major story, and there’s [ways] to cover it without aggravating the situation,'” (Court, 2).
References
https://scholar.utc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1042&context=theses
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.
Krott, J. K. (2012). The Role of Ethics in Employee Behavior,1-60. Retrieved October 26, 2018, from https://scholar.utc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1042&context=theses.