For this blog, I decided to focus on class diversity and the ethical issues that face journalists when putting out stories like this one. In this case, an author wrote an article for the New York Times on the death of the multimillion-dollar business owner, Kate Spade. When starting out the article, the author wrote “Buying a Kate Spade bag was a coming-of-age ritual for a generation of Americans,” expressing the idea that young American women would purchase a bag from this brand as they grew up, yet the problem was, this wasn’t true for most of America. The New York Times received a lot of backlash from this article, referencing the idea that some Americans bought clothes from places like Sears, JCPenney and received hand-me-downs from the generation before them. This raises some ethical concerns, like the simplicity of getting both sides to a story and not producing information that only applies to one group of people; not being diverse.
In the article “Coverage of Kate Spade’s Death Reveals Need for Media Diversity,” from the Columbia Journalism Review, the author asks audience members their thoughts on the case and whether or not the media was at fault for not being diverse enough. Overwhelming results came back to conclude that many individuals, including those who considered themselves upper income or Spade consumers, agreed that the framing of the article was exclusionary. This raised an ethical issue that Times and many other news organizations have faced, in that they are not being equal, balanced and fair when it comes to covering stories. When this was supposed to be a story on the death of Kate Spade, it became yet another story on how certain groups can be oblivious to the discriminatory actions others face. Although unintentional, the author did not get both sides of the story, an ethical problem and published the story anyway. Had the author even said that “for SOME Americans,” there would not be an issue of imbalance. Not getting two sides or accurately representing multiple classes in the media is a major ethical dilemma.
Following this, in another article by the Chicago Tribune, “In the Mix: Is Diversity in Fashion Finally Getting Better?” the author explains how in response, fashion campaigns of all kinds are now using models of both genders, all religions and races in attempt to change the issue of diversity explained in the article about Kate Spade’s bags representing the wealthy class. Another ethical concern being raised here is producing information that only applies to one specific group of people. In this case, the only side that was being represented was the side of the wealthy class in America when the Times article describes the coming-of-age story. When only one side of a story or an event is being taken into consideration and reported on, an ethical dilemma is raised. News organizations have an obligation to the public to produce material that shows both sides and is bias in the best way possible. Like I said before, although the mistake was not intentional, the ethical issue was still raised and executed which eventually was followed with a retraction and an apology sent out by the New York Times. News Organizations need to act in this way, the correct way, and retract statements and stories like these in order to keep their audiences and to keep people believing that the media is always trying to stay unbiased in their coverage of important events.
In conclusion, I think some ethical issues were raised, but I also think that the organization handled the situation diligently and effectively. The public trusts the media to give them balanced coverage and will speak out if they feel as though it is not that way. The ethical issues of not covering the full story and not being diverse to the point of slight discrimination, are very important and though they happen sometimes, should be kept to a minimum and handled in an efficient way.
Works Cited:
Chideya, F. (2018). Coverage of Kate Spade’s death reveals need for media diversity. Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
Magsaysay, M. (February 9). In the mix: Is diversity in fashion finally getting better? Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
