During the semester of Comm 409, my eyes have been opened to the many case studies we have looked at and the ethical reasoning’s behind. For example, I was extremely struck by the Stephen Glass case. While watching that movie, even I was tricked at first to thinking Glass was being completely honest. Then as the plot progressed, we found out that he was infringing on ethical manners such as truth telling and deception.
Two ethical lessons in class we learned are one, that unintentional reporting mistakes constitute as a cousin of fake news…and two, a conflict of interest consists of “any self-interest or loyalty to any person or organization in which that deflects your duties from serving the public.”
In class the multiple case studies presented were all ones of interest in some way. They all shared valuable information but the one that stuck out to me the most was the case study on the toddler girl who passed away in the one shooting. This case presented by Antonio’s group brought up the issue of right to privacy in regards of whether or not the newspaper should have published the photo of the little girl in her casket. Under the circumstances, the family of the young girl wanted the photo to be published to the public. However, if they did not the photographer first would have had the decision of whether or not to take the photo in the first place. If the photo was taken, the photographer and the editor of the publication would have had to make the decision of whether in was ethically right to publish the image.
This course was insightful in ways I did not imagine. Dr. Z’s compassion and strong will for teaching students showed through in every lecture he presented and I think that is where the biggest impact from this course came from for me. I will take his lightheartedness and thoughtfulness with me throughout the rest of my college days and into my career. He was understanding and always welcoming us for office hours and to contact him ever if we were having trouble on an assignment.
Moving forward in my career I will take away the ethical lessons learned in this class, whether I am in a newsroom, a photographer, a radio personality, or a video editor. I learned about diversity in news reporting and how crucial diversity is to every culture. I learned the components of fake news, invasion of privacy, and theories on decision making. To be ethical and moral is something that cannot be replaced in journalism. They are the principles to success in this field and without it journalists would not have an established relationship with the people. Truth conquers all. I have a responsibility as a journalist to seek truth and minimize harm to the public. I am grateful for everything I have learned in this class, the amazing people I met in it, and the knowledge I learned that I can go out into the world with.