Section 1: two ethical lessons
Throughout this semester we have discussed many ethical lessons. One that has stuck out to my from the beginning was verifying sources and information. We saw many cases throughout the semester that had to do with this such as the Shattered Glass case. It is important for reporters to always write about the truth because they are trusted by their audiences to give the truth to them. It is important for newsrooms to meticulously check if sources and information is the complete truth. Stephan Glass broke the trust of his newsroom by fabricating facts and stories that were published for the world to see. Because of cases like this it is important to make sure all facts in stories get verified before publication. Another important lesson that stuck out to me was the “breakfast test”. The breakfast test is the point that people do not want to see violent news the first thing in the morning. This lesson had an impact on my group presentation because it had to do with a photograph of a child in her coffin. We agreed that publishing this photo was too graphic for the breakfast table. This test is important when being a journalist because there are many different ways you can write the same story. You want to make sure you protect the victim but at the same time protect the public from very violent events.
Section 2: case study:
One case study that impressed me the most was the story of Karla Gutierrez. Gutierrez accidentally drove her car into a canal in Florida and began to drown quickly. Gutierrez was able to call a 911 dispatcher and beg for help. Unfortunately emergency help was too late and Gutierrez drowned in her car. Media agents covering the story released the 911 call to the public. Some ethical issues with this were protection of the victim and the victims’ family, and the violence of the call being released was morally distasteful. This case study showed a good example of a breach in protection of privacy since her family did not want the call released, yet newsrooms did release it to the public. This case impressed me because it was similar to the case my group covered. The ethical question came down to a personal belief of if it was too violent to be published. Journalist felt it is important for the public to be informed about things that go on in their own communities, which is why in this case the call was published, but Gutierrez’s family felt their values were not upheld in the decision to publish the call.
Section 3: class impact on my future
This course impacted me because I had never taken a course on ethics before. I feel it taught me many different life lessons like to question things I see in the media. It also pointed out to me that there are many flaws in journalism. I have learned that my ethical choices not only affect me but many other people. When making decisions I now think of how the outcomes will affect others.
Section 4: reflection of this course
I enjoyed this class because it taught me a lot about important life lessons. I also liked how we were able to find stories that we found important and report on them. The class opened my eyes to a lot of ethical topics I never really thought of before. I look forward to using and sharing many lessons learned in this course in my future.