Ethical lessons
During the class we learned several ethical principles to cover a news story. Two of the ethical lessons that impressed me most are “fabrication and Plagiarism” and “importance of journalism to cover a diverse society.”
Fake news is the term we discussed a lot during the class time and previous blogs. Plagiarism and fabrication are morally wrong and destroy journalism’s credibility. It is unacceptable to make things up and present them as the fact. We discussed the case of Stephane Glass and learned that committing illegal acts is damaging the reputation of the press industry.
Moreover, covering a diverse and multi-cultural society is important for the journalists. It is an ethical responsibility to cover the entire community. Racial, gender and other factors should be carefully analyzed and considered in newsroom. As an international student, I found it is hard for the young journalists to understand and represent cultures other than their own. It is a duty to keep sensitive during the news reporting.
Case study
One case study impressed me the most is the car in the Canal. In Feb.16 2001, a young woman ‘s white BMW careened off the Florida Turnpike in West Miami- Dade County. Karla Gutierrez veered the car on the road and plunged into the water in the 5 a.m. Panicked and unsure of what to do, she called 911 for help at first, and the phone call last for more than 3 minutes. However, the police still could not find her specific location and they found the car and body after 50 minutes. In this case, the police release the 911 call from victim to the local television channel and became the news story. The police’s action is controversial and contains potential ethical problems.
It is important to deal with the source of information and make the news decision about privacy. Since there is not specific law to regulate certain information, the audience curiosity may negatively impact journalists to make the decision.
Future Impact
I really benefited a lot from this class. Since I am planning to work in the strategic communication field in the future, this course provides me more awareness about ethical decision making. We have done so many case analysis and ethical principles in the class discussion and group projects. I will imply what I learned from the lectures in other classes and in the position.
Reflection
Overall, it is a wonderful experience to share experiences and news stories together in this class. This course showed me some techniques and tools to approach the decision more ethically and morally. In most of real situation, it is very hard to realize the importance of discerning right and wrong. However, for the people who working in the media field, we need to aware the value of choices we made. We need to figure out the truth and make decisions when facing the ethical dilemmas. I will recommend this class to the other Communication major students.