An ethical issue that brings me ethical methods is the disclosure of names during rape cases. In Julie Brown’s expose, she just mentioned that there were about 80 victims. She doesn’t mention their names which is a great thing to me because I know personally if my daughter had these acts committed against her, I wouldn’t want her name posted all over the internet for anyone to see. Not disclosing information like that is difficult because I know people want to break the story and help promote their career, but at the same time you have to put yourself in another person’s shoes.
Accuracy and standards for factual reports and or making up stuff is a big ethical thing. When you report things, a reporter has to make sure their statements are factual. They shouldn’t be reporting things that aren’t true or have any part of the story fabricated. If the people in the story don’t like whatever’s being told, they might call out the reporter on their articles. Back in 2015, Stephen A. Smith said that Kevin Durant was going to the Lakers or the Wizards if he didn’t resign with the Thunder. Kevin Durant called him out on that report, and they had a back and forth before finally moving forward recently. Social media has been a way that a lot of information has been getting out recently.
I believe that both of these issues are important because of the fact that they both are important in the world of journalism. Disclosure of certain names are important because nobody wants their name plastered all over the news. For most people having that privacy for themselves is their right. While the story might be even better if the names are disclosed, reporters should put themselves in other people’s shoes. Most reporters wouldn’t want their business out there like that.
In todays day and age, reporters are having their sources exposed more due to social media. What they do or how reporters move allows people to guess what they’re doing. “With social media nowadays people will have pictures posted about them posted on Instagram or Facebook and then it’s a huge controversy on social media.”(Guerrero, 2018)
Being factual with reports is a big deal as well. Especially in a newspaper, false stories can force a newspaper to have to apologize and then they lose credibility. In the case of Stephen Glass, he made up stories and fabricated events in order to have stories to put out. When he was found out, he was fired, and his newspaper lost credibility. (Elizabeth Blanks Hindman, 2005)
If I was in these situations, I would be truthful about what I can and cannot do. Being honest is the best way that you can go about these situations. If you lie about anything then it’s going to look bad when it eventually comes out. The truth always comes out in the situations. For a journalist, their integrity is everything for them. If they jeopardize that then their careers are basically over.
In regard to disclosing information, I wouldn’t do that just because I wouldn’t want that to happen to me if I was in that situation. All the publicity that comes with crimes, I wouldn’t want that all over the news.
I didn’t really learn any new lessons. This just reinforced what I knew in regard to being honest when it comes to reporting. You can’t go wrong when you’re honest with your editor. I’ll always operate with the belief that my integrity is my most important thing as a journalist/reporter.
I think that it’s important to discuss these issues today because the times are constantly changing. We need to reinforce these rules for the next generation of journalists. With new ways to produce news coming around very often, these things need to be talked about so everyone is ready for change.
References
Guerrero, R. (2018, September 25). The Ethical Issues of Social Media in Journalism. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@ryan.guerrero/the-ethical-issues-of-social-media-in-journalism-430c85ca8fd1.
Hindman, & Blanks, E. (2006, January 10). Jayson Blair, The New York Times , and Paradigm Repair. Retrieved from https://academic.oup.com/joc/articleabstract/55/2/225/4102985?redirectedFrom=fulltext.
Plaisance, P. L. (2019, September 20). Journalism Ethics. Retrieved from https://oxfordre.com/communication/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228613-e-89.