Julie K. Brown attended Temple University and received her B.A. in Journalism, since then she has worked for the Philadelphia Daily News in the past and currently is an investigative journalist for the Miami Herald. In her speech, Brown talked about her many accomplishments and the tough times she’s faced throughout her career as a journalist.
Brown talked about two of the most intense stories she has ever had to cover, for both stories she faced ethical issues and had to decide how she would proceed with her stories. Her first story was one she found that was covered up a few years before. The story consisted of a situation that involved police brutality and a young man. Due to the misuse of power and abusive actions, it ended with the death of the young man. Brown made the decision to uncover the story and tell the truth about what happened, therefore she followed the code of ethics by seeking truth and reporting it. Ethical journalism should be accurate and fair, journalism should be honest and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information (commstudies, Journalism Ethics and Standards). Another ethical message Julie Brown shared was the story about the sex trafficking women inmates in prisons, when telling this type of story Brown was faced with many issues. It was discovered that not only in the jail from Brown’s story, but in several other jails, sex trafficking of women has occured and it was important for Brown to write this story. One of the ethical issues Brown faced was finding the correct sources and sharing their stories while also not revealing harmful information about the sources. Ethical journalism treats sources, subjects, colleagues and members of the public or human beings deserving of respect (comm studies, Journalism Ethics and Standards).
Julie Brown did the right thing by reporting both stories, although they were very serious situations and involved discussing topics that may have been hard for her sources to talk about or even difficult to write about as a journalist personally. Brown took responsibility for the accuracy of her work, verified the information of both stories, and used original sources whenever possible (What makes journalism reliable?, McKillop Library). The best recommendation to give journalists when making decisions like this, or in general when writing or reporting a story, is to always refer to the Journalism Code of Ethics. Most reporters and journalists find themselves in situations where they can not decide if they should continue writing their story, reaching out to other journalists, editors or mentors can help guide you in your decision on whether or not it is ethically right to write the story.
Learning about the situations reporters and journalists have faced in the past has helped future reporters be prepared for the many challenges they could possibly face in their future careers. Every story or issue talked about by another reporter can always be a learning lesson for someone in one way or another. It can help them understand how to go about a situation if they are challenged while interviewing a source or debating whether a story is acceptable to write or not. Brown especially did this when she discussed the story about police brutality to a young man, although the story was covered up, she took it upon herself to bring it back up and get justice for the young man who deserved it. These issues are still important to talk about because they can not only send a message to the public but it can also open the eyes of readers and let them know these types of issues are happening and how they are not being talked about enough.
References:
Library Guides: Communication Studies: Journalism Ethics & Standards. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://guides.lib.uw.edu/research/commstudies/ethics.
Research Guides: Finding credible news: What makes journalism reliable? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://salve.libguides.com/c.php?g=590921&p=4098864.