This course has been extremely influential in shaping my ethical thinking as not just a communications student, but as a person in their day to day life. There have been several lectures that have made a big impact on me, but one that was particularly lasting was learning about the five ethical principles. I had no knowledge of them before coming to this class and they interested me greatly. I truly believe using a combination of Aristotle’s Golden Mean, Kant’s Categorical Imperative, Mill’s Principle of Utility, Rawls’ Two Principles and Judeo-Christian’s Persons as Ends can lead a person to living a happy and virtuous life. These principles can also effectively guide a journalist to conscientiously and responsibly carry out their duties to the public in making their work. Another lecture that meant a lot to learn about was the one on fake news. It has become a buzz phrase in the last few years, but I never knew exactly what it entailed. I now know that it specifically is the intent to deceive with false information and has been around for a very long time. It has increased lately for reasons like the lower barrier to entry in the media industry and the rise of social media. After this class, I felt much more prepared to combat being tricked by fake news through increased media literacy.
The case study that was the most impressive to learn in this class was the first one with Stephen Glass. I did not know what to expect when I entered this course and learning about his story at the beginning set the tone for how much of an effect this class would have on my ethical decision making. Glass’ behavior was an example of one of the worst things you can do as a journalist. It reinforced how terrible fabrication is, not just in the field of journalism, but in general. I have never committed it and I know I will never be tempted to in the future because the Glass case demonstrated that the truth will always come out and lying can have disastrous consequences.
Media ethics was not something I ever deeply considered before. There were some basic values I knew like not to plagiarize work and to always cite your sources, but I did not know just how many aspects were involved. I am absolutely coming out of this class a much more developed ethical thinker. This will help me to tackle situations that are going to come up in my career and in life. This course did a great job of touching on a lot of topics and explaining them in a thorough, interesting way. I am very happy I took this class.