Ethical Lessons
Two ethical lessons I have learned from this course are invasion of privacy and the importance of truth telling. I believe that learning about invasion of privacy was important because it taught me that minimizing harm while practicing journalism is extremely important. I believe that in being a journalist, it should not cloud one’s judgement and morals. Therefore, one should still treat others the way they would want to be treated. I believe that sensitivity and empathy as a journalist is important especially when covering certain topics. I believe that truth telling is important as we have seen the repercussions in case studies countless times when a journalist is not truthful. I believe that a journalist’s credibility and reputation is significant to be successful and not being truthful and transparent will tarnish both of those components.
Case Study
One case study that stood out to me the most and in which I learned the most from was the case of Steven Glass. Throughout the film, Shattered Glass, we were able to learn through Glass’s mistakes of fabrication and lack of truthfulness to his boss and his co-workers. I believe this case was extremely informative of how the long-term consequences of unethical actions will outweigh the short term successes. For some time Steven Glass was extremely successful as he cheated the system with his fabricated stories. However, he eventually got caught, lost his job, and his respect and credibility that he once had. This taught me that you will always eventually get caught and it is crucial to be truthful and truly earn what you work for.
Impact on My Future
I believe this course has impacted my future career in so many important ways. As someone who is confident about taking a career path in journalism, this course has taught me so many ethical lessons that will lead me to practice ethical journalism. This class has not only taught me ethical principles and guidelines, but has also instilled with me the importance of following them. I believe that without this course I would not have the same mentality that I do now.
Reflection
Overall, this course has been nothing but beneficial to me. I believe that every lesson I have learned from this class is a lesson I can take with me into my future as not only a journalist, but also an ethical person. Dr. Z is a wonderful example of this type of individual as he made every effort to show he truly cares for his students. This was motivating to me to ensure that my future career and course of life will correlate to the lessons Dr. Z has taught us throughout Comm 409.