Situation Definition
One of this year’s Foster-Foreman Conference of Distinguished Writers speakers, was national correspondent for The New York Times, John Eligon. While sharing personal experiences with the audience, many of his stories transformed into discussion of reporting advice – what you should and should not include in your writing. Among the many topics discussed, two stuck out to me as very important factors to keep in mind when writing/reporting ethically.
One ethical issue that caught my attention was the importance of letting the story tell itself, and not interjecting your own opinion or emotions into your writing. Whether it is a picture, or a quote from someone, let the audience interpret what they see or read for themselves. Eligon also discussed the ethical issue of being treated differently in certain situations because of his skin color.
Analysis
The main thing Eligon really harped on during his time speaking, was the importance of, “letting the reporting do the work for you.” He gave an example about one time he was interviewing a southern man with the last name Cotton. During the interview, Mr. Cotton spelled his last name by saying, “It’s Cotton, spelled like the one you pick.” As an African American, Eligon admitted he was slightly triggered by the man’s response, but as an ethical journalist, he did not let it get him angry or throw off his duty to report the facts. He talked about how he could have easily included that quote into his piece and make his opinion known about Mr. Cotton’s character, but he knew that was just ethically not the right way to go about it. Another example was his trip to Germany, covering a Neo-Nazi gathering, and approached a man wearing a confederate flag who admitted to being a racist. This was something else Eligon could have easily added his opinion on in his writing, but he did not because he did not need to. He just let the story tell itself.
“Writing in a way that engages readers’ emotions is valuable, but the journalists’ emotions should not be part of the story,” Sociology professor at McMaster University, Phillipa Chong, wrote (Chong, 2017). Chong, Eligon, and journalists everywhere share a common thought of it being unethical to put your own emotion into the story as a reporter. As Eligon said on Wednesday, “Use the quotes and facts that you collect to tell your story, do not put yourself into it.” If you use your collected information correctly, it is likely your audience might interpret the situation the same way you did, on their own.
Many other personal stories Eligon told, were about him being treated differently while doing his job, because of his skin color. Going off of the same, Mr. Cotton example, although Eligon admitted he was triggered by the comment, he also admitted he was open to thinking maybe he took it the wrong way. Maybe Mr. Cotton just said that because he was a southern man and that’s where cotton is picked, and did not mean “you” as African Americans. Other situations Eligon found himself in, were not as debatable. For example, he discussed the many times he has been approached by police because people have complained of a suspicious man walking around, when realistically it was just Eligon, an African American man doing his job in predominantly white areas. Multiple times, he has been forced to show identification and credentials to prove he is only doing his job. On numerous occasions, it is seen that African American journalists get questioned by police, or in some cases even arrested for doing nothing but their assigned job. According to an article by New Statesman, an African journalist was arrested for reporting on the facts that police were covering up certain aspects of a crime (South African Journalist, 1980). There was nothing wrong with what the reporter was doing, as he was even doing the ethical thing to uncover what the police was hiding and yet they were the one in trouble.
As a young journalist, if I were ever in similar situations like the one’s portrayed by Eligon, I would have responded the same ways he did. For me personally, I am a white woman, so I would not have the same specific struggles that Eligon sometimes faces, but perhaps I deal with people discriminating against the fact that I am a woman, especially because I aspire to work in the sports industry there is a fair chance this will happen one day. I will not let any comments throw me off track of doing my job and in cases where I feel as though I could input my emotions into a story, I will not, and will let my reporting and the facts tell the story themselves.
Conclusion
I can say I did not learn too much new information from this conference, but I do agree these ethical issues, among others, are still extremely important to discuss. As discussed in class, personal opinions and emotions should not be shown in your writing, and yet some journalists continue to do it which shows just how much we still do need to be discussing these ethical issues.
Eligon did a fantastic job in conveying the importance of knowing your role as a journalist, and sticking to doing your job even when you are put in situations outside of your comfort zone. It was enlightening to hear from someone so eager to travel outside of their comfort zone.
Sources:
Chong, P. (2017). Valuing subjectivity in journalism: Bias, emotions, and self-interest as tools in arts reporting. Journalism. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884917722453.
South African journalist arrested. (1980, Sep 19). New Statesman, 100, 3. Retrieved from http://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/docview/1306958447?accountid=13158