Situational Definition
Wednesday night, John Eligon shared his experiences throughout his journey as a journalist, and shed some light on some controversial topics. Two of the topics Eligon discussed that stood out to me as “ethical journalism topics” were his journey to Germany and his experience interviewing a racist man in neo-Nazi Germany, and his experience covering the Michael Brown case from the point of view of an African-American journalist.
The Germany situation brought up ethical dilemmas because Eligon explained the difficulty of not putting yourself in the story and letting the story and the quotes tell themselves. Even if sometimes adding yourself into the story seems like a good idea, it would not be journalistically ethical. The second one would be when Eligon was reporting in Ferguson, Missouri on the Michael Brown case. Eligon explains the unfair advantages black reporters were getting over the white reporters and how he chose to use that advantage.
Analysis
During the lecture Eligon spoke of his time spent reporting in Germany on the neo-Nazi rallies and race issues going on. He explained that a lot of refugees from countries with people of dark complexations were coming to Germany to seek refuge. Lots of Germans did not like this because of race issues. Eligon specifically spoke of the one incident he had while interviewing a man attending a neo-Nazi rally. When Eligon initially asked the man if he was racist, the man said no. But, after some time past and they talked the man finally admitted his hatred and fear of African-American people. This is an ethical dilemma because Eligon said he really wanted to add in the fact that he himself is black into the story and talk about that view of the story but as a journalist you have to try and keep yourself out, especially in print. The potential downsides to reporters putting themselves (or their children) front and center in their writing is that doing so can hinder their perceived credibility as “objective” journalists by readers, hinder their skepticism or critical thinking about an issue that is so close to home, or skew media attention towards the somewhat insular and atypical concerns of reporters and editors (When Journalists Make the Story About Themselves, 2016).
My personal favorite part of the lecture was when Eligon spoke of his time spent reporting on the Michael Brown cases in Missouri. He said throughout the time spent in the tiny town, reporters started talking and realized that community members were more than willing to talk to African-American reporters, but not so much white reporters. Eligon spoke about the fact that this phenomenon was not right, but he was going to take advantage of it and do what he could to do the right thing. This is an ethical dilemma because clearly Eligon couldn’t change the fact that people weren’t talking to white reporters, but he could do good with the advantage he was given. In this case, he was doing the right thing although the tactics were a bit unfair advantages and unethical. He talked about people claiming the black reporters were telling lies because they were the only ones getting information and they were switching stories up in favor of the community. This is unethical and can cause a lot of trouble. The concept of “balance” – or as its critics refer to it “false equivalence” – has long been a key precept of journalism (Why Journalistic ‘Balance’ is Failing the Public). In our country’s current state, the question of truth and balance in journalism is more critical than ever before. Eligon spoke on that involving this specific personal situation.
Conclusion
I enjoyed this speaker and hearing about his personal experiences in the field dealing with ethical issues in one of the most difficult topics in America to cover – race. He was extremely honest and truthful about his experiences and the way he responded to the situations. I thought it was really interesting to hear from someone directly dealing with the situations we discuss in class. I think he handled some very hard ethical dilemmas well, in a time of sloppy journalism.
Citations
Mutsvairo, B. (2018, September 19). Why journalistic ‘balance’ is failing the public. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/why-journalistic-balance-is-failing-the-public-68783
When Journalists Make the Story About Themselves. (2016, June 15). Retrieved from http://www.kappanonline.org/when-journalists-make-the-story-about-themselves/