- Two Ethical Lessons:
When I signed up for this course before the end of last semester, I wasn’t sure what to expect for this course. However, throughout the course, I learned many ethical lessons that I can use in the field of journalism. One of the lessons I learned are the concepts that go along with conflicts of interests. Understanding what is acceptable and unacceptable in this topic is now clearer to me, and while some topics may be more difficult to decipher on than others; as a whole, I now have a better understanding in more situations than I did before I took this class. Since I hope to work with sports in this field, I have a better understanding of not showing bias towards a specific team with reporting on that and the consequences that can go along with it. Other topics included in this is not accepting gifts of any kind or covering topics that may involve people that are close to you (including your family), and being careful in which events you attend.
Another lesson I learned are the concepts behind undercover reporting. Once again, this subject is a tricky one, but I now have a better knowledge of what instances allow for under cover reporting to be more acceptable. For example, if performing some type of under cover reporting is for a better cause, I understand that it is acceptable. It is NOT acceptable if it’s for a personal gain.
2) Case Study:
To me, the case study about Karla Gutierrez is the one that left an impact on me the most. Gutierrez was the woman who was in a car accident in Florida, in which her car steered off the road, went into the water, and ended up drowning inside her car. It was interesting to see how the news channels went about covering this story; as they had tape of the 911 call that she made before she ended up drowning. Some news stations decided to air none of the tape, and others decided to use part of the tape. The main issue that I had at first was that the family specifically didn’t want the tape to be used on air, but some of the stations went against that. I thought it was interesting how afterwards the family said that they changed their mind after they heard the tape on the news and that they were okay with the tape being used on air.
3) Future Impacts of this Course:
Like I stated earlier, this course opened my eyes in many ways. I switched to this major last fall, and I’m just starting to get my feet wet in the field of journalism. While that is a story for another day, this class has really helped me build a strong foundations of some important topics that need to be understood in order to be successful as a journalist. I believe that this class and the Bellisario College of Communications as a whole offers more than most schools in the country, and I think more students in similar fields should have to take this class. The real life examples from the presentation really helped connect these ideas in being able to apply these in my future endeavors.
4) Reflections on this Course:
Like I stated earlier, I really enjoyed this course and learned a lot more than I thought I was going to. The real life examples is really what interested me. For example, the Steve Glass case was an interesting one to cover and dive into more. With journalists getting a bad wrap, I think it was important to relate this class to current events and talk about how that affects us. Overall, the vibe of the class was easy going and engaging at the same time. I hope others felt the same about this course, as it has been the most impactful communications course that I have taken to this point. Thank you!