Situation Definition
Douglass Blackmon spoke Thursday on his experiences as a war journalist and his writing of the book “Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II.” One of the main ethical issues that came to mind was during the Q&A portion of his lecture. He brought up a time when he had to interview a mother whose child had been killed after being molested. He said that he felt like “a filthy human” after asking the mother such questions in such a horrible time for her. He said that he told the rest of the newsroom, that from then on, he would no longer be able to locate the mother.
Another ethical issue he brought to mind was the under-reporting of PTSD journalists suffer from after returning from war zones. Many people think of how soldiers suffer, which they do, but not as many people think of the journalists who go and cover the action with the soldiers. Blackmon said it was an unwritten rule that journalists should just “suck it up” when it come to the trauma that followed covering war-time stories.
Analysis
When looking at journalists having to cover war zones, one could find issue with the fact that this may be crossing a boundary to force someone to write such stories if their life and mental health are at risk. In today’s world, where mental health is becoming more of a focus in the mainstream life, an outside may feel that news publications should not force their workers into situations that put their mental health at risk. According to JOURNALISM AND TRAUMA:
How reporters and photographers make sense of what they see by Gretchen Dworznik,“Journalists suffering emotional effects from the trauma they cover is not a new topic. Studies have demonstrated that war correspondents are significantly more likely to show signs of post-traumatic stress and depression versus reporters who have never been on the battlefield.”
It’s not a clear-cut answer on what is right and what is wrong for the news publication to do. The general public has a right to know what is going on during war time. Also, they are putting their workers lives and mental health at risk when they go out to cover something as damaging as war. It’s a risk that news publications are willing to take and something I don’t see changing anytime in the near future.
In terms of reporting on material that is hard for the subject to deal with, (i.e. the mother), it is another situation that is tricky to deal with. Looking at a case from Zones of Silencein a section written by Tom Morton and Mark Pearson, they look at a case study where reporting on mental health was taken to court. Pearson would compare the interest of patient privacy and public accountability in case studies of mental health publication restrictions (13).
Blackmon made the decision that he no longer wanted to put people he was interviewing in an awkward and sad position of answering obvious and hurtful questions to fulfill an interview. This decision may seem like the right one, but again, a journalist has to weigh: would this story be more beneficial for the general public to know?
I would do the same as Blackmon did. I wouldn’t want to be upsetting a mother who just underwent a traumatic experience as losing her child the way that she had. My questions are not helping the situation, and quotes from her at that time, don’t help make the story significantly greater.
Conclusion
Overall the lecture was quite enjoyable. Blackmon came from a small town just as I did, however his area was primarily African American, and mine was mostly Caucasian. It was interesting to hear his point of view on his life, how it led him to where he is now, and how it affected the decisions he made, including the ones listed above. Being able to experience a lecture by an award-winning journalist, is a learning experience I wouldn’t want others like me to miss.
References
Gretchen D. (2006) JOURNALISM AND TRAUMA, Journalism Studies, 7:4, 534-
553,DOI: 10.1080/14616700600757977
Morton, T., & Pearson, M. (2015, October 1). Zones of Silence. Pacific Journalism Review, 13.