COMM410 – International Mass Communication

Julie Brown spoke at the Foster-Foreman Conference of Distinguished Writers about her experience covering the Jeffrey Epstein case for the Miami Herald. There were so many lessons about ethical reporting in that event speech that I learned from Brown.

Brown explained the many events that went on during the reporting and researching about the Epstein case. She knew that something was definitely off about this case and she wanted to take a deeper dive into it, and that is exactly what Brown did. One amazing get that Brown accomplished during this reporting was that she was able to get phone records with evidence from all of the girls that had been allegedly molested by Epstein. The one and only Brown in this case was that have Jeffrey Epstein arrested.

I think learning and analyzing about this case, all the journalists that covered this case wanted to have Epstein arrested, but they still had to leave their bias aside when reporting about this case. All the articles I read did a really good job reporting about this Epstein case from multiple different angles.

I think in every one of these rape and assault charges cases it is so hard for a reporter to not be biased against the suspect but each and every reporter does a fabulous job of just having unbiased reporting and reporting from a neutral point of view.

I think comparing this to what I want to do, I want to be a sports journalist/broadcaster, and I know no matter if I am an affiliated fan with that said team that I cannot be biased whatsoever as hard as that is but that is something that I have to 100% focus on. Having an unbiased opinion is something that makes an extremely successful reporter/journalist.

Lessons that I learned are that how all the top reporters do a great job at ethical reporting and covering stories from an unbiased point of view and that is what makes them the best reporters in the world. These are some of the most important reporting jobs, reporting about rape and assault suspects and victims and Brown like a lot of reporters do a great job a t bringing the full case to their readers and getting research and facts to the public so they have a great understanding about the case.

Brown definitely accomplished her goal: to have Jeffrey Epstein arrested, and that feat would not be able to be accomplished without her extremely great ethical reporting.

Citations

Friedman/Polaris, R. (2019, July 19). Alan Dershowitz Cannot Stop Talking. Retrieved from http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/07/alan-dershowitz-jeffrey-epstein-case.html.

One lesson that I learned while in this course is just how difficult being a journalist is, how many different elements and characteristics it takes to be a successful news reporter. Another lesson I learned is just what it exactly means to be an ethical reporter. The style and the different ways to report and just making sure a journalist is 100% ethical all the time.

The one case study that impressed me and made me think and learn about the most is definitely the one I did with my case panel which was on Undercover reporting. It was interesting the amount of steps and the process you have to go through to be an undercover reporter. When you really did take a deep dive and research about undercover reporting like myself and my panel did, it really is amazing just how dangerous undercover reporting is.

For our undercover reporting case study, we researched and discussed the Shane Bauer undercover reporting case. He under covered a lack of guard training due to cost cuts, forced labor inmates, twenty five percent death rate of prisoners in the state of California, and a ratio of 800 prisoners to two guards during meal times. It was interesting the way Bauer went about his undercover reporting and how careful he had to be.

This course had a big impact on my future because I am majoring in broadcast journalism and I want to be a sports broadcaster. In fact, I already started writing articles for a small, relatively unknown sports website. I also am currently with The Lion 90.7 FM here on campus broadcasting some of Penn State’s football and basketball games and on sports talk shows. So, this is a necessary course for me to take because this field is definitely the field that I want to be in as I continue my career.

This course as a whole was very helpful for me as I move forward with this major and further along my journalism career. I learned many very valuable lessons when it comes to how important being an ethical reporter is and how to be an ethical reporter. I will absolutely take the many wonderfully valuable lessons that I learned and have taken from this course into my future in news reporting and beyond.

One ethical lesson from the lectures and case studies that were presented in class that has had the greatest personal impact was when we talked about deception.  One of, if not the most important things about being a journalist is telling the truth. If you don’t report the story with facts in an honest and truthful manner than that could not only hurt you and your publication, but it would also hurt the most important people, your audience. The other lecture that had a great ethical impact was the lesson about when to use graphic content. We saw and were explained the reasoning behind showing pictures of a dead Gaddafi and why some channels broadcasted the 911 call of a dying Karla Gutierrez. These two ethical lessons to me are at the core of what it means to be a journalist.

The case study that impressed me the most ties in with deception and fabrication because it’s when we learned about the Stephen Glass scandal. Maybe because of the movie, maybe because it was one of the first cases we looked at, but everything about the Glass scandal was interesting. It mainly impressed me because here we have an up and coming star in the journalism world who would hit homerun story after homerun story, but it all came crashing down. It was interesting to see how and why Stephen Glass did what he did and how he got away with it for such a long time. The pressure and stress that Glass went through is something I personally haven’t necessarily gone through, but I do know students who have added a lie here and there because of the stress of being on deadline and producing a good story.

The way I envision the impact COMM 409 will have on my future career and life is that it will make my life a lot easier and happier. I’m glad that this class was mandatory because I know that I could take a lot of the things I learned in class into my professional career. While this is a news media ethics class, things we learned such as the five ethical principles are one such example of things we learned that will for sure impact my life. My overall reflection of this course is that it was a great experience for both educational and personal purposes. It for sure is one of the most important and influential classes that I have taken and that’s all thanks to the way Dr. Z lays out the class.

I think one lesson that I really learned a lot from and was very interested in was when we talked about when and when not to post/report graphic content. It was something that coming into this class I had never really thought much about or noticed. I had seen graphic pictures all over the news but never really thought about the results or consequences of what could be by posting an image like that. The lecture we had on this topic was something that I found intriguing and very interesting. The other lecture that I found really cool was the one we had recently about copyright and when it is fair use or not. The PowerPoint where you went through and we had to determine whether or not we thought it was fair use was really intriguing to me and I learned a lot from it. The fact that you can make parodies of things and it is alright to basically use the company’s logo was crazy to me and I never would’ve expected that it would be acceptable.

One case study that I read in our class textbook was called “The Football Star’s Fictitious Girlfriend” which was about star football player Manti Te’o and his imaginary girlfriend who was never real. I am a huge sports fan so I had heard of this story before but I never looked at it very deeply. When I read this case study, it was one that really stood out to me because it was interesting to me and I found it to relate to me. There were a lot of quotes from many different reporters who had varied opinions on the situation and it was just views I had never seen before.

I think this course really taught me a lot about what is and what isn’t ok to do as a reporter. I have taken in so much knowledge because of this class and will continue to remember all of this information for a long time. I can guarantee that I will use a lot of the ethical concepts that we learned in not only my future profession but also just in life. I was nervous coming into this class because it just sounded like it was going to be difficult but I am so glad that I took it and am positive that it is one I will always remember and continue to use.

I really liked this class and the way it was structured. I thought the assignments were fair, we were given a lot of notice about all assignments, and nothing seemed to be unreasonable or unfair. I enjoyed coming to the class every week and that isn’t something I can say about many classes in my time at Penn State. I thank you for a great semester and for helping expand my knowledge.

Overall, I enjoyed this course very much. It provided more knowledge and insight into the journalism world and the rules behind ethics. I saw why many journalists did what they did not following the ethical guidelines and it made me think on ways I can make sure no not make the same mistake. I certainly will use what I learned in this class in my future career.

One important ethical issue I learned from this class was the concept of telling the truth. It requires a journalist to tell the truth about the facts and truth behind every story in unbiased reporting. If a journalist does not tell the truth, the readers will not believe that journalist, any of their work, and then link it back to their employer and not trust that news outlet. It’s important for a journalist to be transparent in reporting the facts as they are told about any event. It is a journalist’s job to provide the facts, that way it’s up to the reader to interpret those facts.

The second ethical issue that I took away from this course was fabrication. I did not know there are several cases where journalists have fabricated their work while working for big media outlets. Fabricating a story is not right and leads into the issue of telling the truth. Fabrication leads readers to believe a lie and have a different view of an event that actually occurred in a very different manner. The case study that stood out the most to me regarding fabrication was the Stephen Glass case. Glass fabricated all these stories, created fake sources and even made fake notes to portray events that never happened. He tricked his editor and his co-workers. In the world of journalism there comes times where the relationship between a journalist and an editor is crucial because the editor is always supposed to have your back as long as that editor can trust the journalist.  Once a journalist fabricates a story and breaks the trust, the fall isn’t just on the journalist, its on the whole organization they work for. It makes that place not credible and will lose readers and viewership.

As a whole, this class has taught me to always do my work on my own. Just need to invest the time to research and do it myself and not procrastinate. I feel like procrastination and poor time management lead to all the amounted pressure on a journalist causing them to lie and fabricate stories in order to meet a deadline.

The overall intention of COMM 409 was to provide us with the ethical values and standards of journalists that is expected of the journalist not only by his or her publications but by oneself. Dr. Z has taught and instilled important journalistic lessons that will stick with me for the rest of my career and life, even. From the lessons we have been taught, there is a lot of journalistic code of conduct that can prove useful in real-life situations. Of everything we have covered in this course, the two lessons that stuck with me revolved around honesty and empathy.

After watching Shattered Glass, I reflected heavily on the duty and the responsibility of journalists. I never truly understood just how much impact journalists have – media distributed to the mass public is widely consumed at the hands of journalists. Therefore, it is imperative that journalists report the best version of the truth for the greater good. Stephen Glass, though not for the better, portrayed an example that will make all journalists think twice before choosing to betray the promise he or she makes to their audience when they decide to join a publication. Because he decided to go against his own moral conscious, Glass risked his career and potential opportunities by pushing his luck and fabricating numerous stories. The quality of the stories produced combined with his personality received much appeal and attention that his editors lacked fact-checking. However, as they say, “The truth always comes out eventually,” proved true when Glass went on to not only lose his job, but all credibility he had “worked” so hard to create. Glass serves as an important lesson for all journalists to understand just how much their career relies on the truth.

In addition to honesty, the lesson of empathy played an important role in my learning this semester. We were presented extremely interesting cases, and were then asked, if put in the position of decision-making, whether or not we would publish the story. This, to me, was an extremely interesting method of learning. In all honesty, some of the cases required me to really think and I honestly was not sure whether or not to run the story. For instance, the story about a young girl whose father was on death row was difficult for me to make a decision on. Knowing that her daughter would one day be exposed to the story played a huge factor in whether or not to publish it. However, the most conflicting story, to me, was the 911 call from the woman whose car was sinking. Journalistically, it is necessary to report it to the public, but how much is too much? Fortunately, this course has taught me how to think both morally and journalistically.

Overall, I have had a pleasant experience in this course. As I have continued to reiterate, I genuinely feel as though I have learned lessons that will stick with me for the rest of my life. It affects my decision-making both professionally and personally. Dr. Z has been an incredible professor, who was always readily available to help his students and easily accessible if needed. I have appreciated the impact he has had in my growth as a journalist and person through this course.

This class has been filled with interesting discussions, thought-provoking lessons, and ethical debates. I believe all of these are crucial for all students to understand because these lessons are applicable to most industries.

The first ethical lesson that spoke to me throughout this course was the role of fabrication and the impact it can have on the media. We were first exposed to this lesson while learning about Steven Glass, which I found to be the most interesting case study. I thought this case study stood out from the rest because of the complexity of not only the case itself but Glass as a journalist. It blew my mind that someone who was seemingly normal and successful still made the mistake of fabricating a story. This showed me how as journalists it is so important to stay true to your personal values throughout your career. My curiosity and understanding grew regarding this topic as I wrote my group research case study about Janet Cooke. Both of these cases expanded my knowledge about the fragile relationship between the media and the public. It is so easy to make one mistake and ruin your relationship as a journalist with the public. One of the most shocking aspects of fabrication is the negative consequences that spur from it on a professional and personal level. Not only does it impact the individual, but it impacts the entire publication which they are working for. It is then the job of the publication to go into damage control in order to mend the broken trust because the only thing you have as a journalist is your reputation to provide the truth to society. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about these two cases because they give unique perspectives on the different ways that fabrication can play a role in the journalistic world.

Another lesson we learned about that I feel is very important is ethical boundaries. I found that this was one of the lessons I could apply very easily to many aspects of our society and my personal life today. Living in a world where everything, including the news, is so immediate and quick online, it can be a difficult hasty debate on what is too much to air or post. I think that it can be easy to make a split second decision to post something, but it takes a certain level of ethical awareness to stop and deeply think about if the image or post provides any crucial information. Thinking about who it impacts is also critical when determining if something is too gory or personal to post. Learning about this lesson was definitely something I could apply to my personal life and my personal social media use. I think it is important to always think about others and the way they may be impacted especially when writing sensitive stories as a journalist. 

I am thrilled that this class was a requirement for me personally and I think it should be a requirement for more majors because the things that we learned are applicable to many professions. Due to the fact that I am pursuing a profession in the journalism field, I know that I will take many of the journalistic ethical principle lessons we learned with me throughout my career. This class gave me a unique insight into the journalism world and the crucial role that ethics plays in it. Prior to taking this class, I did not have any real knowledge about the common ethical dilemmas that occur in the journalism industry, but after learning from Dr. Z I feel confident that if I were to come across one of these issues I would be able to handle it effectively. I think that this is one of the only classes that provide students with real-world expertise in such a specific aspect of this field. It has taught me to always be standing by your gut, your personal ethical values, and moral compass. This can be applied not only professionally, but personally as well. I know that I will continue to practice the lessons that we have learned in class and apply them to my life.

Communications 409: Media in Ethics is a class I will never forget taking at Penn State and will forever remember what I learned from Dr. Z and my classmates going into the future. Becoming an ethical journalist is way deeper than just “saying the right thing”. I realized that being able to write to the audience and informing the audience sometimes means that you are not 100% ethical. There are obviously limits to that saying but before this class I thought that the only job of a writer was to inform the audience. I’m grateful that I was able to learn about what an ethical journalist looks like, sounds like, and what they have to do in everyday life through the lectures, case studies, Dr. Z and my classmates. 

One of the lectures that I learned a lot of  lessons from was the Ethical Principles lecture on the week of September 9th. I knew a lot of these principles before this class but it was interesting to see how they would be used in a journalist world. For example, I have always known what Aristotle’s Golden Mean is and what it means in life but when it was used in a journalists point of view it was definitely something I always think about now when I write. For example, the strength of the Golden Mean is that you may lead you to an ethical resolution of an impasse. But the weakness of the Golden Mean is that not every situation has a Golden Mean. If you were reporting or writing about murder, death, or even robbery there is nothing good to say about it and it just is informative at that point. 

The other lecture that I really enjoyed was the ethics and society lecture because learning about the social responsibility that we have as journalists was very eye opening due to the fact that is guess I didn’t realize that we have so much responsibility than just getting a story out.  The ethical lessons that we learned from that lesson make me always think about how I would interpret something I am writing if I was the reader. Hutchins’ Five Goals make it very clear what we have to be successful and give the public the information they need. 

The case study that was most interesting to me this semester was the Stephen Glass case study on how he lied about all of his very successful stories. This story was just mind boggling to me and was extremely interesting how someone could lie that much to millions of people. After breaking why Stephen Glass did what he did down I was able to realize how bad it is to plagiarize and even as little as making up a quote someone said will get you caught.

The overall experience I had in this class definitely will help me be successful in the field I was to achieve in. I always keep “what is the ethical decision” in the back of my head no matter what I am doing and Dr. Z and his class made that possible for me. Being able to have more confidence and feeling more educated as a writer was one of my goals after this semester and I definitely was able to achieve that this year.