Ethics of Journalism

Although the First Amendment protects freedom of the press, journalists must know how to write in a way that is respectful yet gets the information to the people ethically. A lot of times this can be really difficult to do.

There is no mandatory and enforced code of ethics because it could infringe on the freedom of the press. Instead, journalists must make the decisions for themselves. There are many ethical problems a journalist has to deal with.

- Using deceit to get a story can be very difficult because at times this practice may not be ethical.

- Conflicts of interest make it hard for journalists to write a story with no biases.

- Friendships and freebies can make a journalist appear or write biased.
- Payola can be an ethical issue for those who are only into journalism for the money.

To resolve these problems and many others, journalists should use principled reasoning to make an ethical decision possible. With experience, it becomes easier to understand these four elements.

- A journalist must appraise the situation by calling on all the facts from a variety of sources.

- It’s important to identify what and who should be held to the highest value.

- By appealing to ethical principles, you must choose one or more of these principles that are suitable to the situation at hand.

- A journalist must choose who to be most loyal too. Your own principles should be just as high at the loyalty to the news organization.