Ethical Quandries

Ethics are a major part of everyday life for the profession of journalism. A large percentage of the time, journalists have to solve different ethical dilemmas in their work and have to make tough decisions on their own about what is right or wrong.

Whenever a reporter comes across a story that could be controversial, they have to ask themselves many questions. What is really happening here? Is the situation solvable in any other way? Is the reward for reporting this story worth the possible consequences it could have? These are just a few of the things that journalists have to think about when they find an instance in which there is no clear cut yes or no answer.

Ethics are an important value to have in life, no matter what your profession is, but it is especially important for journalists. This is because journalists are the ones who speak to the masses, they tell the community what is important to know and pay attention to. These decisions about useful information can have a major impact on the stories that the journalist decides, or doesn't decide to, cover and report on, and the engine that every reporter must consult in these situations is their individual code of ethics.

Journalists’ Ethical Issues

Journalists face ethical issues on a daily basis. What is the right thing to do? What is the right thing to say? These are ethical issues that journalists face when going after the stories they want.

Some examples of problems journalists face in regards to ethics are the duty to their self, duty to their audience, duty to their employer, duty to their profession, and duty to their society. The journalist has to make all of these people happy and if they do not then a problem may arise.

Journalists try to limit the amount of harm done to a person as much as possible. This results in holding back information from articles or reports. For example, names of minors, crime victim names, or information not essentially related to particular news reports release of which might harm someone’s reputation.

Journalists face ethical dilemmas often and the best way to resolve them is to cause the least amount of harm possible to the person or persons and to do what you think is the right thing to do. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Journalists and Ethics

Everyday, when Journalists are on the front lines, and they need to make decisions, they are constantly facing the tough task of making sure they ethically obtain, report on and document stories correctly.

Even some of the most distinguished reporters face many ethical decisions everyday. They need to make the right decision that is right in correspondence to the situation.

For example there are many journalists that work as investigative reporters everyday who usually need to deicide if using techniques such as using a hidden camera or going undercover might violate other peoples rights.

As with situational ethics, the book, “Telling the Story,” talks about how many journalists might act within the slogan “the end justifies the means.” This basically means that there are some things that journalists might do that might be ethically wrong such as obtaining information in a way that might not be illegal but it would stir up the media world dramatically.

Finally, because journalists have the final say if what they are about to do is ethical, the decision ultimately lies within their hands. Whether they chose to violate their values or “burn bridges” to get the big story is purely their decision.

Journalists and Ethics

Journalists face the following ethical problems:

• Deceit- to lie, misrepresent, use a hidden camera or recorder, steal documents
• Conflicts of Interest- start out with no hidden agenda and no bias
• Friendship- a powerful conflict of interest
• Payola- never accept money for a story except by employer
• Freebies- never accept free gifts from people you cover because they always come with a price
• Checkbook Journalism- is it ethical to pay a source for an exclusive story?
• Participation in the News- let your employer know what organizations you are working for
• Advertising Pressure- work for an organization that clearly separates editorial and advertising
• Invasion of Privacy- figure out what you consider an invasion of privacy
• Withholding Information- would you withhold information from the news organization you work for
• Plagiarism- never use someone else’s work as your own

Journalists can solve Ethical issues by using Principled Reasoning, reflecting on your ethical principles that will help you decide on proper or moral ways to act.

Ethicists Clifford Christians, Kim Rotzoll, and Mark Fackler created a model for reasoning including these steps:

• Appraising the Situation
• Identifying Values
• Appealing to Ethical Principles
• Choosing Loyalties