In Rushworth Kidder’s book “How Good People Make Tough Choices,” Kidder provides a series of different methods, codes and examples of what being an ethical journalist could mean. He gives examples of different situations where a person’s ethics are tested and what would be a good way to deal with these situations. He starts by explaining the difference between things that are right-versus-right dilemmas, and those that are right-versus-wrong dilemmas. While right-versus-wrong are easily distinguish, right-versus-right dilemmas often include one of four dilemmas in choosing what it truly right. The first is truth versus loyalty. Truth versus loyalty is something that can become an issue in journalism as you start to build relationships in your career. As a journalist it is your job to report the facts and the truth. Kidder used the example of two friends worked for a company, but were employed at different levels. In that situation it would be in Kidder’s best interest to respect that his bosses would rather he not tell another employee, even if that employee was his friend, on what happens in their meetings. As …show more content…
The story entitled “Jimmy’s World” written by then-Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke features an 8-year-old heroin addict and won a Pulitzer Prize and 1981. It was later discovered that the story was fabricated as Cooke was ripped of her Pulitzer Prize and lost her job. This is a perfect example of a short-term versus long-term decision. Short-term Cooke decision to make up a story received high praise because of the impact of the story. Yet, the long-term effects were that eventually it was discovered that she lied and she lost her award, her job and her credibility. Cooke made a decision knowing that the short-term results would be positive without thinking of what the long-term effects would be if she was ever
At times in a person’s life, they might come across a few situations that leave them with a major decision between two or more options that challenge what they believe or what they might think is wrong or right. These are known as ethical dilemmas. Be it seeing a friend steal something and choosing between being honest and speaking up or letting it go. It can also be getting paid more than you earned and deciding if you’re going to be greedy and keep the money or return it. We run into these situations in our lives, some bigger and more influential on our destiny’s while others are small with no real consequences.
When presented with a statement “There is a difference between what we have the right to do and what is the right thing to do,” it is a variance of what is legally beholden, and the morality of adhering to ethics by taking the correct path. What we have the right to do is interpreted by what is legally authorized by federal, state, or local government laws. The right thing to do is guided by personal conscience that tells the individual the correct thing to do (Mintz & Morris, 2014). It becomes a personal choice.
Self-motivation and determination are two of the main ideals of being journalist. If a journalist does not have the desire to find and report a story, he has no career. A journalist depends on finding the facts, getting to the bottom of the story and reporting to the public, whether it’s positive or negative. Janet Malcom states in the book The Journalist and the Murderer, “Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible.” (Malcolm, 3) Her starting words speak volumes about “the Journalist and the Murderer” and the lessons that can be learned.
In comparing ethical issues surrounding the journalists in “All The President’s Men” and “Welcome To Sarajevo”, there are several ethical issues that the journalists experienced. Ethics are an important aspect of journalism, since journalists face a multitude of ethical issues within their industry. Therefore, there are ethical guidelines that journalists’ use called “The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics” [SPJ Code of Ethics]. When analyzing how the journalists in “All The President’s Men” and “Welcome To Sarajevo”, one can refer to the SPJ Code of Ethics to observe the possible ethical issues the journalists experienced. The four main concepts in the SPJ Code of Ethics are: seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently,
Throughout the course of this year, we have read and analyze many works of literature. A prevalent theme was the struggle between making morally right decisions and wrong ones. By definition, right is defined as being morally justified and acceptable. Wrong, on the other hand is characterized as dishonest, incorrect and immoral. These characters, struggled in different ways to make the right choice, though in the end, the majority of them made the wrong and immoral choice.
Being a minority and trying to cope with the American way is a difficult obstacle to overcome. A minority comes from different cultures and lifestyles, especially the parents which means a young youth who is a minority has a specific lifestyle to live because the parents want their child to live similarly to tradition. However, there are young minorities who are trying to bridge their personal tradition and their own American tradition together to better their life. For instance, in the novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, illustrates a young Native American youth, Junior, struggling with friends pressuring him to follow tradition instead of living a different life. Despite the struggles and pressures, he is pursuing his dream instead of following tradition. Therefore, an individual does not need to follow their community norms, instead he or she can follow their own aspiration, but the person will struggle against negativity pressure from their community and peers because the individual is living a different life. Despite the struggle the individual will encounter, he or she can change their community for the better because they have improve their own life.
How often should an individual be confronted with those three words in a lifetime? What makes them pick one or the other? Is the right decision dependably fundamentally the ethical decision? Who chooses what is correct or off-base? These are every single significant question in this battling issue in life. Could the confidence in karma be sufficient for one to lead a "decent" moral presence? The finger is constantly pointed towards one 's self interest and one 's result of their choices. In Thomas Nagel 's paper, Right and Wrong, Nagel endeavors to clarify the distinctions and the contemplations behind good and bad choices. He makes references to individual advantages, religion, and disciplines of choice making. Nagel 's paper really characterizes manners of thinking and how individuals come to choose life decisions and pathways for their
According to Mann (1998), journalistic virtues are in synchrony with virtue theory which requires balance or fairness as a maxim when engaging in photo manipulation. This way, it could be argued that the photojournalist ensures justice. Also, the credibility required during manipulative procedures suggests integrity while the accuracy or authenticity of the manipulated image portrays truth telling as the ethical standard required in journalism. Lastly, prudence is a sequel to the news judgment as they are all considered journalistic values which should guide photojournalist when engaging in manipulations of
Demir, Muge. "Importance Of Ethic, Credibility And Reliability In Online Journalism." European Journal Of Social Science 24.4 (2011): 537-545.
Making good ethical decisions requires a trained sensitivity to ethical issues and a practiced method for exploring the ethical aspects of a decision and weighing the considerations that should impact our choice of a course of action. Having a method for ethical decision making is absolutely essential. When practiced regularly, the method becomes so familiar that we work through it automatically without consulting the specific steps.
I just cannot decide. Is it right, wrong or ethical? This dialogue rages in our minds when we face a decision. Fortunately, there are several approaches that can help make ethical decisions. Two of the more prominent approaches are objective consequentialism and existentialism.
An ethical dilemma is only examined in a situation which has the following conditions; the first condition takes place in a situation, when an individual has to make a decision on which course of action is best. The second condition is there must be more than one course of action to choose from. The third action is no matter what course of action is taken, certain ethical principles are conceded. In other terms, there is no perfect result. When defining what forms an ethical dilemma, it is important to make a division between ethics, morals, values, laws and policies.
"Journalism Ethics Online Journalism Ethics Gatekeeping." Journalism Ethics for the Global Citizen. Web. 05 Dec. 2010. .
Every day we are confronted with questions of right and wrong. These questions can appear to be very simple (Is it always wrong to lie?), as well as very complicated (Is it ever right to go to war?). Ethics is the study of those questions and suggests various ways we might solve them. Here we will look at three traditional theories that have a long history and that provide a great deal of guidance in struggling with moral problems; we will also see that each theory has its own difficulties. Ethics can offer a great deal of insight into the issues of right and wrong; however, we will also discover that ethics generally won’t provide a simple solution on which everyone can agree (Mosser, 2013).
Meyers, C. (2010). The 'Standard Journalism ethics: a philosophical approach? Oxford University Press. Nordenstreng. K. (1995)