Objectives
- (All) Answer all of the questions on Ethics and add / paste each scenario into your blog
- (All) Where appropriate back up with examples of articles you feel have been handled correctly and some that haven’t.
5 Principals of Ethical Journalism (Ethical Journalism Network)
1. Truth and Accuracy
Journalists cannot always guarantee ‘truth’, but getting the facts right is the most important principle of journalism. We should always strive for accuracy, give all the relevant facts we have and ensure that the facts aren’t being handled deceptively.
2. Independence
Journalists must not act on behalf of special interests whether political, corporate or cultural but work as an independent professional. We should declare to our editors – or the audience – any of our political affiliations, financial arrangements or other personal information that might suggest a conflict of interest.
3. Fairness and Impartiality
Most stories have at least two sides and whilst there is no duty to present every side in every piece, stories should be balanced as impartial reporting builds trust and confidence with your readers.
4. Humanity
Journalists should do no harm. What we publish or broadcast may be hurtful, but we should be aware of the impact of our words and images on the lives of others.
5. Accountability
Journalists must be able to hold themselves accountable when they make mistakes, being sure to correct them and express regret sincerely, taking care to listen to the concerns of the reader.
If you were writing a news story or making a news program and your funding and / or the quality depended on it, how would you react to these scenarios?
Explain your decisions.
Scenario 1
A celebrity has famously gone into rehab. You need to get information about their time in the facility, because it will boost the readership / ratings and will demonstrate the point you are trying to make, perfectly.
When you arrive there, they say they will let you in to look at their facility as long as you don’t go to the celebs’ private room.
What would you do?
I would look around the facility, making sure to be respectful of patients privacy and not go in to any private rooms, including that of the celebrity. I would ask the workers there about the treatments/activities they offer and if there is anything in particular that the celebrity enjoys doing and if they’re engaging so that I would still have some information to boost readership.
What would you do in the same circumstances but your story is about non celebrities going into rehab?
I would do things the same way but ask if any patients would be willing to give interviews about their journey to make the story more interesting.
Scenario 2
You are writing a story on a number of recent youth London stabbings. Heading up the campaign, on behalf of a charity, is a bereaved mother who lost her son to a stabbing. You have been instructed to ask her about the campaign and not emotional questions about her sons death.
Would you ask her?
What would you say?
It would be very difficult to speak about the charity without asking about her son, I would focus more of the positive work the charity is doing rather than the death of her son but I would discuss him as a person and talk about how the charity I honoring him, it would be disrespectful not to.
Scenario 3
You’re writing an interview based story on the life of a criminal? The criminal is renowned for drug crimes, committing fraud and violent crimes. After the interview, you read through the answers and see that the script glorifies this lifestyle and shows how the criminal becomes very rich and very powerful.
Would you still write the story?
I would still write the story as it is still interesting but I would edit out some of the questions and answers that glorify it the most. I feel that a lot of pieces/documentaries about these kind of crimes are often glorifying the criminals life but that is half of what makes it interesting, learning about the lavish way they lived before being caught.
Would you write a story, that glorified the life of a serial killer?
What about a rapist?
I feel that in the case of serial killers and rapists, there would be nothing to glorify as they don’t make money from such crimes, it’s just mindless violence whereas a criminal with drug and fraud offences have other motives than just causing others pain. In the case where there would be an opportunity to glorify them though I wouldn’t, making sure to edit down any interviews or portray their answers in a way that makes them seem delusional about any power they might’ve gained.
Journalism Module - Angel 