Week 2: Student Response to Discussion One and Two

ThursdayJan 18 at 2:47am

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The main theme I see in the ethical codes listed in the appendixes of the textbook is that telling the truth is the most important part of being a professional journalist. It is imperative that facts are given without bias or misinformation. Granted, however, that facts can change upon learning more about a story, it is on the journalist to accept responsibility for inadvertently giving false information. It is never acceptable, however, to deliberately give false or misleading information. The facts should be stated as clearly as possible without deliberately attempting to defame someone.

The second common theme I noticed was giving proper credit for each story. This is like writing papers for college, in my opinion, if credit isn’t properly attributed, it is plagiarism. The media is no different, if I were to interview a source and choose to use any information he gave me, I need to properly attribute the interview to give credit to the person with the information. Refusal to properly credit sources will lead to lack of credibility in writing, and possibly even legal trouble. This is something that must be done to ensure ethical writing.

The final theme I see repeated throughout the appendixes is integrity. The journalist should not display a bias when reporting information. I know that I have watched news before that displayed a very clear and evident bias, and it always leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. This was very evident throughout the entire 2016 election, and it was hard to find facts without obvious bias behind them regarding the political climate. I believe that integrity is a skill lost on modern journalists, and I can understand why it is so important. It keeps the news honest and factual.

Source:

Jacquette, D. (2007). Journalistic ethics: Moral responsibility in the media. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc.