The New Ethics of Journalism - Essay Example

Journalism Introduction Journalism is the profession of conveying the realities and happenings of the world to the public. Citizens of a country havea right to understand what is going on in a nation and other parts of the world. Now the world is influenced by media and television and newspaper takes a prominent place in a human’s life in providing news to the people. However, we can see that sometimes journalist are provided with instances which are unethical and distasteful. A journalism as a profession has ethics and standards and on that basis we can see that they have an obligation to protect the rights and morals of a society. The journalist being responsible for what they convey to the people they must be allowed not to cover a story they find unethical or distasteful. (Thesis) It is noticeable that most of the news content in the media is not suitable to all viewers and are malicious. Violence, abuse and vulgarity have become a common scene of news channels. As a journalist, people come across many kinds of situation in their professional life. But at times their morality and ethics would not allow them to cover such news. So they should be allowed not to cover such instances. This is about the freedom in work as the journalist must have right to work in his manner in his space. As a professional they completely understand what is instances has the potentiality for news coverage. The journalist while doing his job also is doing a humanizing process. Journalist brings news from around the world to us. But sometimes Journalist may be forced to cover instances and events which go against the ethics like murdering situations, sexually exploiting instance and inhumane behaviors. The journalist might be unwilling to cover such situations but many be intimidated by the news channels to report it. Such conditions must not exist as it may be an invasion in to their professional conduct. A journalist can be comfortable if he is allowed to do his work in alliance with his ethical and moral perspective. They need to be given freedom to choose what they opt to cover or omit. Journalists are professional people and they have a code of ethics on which they work. Journalist is always under pressure from various sources which would make them work with much less freedom. News media is also a sort business and sometimes they are forced to cover matter which can be often unethical or distasteful to the journalist. The media channel may want to promote a particular even which may give benefits for them. A journalist should be fair and courageous in covering news and should be given choice to cover or not to cover a story. If they are allowed not to cover unethical and distasteful things then they feel content about their profession. The main issue here is every journalist has a mind of their own while they works on their story. The journalist understand the news converge makes a large impact on the audience and the society or may be world as a whole. The journalist needs to keep in consideration the emotional, ethical, religious and cultural value of people around the world. Sometimes their own religion or culture may prevent them from covering a certain event or happening. So the journalist should be allowed what he might prefer to cover. If he feels insecure and restricted the journalist might lose the creativity and interest in his work. The journalists can feel that they have no role in his job. Every story covered by a journalist is their freedom of expression. If one cannot express then one cannot be a good journalist. It is also essential to understand that unethical reports can damage the reputation of the journalist as well as the media. According to Grynko ( 2012,pg 259 -274)“As truth seekers and truth presenters, the journalists must be open and honest with their audiences”. Truthiness to the facts he is presenting and covering reports that are ethical and suitable to audience should be in the parameters of the job responsibility and obligation of journalists. The journalist should be given right to judge the matter he is covering and to decide to understand its consequences on his profession and audience. The journalist definitely has the purpose of bringing out the truth to public but everything cannot be advantageous to public. We can find that many issue like murder, sexual exploitation and other criminal acts may not be suitable to be covered as it can question the norms of the journalist. Some scenes of killing or exploitation may frustrate or scare a journalist or can even create trauma and psychological stress on them. The journalist need to feel comfortable in his work area and some situation may be risky for his profession and health. Some journalist may be provoked to cover situations or news which may be bloodshed or even can endanger his life. Sometimes the coverage may be intrusion in to the private life of people or unethical. So such activities may be avoided by journalist as it may interfere with his ideals and ethical codes. Some cases like suicide coverage, murder events which brutal and exploitation may be distasteful for a journalist to cover. He may find that he has crossed his ethical lines when covering such situation as he may find helpless and covering an event which is an abuse or harming of a person. According to Jullien (2013) “What has been thrust into the forefront is the behavior of the reporters in getting the story - and whether they crossed ethical lines to do it”. So it is highly essential for journalist to be allowed to not to cover matter which are unethical and distasteful. When journalists are forced to cover unethical and distasteful stories then it can demean their professional scope. The journalist more or less becomes mechanical if they are not given freedom to cover according to his will. And more often feel that certain coverage can affect the values and emotions of audience and can create conflict and violence in the society. Sometimes journalists may be prompted to cover life of people which can be distasteful to the audience. Such intrusion can question the privacy of people and unethical behavior of media. It can even taint the respect dignity of person .Sometimes journalist may be forced to cover sexual assaults and of the journalist is a female she might feel insulting and embarrassing to cover such issues. It is necessary to understand that journalists are humans and have emotions and feelings. When they see or cover events which are brutal, violent or inhumane they might feel that it against humanity to cover it for the purpose of entertainment. All the coverage they have done is a part of profession of a journalist and they would not want to corrupt their work with malicious content. When they look back to their contribution to the media world there should not be any stain of guilty in the mind of the journalist. If news is violent or malicious in nature then the audience can be corrupted or disturbed with the story. So it is essential to allow the journalist not to cover a story which is unethical or distasteful. Conclusion Journalism is a profession with creativity and responsibility and it is highly recommended that they are given enough freedom to choose what kind of story to be covered. Journalist need to be conscious of his work and feel comfortable about what he is doing. A journalist reaches to millions of people and his work can affect people negatively if it is unethical or distasteful. If a journalist follows ethical standards then it would be harassing for the journalist to cover story which does not suit their palette. A journalist cannot always work by his own choice so they feel biased and restricted and cannot come out with their ideas and tastes. If they have the freedom to choose what to cover then they can enhance their creativity and imagination. Nowadays violence and sexual topics are the headlines of media and not all journalists are happy with their stories. Journalist has a risky profession and some stories can put them in real danger. So if they find such stories can be avoided that would be justice to their profession. Stories which are connected with murder, rape and suicide can be torturous for journalist to cover hence they should be allowed not to cover which they find unethical or distasteful. The job of a journalist is to pass on good values and also reality to the audience but some distasteful stories cannot do much good to the public. According to McBride (2013) “The New Ethics of Journalism is a Poynter initiative to encourage all who practice journalism to embrace principles that serve democracy”. It can be emotionally torturing to audience and hence allowing them not to cover unethical or distasteful stories can help them do their job with more consciousness. References Grynko, Anastasia , 2012. Ukrainian journalists’ perceptions of unethical practices: Codes and everyday ethics. CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATIO, 5/2, 259-274. McBride, Kelly. 2013. The New Ethics of Journalism:. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/creating-a-framework-for-ethical-decision-making-among-journalists-and-those-who-care-about-democracy/217393/about-this-blog/. [Accessed 09 December 13]. Maclellan, Jullien.2013. Fifty Shades of Journalist Grey. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.burnabynow.com/opinion/blogs/in-the-spotlight-1.675012/fifty-shades-of-journalistic-grey-of-carol-todd-gillian-shaw-and-a-raging-ethical-debate-1.685906. [Accessed 06 December 13]. Read More