Chapter 15

EthicalPracticesandPolicies
Chapter Outline
Major Topics Covered:
Origin of Ethical Concepts in Journalism
Defining Ethical Dilemmas
Truthfulness
Fairness
Privacy
Responsibility
Philosophical Principles of Journalistic Ethics
How the Media Define Ethics
Professional Ethics Codes
The Medias Response to Criticism
The Importance of Professional Ethics

I. Introduction:
A. In an article on journalistic ethics in Esquire magazine, journalist
Anthony Brandt recognizes a need to balance the right of the
public to

know, against the impact on people's lives of journalistic ethical

lapses, i.e. unintentional mistakes.

II. Origin of Ethical Concepts in Journalism:

A. The word ethics derives from the Greek word ethos, which means the
traditions or

guiding spirit that govern a culture.

B. The United States unique First Amendment protection given to the

press comes with an implicit set of special obligations for the
privilege of a free press (i.e., professional ethics).
C. Journalists sometimes make poor ethical judgments because they work
hastily, want to be recognized for breaking the story, dont have
sufficient information to know the truth or are insensitive to the
consequences of their actions. Some examples include:
1. Misrepresentation (falsehood)
2. Insider friendships (bias)
3. Reporting personal information (invasion of privacy)
4. Staging sensational events (acting irresponsibly)

III. Defining Ethical Dilemmas:

A. Ethical dilemmas faced by the media can be described using four
categories: truthfulness, fairness, privacy and responsibility.

A. Truthfulness:
Challenges to truthfulness or factual accuracy in reporting include:
1. Misrepresentation (of people or situations)
a. Kim Stacy, Jayson Blair, and other journalists have fabricated
and misrepresented facts in news publications.
News organizations published statements detailing the
falsehoods and apologizing to readers.
2. Disinformation (government officials using media for their own
ends):
a. In October 1986, the press learned that in August 1986 the
Reagan administration had launched a disinformation
campaign

to scare Libyan leader Moammar Qadhafi.

B. Fairness:
Challenges to fairness, or impartiality, in reporting include:
1. Insider friendships: close ties between reporters and the people they
right about
a. Journalist George Will coached candidate Ronald Reagan before
a TV debate.
b. Barbara Walters carried a message from an arms merchant to
President Reagan.
2. Conflicts of interest: reporters' accepting personal or financial
benefits from sources, sponsors, or advertisers
a. Journalist R. Foster Winans leaked stock information to friends.
b. Some reporters have accepted freebies and junkets.

 Checkbook journalism: reporters or media paying their sources for

stories:
1. Inside Edition paid skater Tonya Harding for an interview.
2. Dangers are that the interviewee will sensationalize the
information or have a hidden agenda, or that the interview
becomes the property of the highest bidder.

C. Privacy:
a. Privacy questions often involve balancing public good against private
pain.
b. One argument for reporting on people with AIDS is that the less
widely the disease is acknowledged, the less it can be understood, but
the other argument is that a persons illness and death are private.
c. Reporting on rape demands balancing the public interest in personal
information about people against the potential harm of publicizing the
names of rape victims or the salacious details of the crime.

D. Responsibility
a. News selection and treatment involves responsibility to the public and
to the sources and

subjects of news.

b. Examples of lapses in responsibility include:

1. An accident demonstration staged by Dateline NBC using spark
igniters to cause a truck gas tank explosion.
2. CNNs coverage of a live raid on someone later found innocent.

IV. Philosophical Principles of Journalistic Ethics:

A. Five philosophical principles are generally accepted as underlying the
application of ethical decisions.
1. Aristotles golden mean (philosophy of moderation; fairness)
2. Kants categorical imperative (making decisions based on
principles that you want to be universally applied)
3. Mills principle of utility (that the best decision is the one with the
biggest overall benefit for the most human beings)
4. Rawls veil of ignorance (basic respect for everyone, regardless of
social position)
5. Judeo-Christian view of people as ends in themselves (that people
should care for one another equally and without favor)
B. None of these five principles operates independently, and this makes
journalists ethical

choices difficult.

C. Journalists generally adopt a philosophy of situational ethics

because each circumstance is different and may call for unique
decisions.

V. How the Media Define Ethics:

A. Codes of ethics can be general, specific and/or personal.
B. Some ethical decisions can carry legal consequences.
1. In most cases, a news reporter or organization that makes an ethical
mistake will not face a lawsuit.
2. Damage is done to the reputation of the individual journalist and
the news organization, and perhaps to the newsmaker involved.

VI. Professional Ethics Codes:

A. Professional codes of ethics set a leadership tone for a profession, an
organization or an

individual.

B. In 1976, a U.S. federal judge abolished the National Association of

Broadcasters (NAB) code, claiming that the provisions violated the
First Amendment.
C. Today, codes of ethics are meant as guidelines, are voluntary, and
carry no absolute penalties for those who violate the rules.
D. Three widely used codes of ethics are:
1. The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics (SPJ)
2. Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) Code of
Broadcast News Ethics
3. The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Code of
Professional Standards

VII. The Medias Response to Criticism:

A. Most journalists use good judgment, but the press has offered three
solutions for complaints that must be handled quickly:
1. News councils, which review public complaints and report findings
to the offending news organization.
2. Readers representative (ombudsperson), a go-between at
newspapers who responds to public complaints and publishes
answers to criticisms in the newspaper.
3. Correction boxes in newspapers, which are published in the same
prominent place in the newspaper each day.

VIII. The Importance of Professional Ethics:

A. Reporters face the same ethical decisions all people facewhether to
be honest, how to be fair, how to be sensitive and how to be
responsible.
B. The difference is that reporters and editors publish and broadcast the
results of their ethical judgments.
C. Concerning the importance of professional ethics, John Hulteng has
written that the First Amendment power of the press must be used
responsibly and compassionate.

DONE