1. Ethics and News Gathering- Sources of Conflict
•While the codes can be useful, applying ethics is not easy.
•The difficulty of ethics becomes clear when a mass
communicator is confronted with a conflict: The
application of media ethics almost always involves finding
the most morally defensible answer to a problem for
which there is no single correct or even best answer.
What would you do?
•As a reporter, would you shoot a grieving father and ask
him questions as he holds his child at an accident scene or
leave him in piece?
•The father’s sorrow is part of the story, and the reporter’s
job is to get the story and the public has the right to know,
but the man also has a right to privacy.
•The decision is guided by the reporters ethics
2. Privacy and Intrusion
•The code prescribes that reporters should show respect for
the privacy of people “at all times”.
•The right to privacy protects an individual’s peace of mind
and personal feelings.
•Case such as Princess Diana’s death in 1997 have raised the
issue of invasion of privacy.
•Invasion of Privacy addresses a person’s right to be left
alone, without his or her name, image, or daily activities
becoming public property.
•This ethical issue raises several ethical questions among
media practitioners such as:
•Do public figures lose their right to privacy?
•Usually, private people have a greater right to control
information about themselves than do public officials
and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only
an important public need can justify intrusion into
anyone's privacy.
•Journalist should be very careful in the publication of private
matters, such as the unauthorized disclosure of private
statements about an individual’s health, affairs, or economic
status.
thics and
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sabato agosto 09, 20142011-10-19T21:28:00Z
