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7/31/2019 Ethics and Journalism Media Ethics
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Media Ethics
hen we enter the area of journalistic ethics, we pass into a swampland of
philosophical speculation where eerie mists of judgment hang low over a
boggy terrain. In spite of the unsure footing and poor visibility, there is no reason
not to make the journey. In fact, it is a journey well worth taking for it brings the matter of
morality to the individual person; it forces the journalist, among others, to consider his basic
principles, his values, his obligations to himself and to others. It forces him to decide for
himself how he will live, how he will conduct his journalistic affairs, how he will think of
himself and of others, how he will think, act and react to the people and issues surrounding
him.
Ethics has to do with duty -- duty to self and/or duty to others. It is primarily individual or
personal even when it relates to obligations and duties to others. The quality of human life
has to do with both solitude and sociability. We do right or wrong by ourselves in that part of
our lives lived inwardly or introverted and also in that part of our lives where we are reacting
and responding to other persons. This duality of individual and social morality is implicit in
the very concept of ethics. The journalist, for example, is not simply writing for the
consumption of others; he is writing as self-expression, and he puts himself and his very
being into his journalism. What he communicates is in a very real way what he himselfis. He
pleases or displeases himself -- not just those in his audience. What he does to live up to
some standard within him not only affects the activities and beliefs of others, but in a very
real way, the very essence of his own life.
A concern for ethics is important. The journalist who has this concern obviously cares about
good or right actions; such a concern indicates an attitude which embraces both freedom and
personal responsibility. It indicates also that the journalist desires to discover norms for
action that will serve him as guiding principles or specific directives in achieving the kind of
life which he thinks most meaningful and satisfying. Ethical concern is important also for it
forces the journalist to commitment, to thoughtful decision among alternatives.
. In the end, to deliberately engage a compassionate stances allows one to face reality with the
full intellect engagedheart and mind balanced. The empathetic journalist will find a way toalleviate the other spain by creating a place for that individual s pain to be heard. Many
believe this way of beingthe way of compassion rests at the core of who and what we are to
be as human beings.
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