The Ethical Journalist. Gene Foreman

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СКАЧАТЬ an ethical value. On the other side is a nonethical value. The clear choice for the ethical person is to reject the nonethical value and act on the ethical value, to “choose ethics over expediency.” ¹⁸

      This is not to say that such choices are easy. To the contrary, these choices often result in self‐sacrifice. In journalism, for example, a reporter might have to give up doing a story that will raise broadcast ratings (a nonethical value) if it requires invading someone’s privacy (an ethical value). This underscores the point made at the beginning of this chapter – that doing the right thing requires action, and it can entail a heavy cost.

      When Virginia Gerst quit her job over a principle and John Cruickshank acknowledged to advertisers that they had been shortchanged, they were making sacrifices in order to do the right thing. To do nothing, to go along, might have been an easier choice – but it would have been wrong. Gerst and Cruickshank were confronted not with an ethical dilemma (which Rushworth Kidder labels a right‐versus‐right choice) but with a false ethical dilemma (right versus wrong). This observation takes nothing away from the courage of either Gerst or Cruickshank.

      Ethical Decision: Complex Process

The person who makes a decision in a given situation is called the moral agent. To be an effective moral agent, you can’t decide on a whim. Clear thinking is needed. Ultimately, your decision must be one that you can defend as having been rationally chosen by a caring individual. Josephson described the complexity of the process:

Most decisions have to be made in the context of economic, professional, and social pressures which can sometimes challenge our ethical goals and conceal or confuse the moral issues. In addition, making ethical choices is complex because, in many situations, there are a multitude of competing interests and values. Other times, crucial facts are unknown or ambiguous. Since many actions are likely to benefit some people at the expense of others, the decision maker must prioritize competing moral claims and must be proficient at predicting the likely consequences of various choices. 19

      With practice, you will be more confident and consistent in your decision‐making.

      This does not mean that you will not make mistakes. Everyone does.

      “We need to acknowledge the mistakes, figure out how and why mistakes are made, and then try to do better,” ethics scholars Deni Elliott and Paul Martin Lester have written. In their view, professionals who take ethics seriously will “stay conscious of the power that they have and the responsibility that they have to use that power judiciously.” They will treat people fairly, with respect and compassion; they will keep an open mind to alternatives. ²⁰

      Elliott and Lester suggested a final check. If you think you have made your decision in a rational way, would you be willing to allow your decision process to be published on the front page or run in the first news segment on television? ²¹ If you wince at that prospect, you ought to think again.

      Notes

      1 1 Michael Miner, “Pioneer Press aims at foot, fires,” Chicago Reader, Sept. 5, 2003, and “Yes, Virginia, some people still care about ethics,” Chicago Reader, May 7, 2004.

      2 2 Eric Herman, “Paper sales inflated up to 50,000 a day,” Chicago Sun-Times, Oct. 6, 2004, and Jacques Steinberg, “Sun-Times managers said to defraud advertisers,” The New York Times, Oct. 6, 2004.

      3 3 Michael Josephson, “Definitions in ethics,” unpublished paper (2001). The paper is available on this textbook’s website.

      4 4 Keith Woods, Oweida Lecture in Journalism Ethics, Pennsylvania State University, Apr. 11, 2006.

      5 5 Louis A. Day, Ethics in Media Communications: Cases and Controversies, 5th edn. (Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth, 2006), 5.

      6 6 Robert Audi (ed.), The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 284.

      7 7 Gerald A. LaRue, “Ancient ethics,” in Peter Singer (ed.), A Companion to Ethics (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991), 32.

      8 8 Elaine E. Englehardt and Ralph D. Barney, Media and Ethics: Principles for Moral Decisions (Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth, 2002), 25.

      9 9 Day, Ethics in Media Communications, 3.

      10 10 Rushworth M. Kidder, How Good People Make Tough Choices: Resolving the Dilemmas of Ethical Living (New York: HarperCollins,1995), 159.

      11 11 Michael Josephson, Making Ethical Decisions (Los Angeles: Josephson Institute, 2002), 5.

      12 12 This definition of civil disobedience appears in Day, Ethics in Media Communications, 34.

      13 13 Ibid., 15–16.

      14 14 Josephson, “Definitions in ethics”.

      15 15 Josephson, Making Ethical Decisions, 4.

      16 16 Michael Josephson, Becoming an Exemplary Police Officer (Los Angeles: Josephson Institute, 2007), 21. Although the book was written for police officers, it offers Josephson’s thinking on ethics in a general sense. (The paper is available in the Student Resources section of the website).

      17 17 Lawrence Kohlberg, Essays in Moral Development, vol. 1, The Philosophy of Moral Development: Moral Stages and the Idea of Justice (New York: Harper & Row, 1981), 12.

      18 18 Michael Josephson, Ethical Issues and Opportunities in Journalism (Marina del Rey, CA: Josephson Institute, 1991), 26.

      19 19 Michael Josephson, unpublished paper on ethical decision–making (2001).

      20 20 Deni Elliott and Paul Martin Lester, “Taking ethics seriously: to err is human,” News Photographer, May 2004.

      21 21 Ibid.

3 The News Media’s Role in Society The profession has matured and accepted social responsibility.

      Covering the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, journalists were driven by a professional instinct to provide reliable information about the unknown.

       Terraxplorer/E+/Getty Images.

      Learning Goals

This chapter will help you understand:

       journalism’s purpose and its guiding principles;

       the meaning of the term social responsibility;

       how journalism was practiced in an earlier era, and the ethical awakening that began in the mid-1970s;

       the reasons for this period of reform; and

       how today’s practice of journalism reflects decades of rising professionalism.

      IN THE HORROR of September 11, 2001, many journalists СКАЧАТЬ