What obligations do professionals in your field have to their profession, their employees, their colleagues, and their clients and to society as a whole?
The journalism industry follows the MEAA Journalist Code of Ethics; this ensures that published content represents fairness, honesty, independence and respect for the rights of other (MEAA Org, 2017). It is a journalist’s responsibility to remain truthful, impartial and unbiased to maintain a transparent media landscape. As it is their role to keep the public informed and the powerful accountable, their obligation to uphold these ethical principles is critical. Should their primary obligation be to their organisation and its shareholders in the case of a public company?
Ethics is a public
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The way in which an organisation complies to this moral code creates a certain reputation and increased trust within their stakeholder’s overtime.
Do professionals guard their ‘secrets’ from the public? If so, why and how?
Professionals keep secrets from the public in both moral and immoral constructs. Unethically, organisations often keep information from the public to hide action, information or ideas that reflect poorly on the business. An example of this is the case of the company Enron (2001) where financial debt was doctored to perceive the business as more financially stable, therefore, making it more attractive to investors and analysts. Though companies may also choose to keep certain things secret from the public in order to stay competitive with the rivals. An example of this could be a secret cooking recipe.
What are the effects of unclear communication for both the profession itself and the people who are its clients?
Unclear communication between the organisation and their stakeholders can result in a loss of cliental and good reputation as their interests are not being put
News organizations that report on stories in a fair, balanced and ethical manner are essential to the functionality of this nation. A citizen’s ability to make well-informed decisions hinges on a news organization’s ability to relay the most accurate information regarding the state of the nation, the changing condition of communities, and adjustments in the government. Journalism is no longer a one-sided conversation. Journalism is an interactive process that allows for readers and viewers to create a dialogue with journalists by utilizing mediums such as social networking sites and comment sections. Audiences have a say in what stories get reported and how news stories are presented to the masses. When news organizations fail to cover all
There is no denying that news media is big business. The complete coverage of stories and investigative reports are certainly at risk with the rise of media as a business, rather than strictly a service to the public. Over the past few years, there have been a number of cases where television stations or news publications have killed news stories or forced reporters to slant stories due to pressure from advertisers or those in power at the news. This paper will attempt to examine the relationship between social responsibility and news editors, and apply ethical theories to explain what should and can be done. Should editors have the power to kill or slant stories,
In the Journalists’ Code of Ethics is implemented to the media to keep the reporting of all journalists fair and non-judgemental. The professional standards
Professionalism is an adherence to a set of values comprising both a formally agreed-upon code of conduct and the informal expectations of colleagues, clients and society. The key values include acting in a patient's interest, responsiveness to the health needs of society, maintaining the highest standards of excellence in the practice of medicine and in the generation and dissemination of knowledge. In addition to medical knowledge and skills, medical professionals should present psychosocial and humanistic qualities such as caring, empathy, humility and compassion, as well as social responsibility and sensitivity to people's culture and beliefs. All these qualities are expected of members of highly trained professions.
In journalism, an ethical dilemma is a complex issue or situation that often involves an emotional and psychological conflict between moral obligations and duties, in which to obey one would transgress the other. Within the media there are many stories that can be deemed an ethical dilemma; some more so than others. One of the most recent and prominent ethical dilemmas was the worldwide coverage surrounding the shooting of two American WBDJ journalists, Alison Parker and Adam Ward. Despite the fact that the shooter filmed the ordeal clearly showing the two slain journalists being shot, news outlets had picked it up and ran with the story, which ultimately went viral in minutes. This essay will analyse and thoroughly examine the reporting
In today’s day and age, mass media has completely changed the way in which we consume news. The truthfulness of the millions of blogs and web pages makes it hard to trust what is true and what is not. Newspapers are often an overlooked form of news, which is surprising considering that it is a accurate, curated source of media. What sets newspapers apart from all the countless blogs and web pages is the set of ethics that the reporters and editors are required to follow. In State of Play Cal McCaffrey, a reporter for the Washington Globe, did not act in accordance to the code of ethics. McCaffrey knowingly broke the law whilst trespassing, clearly knew McCaffrey had a conflict of interest, and unethically recorded someone while falsely promising anonymity.
Improved communication at the workplace is about more than just substituting information; it's also about being aware of the feelings behind the information involved in the firm. This is so as improved communication can advance
The Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics strives to secure the “free exchange of information”. It must be fair, accurate and thorough and also states that integrity is a key factor in being an ethical journalist. The Society asserts four main principles as the foundations to all ethical journalism and promotes their use in practice by all people in all media. The first code is to “Seek Truth and Report It.” It states that all ethical
Objectivity is an important factor in the world of journalism. Some journalist falls short of objectivity while others seem may seem to contain too much of it, abandoning the artistry of persuasion. Today we live in a world where our own president claims the mainstream news outlets publish "fake news. " It leaves us to wonder whether some factors affect the journalists' reporting. Whether this is ethically correct is also something to ask ourselves.
Code of ethics is always hard to define, with every profession. It's even harder when you're defining it in a way it disturbs your work itself or obligating you to prioritize your missions during work. In this paper, I will present my opinion about the "rescue clause" who has been added to the journalist ethics code. Generally, I'm for it, but I believe that the situation is the X factor, meaning- it depends whether you're reviewing an armed confrontation or reviewing on a civil zone and something bad happens.
In order to apply the aforementioned questions to this case, we must first examine it through the lens of the SPJ Code of Ethics, and determine where it violates—or abides by—it’s four tenants. The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) lays out the four rules a journalist must follow in order to act ethically: seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, and be accountable and transparent (“SPJ Code of
Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel (2014), authors of The Elements of Journalism, claim “Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth” (p. 49) and “Journalism’s first loyalty is to citizens” (p. 72).
Nowadays journalists have the responsibility to report facts as accurately, objectively, and disinterestedly as is humanly possible. ‘’The, honest, self-disciplined, well-trained reporter seeks to be a propagandist for nothing but the truth’’ (Casey, 1944b).
One of the main principles of the SPJ Code of Ethics that I find is most important to me is minimize harm. Minimizing harm according to the SPJ Code of Ethics means, "Ethical journalism treats sources, subjects, colleagues and members of the public as human beings deserving of respect."* This involves that while your job is to inform the community, you should not cause harm or discomfort to your viewer ship or to those involved in the story. Your job as a journalist is to to provide a service to the public, not cause harm to them. By causing no harm you take in consideration on what your public may take offense to and so you make sure your work does the job, but at the same time it is a comfortable read for your viewer ship.
The duty of journalists is to tell the truth. Journalism means you go back to the actual facts, you look at the documents, you discover what the record is, and you report it that way. — Chomsky 2008