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| Creative Commons photo by Justin Baeder
Journalists and the publications they work for must strive to be ethical in their reporting. In fact, most major publications have their own ethics policies that employees are expected to follow. Click on this link to see The New York Times' ethics policy. It's quite extensive, so I'm not asking you to read all of it. But just skim through it by clicking on the various guidelines highlighted in blue, especially the first two. Take note of one or two of the policies that stand out to you and be prepared to share them in class.
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Friday, November 8, 2013
Exploring Ethical Dilemmas
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The situation that I found most difficult to make a decision for was the second one titled "Controversial Images". I didn't think that putting a graph for the number of local people killed in drunk driving accidents had anything to do with the story because it didn't talk about the teens. The picture with the body parts may have been a little bit too graphic, but it gave an accurate representation of how serious the accident was. When the families of the victims called to complain, it was hard to choose whether to apologize or tell them that stories like this get published everyday. I ended up apologizing to the family, because I did not ask for permission to use the photo, and it seemed a lot less harsher than to tell them that these types of stories are published in the paper everyday.
ReplyDeleteI thought that it was the hardest to make a decision for either "Off the Record" or "The Importance of Note Taking". If a source is telling me things, but asks me to leave it out, they would be shaping the story the way they want it and I wouldn't be giving the whole story. With the other one, I would feel bad constantly hounding someone to repeat information they've already given me or misinterpreting and putting it out in the world.
ReplyDeleteThe scenario I had the hardest time making a decision for was "the importance of note taking". In the scenario "The importance of note taking" it was suggested to just use a "half hearted" quote, when in the guidelines for the New York Times, it says never to alter a quote, that will leave the reader with mistrust. I do understand that it might be misinterpreted by the reporter if they choose to paraphrase it, but I think it is better to misinterpret something than to misquote someone, saying that that is exactly what they said. And if the reporter wasn't clear on exactly what the quote was, isn't misinterpreting something create the same problem as misquoting someone? Only by misquoting someone, you are saying that that is exactly what they said, when it was not the case.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Simone that the hardest scenario to make a decision for was "The Importance of Note-taking". If the information in question was so valuable, I thought I should include it somehow. I thought that I should not quote a source directly unless I had their exact words, so I chose to paraphrase. It seemed like the better option, rather than calling the official's cell phone and going to his house. If I had the notes to back up the meaning of the official's words and did not have them exactly, I figured summarizing would be the better thing to do. However, the evaluation at the end informed me that this decision was not the best one in the situation.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Katie and thought the hardest scenario to choose from was "Controversial Images." I chose to run the photo even though it was bloody and violent. I thought the picture would get the point of the story across. It enhances the story unlike a graphic illustration would. The graphic illustration would not enhance the story as much as the photograph. The photo really shows what happened at the scene, and how gruesome the accident was. Even though I picked to run the photo, it was a difficult choice, because I knew the picture would be sensitive to some people. It was a bloody picture that could offend people. Even though I was sympathetic towards the family who lost their kids, I thought it was a better idea to run the photo to show what really happened at the scene.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Katie and Nadia, saying "Controversial Images" was the hardest scenario to choose from. I also chose to run the story with the photo although it was very graphic. Drunk driving is very dangerous and the graphic picture is a good way to "scare" people to not drink and drive. I felt that the graphic illustration did not relate to the story about the teens. If the story was about the dangers of drinking and driving, the statistics would be relevant but the point of the story was to address the accident with the teens. It was understandable for the family of the victims to be offended by the photo. Like Katie, I apologized to the family and did not fight them on the incident. I still believe the running photo was important to raise awareness of the dangers of driving under the influence.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, scenario 4, Anonymous Sources was the toughest scenario to decide on. I didn't really know the boundaries of the situation and found it sort of confusing. I thought that the public should definitely be informed about the situation but since the officers seemed unwilling to talk about the story I thought that by reporting it they might become upset. If they were upset I thought that it might damage the relationship between reporter and the officers, which would be bad for the paper. In the end, I thought that writing a long "first in a series" article would be the best option.
ReplyDeleteThe most difficult scenario for me to make a decision on was "Controversial Images". When I first read the scenario, my first instinct was to go with the image. However, I thought that since the victims were teenagers, their horrific images should be protected. When the next step was shown, I thought that as a reporter I should I always defend my choices so I decided to explain my viewpoint instead of giving in and writing a series about drunk driving. However, after the explanation was shown, it seemed so obvious to publish the photo because it would add more impact to the story. This interactive quiz shows me that in some areas, journalist have to make extremely difficult choices that could risk their jobs and reputations, I have even more respect for journalist after taking this quiz.
ReplyDeleteThe scenario that I found most difficult to make a decision for is "Controversial Images". I thought that this was the hardest scenario because either one of the options could have worked, there seemed to be no right or wrong in the situations. It also was very conflicting because although I knew no one would like to see the graphic images, they were very newsworthy so they had to be included.
ReplyDeleteI thought that Controversial Images was the hardest scenario to decide on because the kids in the photos were just teenagers and the images we graphic but it is a journalists obligation to report the news in the most accurate and hard-hitting way so I finally decided to run the photo because it gets the point across very well and it would make more sense than a graphic illustration. It may be sensitive to some people but it is important to show the readers the dangers of drunk driving.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the hardest scenario to pick an answer for was "controversial images" because I felt both choices were neither good or bad. Like Paisley said, my first instinct was to pick to post the photo but after thinking about it I realized that publicly posting such a grafic image would not be the best thing to do. Not only would that make some people feel very uncomfortable but also I felt like the teens who were killed should have some privacy. Although they are not alive anymore, showing a grafic picture with blood and limbs may be an invasion of privacy for the teens and their familes. On the other hand, posting a chart of percents of drunk driving accidents doesn't draw as much attention to the article as the photo would, but it keeps things clean and is relatable to the topic.
ReplyDeleteI agree with previous commenters that "Controversial Images" was the most difficult scenario to resolve. My first instinct would have been to not show the photo, to protect the victims and their dignity almost, and so when the final suggestion was to indeed show the photo, for its impact on the readers, I was confused. I think it can be confusing, sometimes, as a journalist as to who/what you should protect and how far you should go when writing a story. I understand that its impact could be helpful in showing the dangers of drunk driving, but I think that motive of helpfulness could easily be misconstrued by some as sensationalism, almost, or just trying to pull readers in. I also think that it is these types of instances that can give journalists and their field a bad reputation for being insensitive, cold, and only caring about getting a good story, whether or not that that is there intent.
ReplyDeleteLike multiple others, I think the most diffucult scenario was "the importance of note taking." I struggled with this because I think that misquoting someone and twisting their words is extremely wrong. By twisting things people say and having bad notes, you can change the tone and meaning to a story. It is important to print fact rather than change words to sway readers one way or another. Even if it is not intentional, the ability of a writer to mess with the meaning of a story is too strong and misquoting someone adds a lot of fuel to that fire. I really struggled with this one. Like Simone said, it is in the New York Time's ethics laws to never misquote or leave out pieces. You never know how that may affect the outcome of putting the quote in. It is much better to tell what the person said outright rather than to mess with it.
ReplyDeleteThe "Controversial Images" scenario was the most difficult in my opinion. I really struggled to determine what option was the best choice. I personally thought that both options had their positive and negative sides. However, I chose to go with not putting the photograph in the paper because I thought it was the most safe and neutral option. I think that by not putting the picture and instead placing the graph in the newspaper, the point was put across just as effectively.This exercise helped me to better understand the difficult situations that reporters have to deal with.
ReplyDeleteThe most difficult scenario for me was "Controversial Images" because, it's hard when it comes to minors. I understand that in journalism you are not supposed to be bias but it would be hard for me to run those gory images because, those are somebodies children. I think the point will be well driven with the statistical image. With the young men being minors it would be even more hurtful to the community. I agree with bireckik about the accuracy of the photograph. Personally I would choose to not run the photo because, of the harshness it would show to the family.
ReplyDelete"Controversial Images" was the most difficult scenario to make a decision for. There is no right answer in this situation and with any option you chose, someone will end up unsatisfied. I would understand if someone chose to run the photograph to illustrate the dangers of drunk driving. It adds life to the story and will get the point across to readers.
ReplyDeleteBUT Most parents wouldn't appreciate seeing a picture of their child's bloody limbs on the front page of their city's newspaper. I wouldn't have published the graphic picture due to the privacy of the deceased and their families.
I agree with Kristen in that the "Controversial Images" scenario was the toughest to judge. In journalism it is important to know your audience. Running the photo would cause somewhat of an uprise and it would get people's attention. Not running the photo would decrease people's interest in the article. I do feel, however, that the teens in the photo would be somewhat disrespected if the photo was printed. Like taylorc said, those teens are someone's precious children. They are important and their family may need their time to privately mourn their loss. Like sullivana said, I first thought that not running the photo would have been a better choice. Now, however, I feel that they should run the photo. Although graphic, the photo would get people thinking and it would certainly have an effect on many.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Katie I think that the most difficult scenario for me was the "Controversial Images," mainly because I wanted to put it out to get the real story out and show that this was and is a tragedy. Going along with that, I didn't want to offend anyone, or make my readers feel uncomfortable, but I think that the picture really should be shown if we want the real story to be shown. I wanted to have the family talk with my editor and possibly find a way to make it better, but when I finished that scenario it showed me that I should show sympathy, but as they stated "a picture's worth a thousand words" and that picture would've really gotten through to others.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone who thought "The Importance of Note-taking" was the hardest scenario. I thought this scenario was hard to evaluate because I can imagine it's hard to be a reporter have tight deadlines to publish a story. The reporter's story in this scenario wasn't coming together so he had to paraphrase. I can see why the reporter would do this, but at the same time, it's kind of wrong wrong. If you incorrectly paraphrase something you thought you "remembered pretty well," it could hurt the interviewee's reputation, the newspaper's reputation, and your reputation. I thought the "evaluation" at the end of the scenario offered really good advice. It said you should review your notes right after interviewing someone so you can fill in the empty holes in your notes. Reviewing your notes right after interviewing someone is important because that way everything is fresh in your mind.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Bridgette because I thought the scenario was hard to evalutate to. I know that I hate deadlines and when I'm under a tight due date, I start to get lazy but also stressed out. The reporter shouldn't have paraphrased, but I can understand why he did; however, if he had paraphrased wrong, everything could have gone wrong.You should always give yourself enough time and always review your notes before writng anything.
ReplyDelete