Let's Get Ethical!

One of the major conflicts we as aspiring journalist will face is the battle between who we give our loyalty to; either the people who will be reading our paper or watching our news, or the one paying our paycheck. Like most difficult decisions in life, this at first seems like a simple enough to solve problem, but on delving further into the issue we will soon realize it's not quite as black and white as it first appeared. Yes, I completely believe that as journalist our first loyalty is to the citizen. If you are not first and foremost doing your job to help inform the people who rely on you for their source of news, you are not doing your job correct.

This brings up the question, if journalists aren’t working for the public, who are they working for? There is a general distrust of the media lately. People believe we work for the government, big businesses, owners, and the like. This is when I pull out the argument of all of the major papers and news stations code of conducts, like the New York Times here: http://tinyurl.com/lcjgdq. The respectable press works extremely hard on following hard news and telling the public what it needs to know, despite consequences.

Then why are we still hearing stories about the silence of American press on certain issues. One writer for The Oregonian (http://tinyurl.com/2u7j6j ) sent out a call for reports to talk about the possibility of American nuclear secrets being leaked. No reporter responded. The public noticed and wanted to know why. Where does our code of ethics stand there? Should reporters go against the government and talk about issues that are private, or do we speak up at the risk of our jobs? This is a dilemma we will face unless we know where we stand.

The Newseum, my favorite museum in Washington D.C., recognizes the dilemma that journalist face. To help the public understand this, they've created an interactive game table. Here the public can pretend to be in charge of putting the paper together, facing all the real challenges of pleasing the editor, the public, and the owner. It shows the real-life pressure put on journalist today, and is a fun way to learn what it would be like in a real news room. Check out http://tinyurl.com/64m2l97 to learn more about it!