Ethics in Journalism

The questions that we are asked to answer about the presentation include what is the role of a journalist's conscience? The discussion in class was great and we could have continued discussing ethics and probably never come to a conclusion. We had some good comments about the incident on the Morning Joe show on MSNBC when Mika Brzezinski shredded and tried to burn the script with the leading story of Paris Hilton being released from jail. It was big news that was talked about all over the internet, including an article on softpedia commenting on the incident. Most people supported her actions from what I saw on the internet. In our class though, we appreciated her viewpoint but didn't agree with how she handled the incident. Ms. Brzezinski made a stand for her beliefs and that should be applauded. Her conscience would not allow her to lead with the story again when there was more important news to cover.

The newsroom needs diversity in the workplace so that these kinds of opinions can be expressed. If everyone thought the same and agreed to everything equally, the newsroom could get boring and no one would think outside the box. With our backgrounds, biases (although we shouldn't show those in our stories), and our ethical beliefs, the newsroom can provide enough diversity to allow stories of all kinds to be covered and published.

According to the Society of Professional Journalism, journalists can voluntarily follow a code of ethics that have been published. This code of ethics includes four main points to follow as a journalist. They are:
Seek Truth and Report It
Minimize Harm
Act Independently
Be Accountable

Members of the Society believe (according to the ethics preamble) that: "Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist's credibility. Members of the Society share a dedication to ethical behavior and adopt this code to declare the Society's principles and standards of practice."

Following this code of ethics and bringing in our own background and biases, diversity will occur in the newsroom which will result in a fair and balanced view of the news that is being reported. It isn't always an easy battle to stand up for what we believe in and just as our LDS Prophets have told us numerous times, we need to make the decision before the choice is placed before us. The decision will be easier to make if we have committed already to live ethically and to follow our consciences.