Most journalists serve the community. Or at least they should. But journalism today has fallen in their ethics and often compete for the best story rather than think about the consequences of their action.
The story is important and for your news station to break it is important. You want to be the leading news and something people will come back for. But is that initial break worth the consequences of your actions?
You make ethical decisions without realizing it. Each time you choose to air a story you are presented with ethical decisions. Where you do the story... who you do it with... Often times these decisions are small. But as you serve the public, it is your responsibility as a journalist to realize these decisions and think about it.
For example, you go to the hospital to interview a burn victim. You talk to the hospital PR department but they will not let you talk to the victim. You decide to call the victim and he wants an interview. You bring your equipment to the hospital again and sneak it in and get the interview. It airs and the hospital PR department calls and says you were putting the patients in danger. Your equipment was in danger of blowing a fuse in the hospital risking lives. Was your sneak right?
Well no. If you said yes, your news story was more important than the human lives. Would you want someone risking your life to get a story? These are things you must weigh in choosing the ethical decisions. Am I putting people in danger? Are there other ways to do the story? Will this save lives?
And most times if you work with the PR department you may work something out. Most PR departments will arrange an interview if you ask. You may say I did ask she said no... but come ready with why this is important and then come with a suggestion of how you can do this. Can we move the patient?
If you make a mistake, it is embarrassing. But it is even more embarrassing when news casts do not own up to their mistakes. Apologize. Hopefully you will learn from it. Embarrassment is a great learning emotion.
Ethical journalism is not something you choose. Rather, you can learn. You should commit yourself to being ethical and even learning from others mistakes but to succeed you must choose to think about your choices and decisions.
Journalism is a life long career that takes time to build. And of you do not enjoy your job, leave. Because you are only making this ethical job harder and getting in the way of the people who are wanting to be in this career. I am not talking about occasional inmotivation to do a story but a general dislike for the career. If you find yourself wanting to not do every story and talk to people (journalism is a people career) then move on to do what you love.
As a station, you should always disclose your news gathering process. This does not mean to share your tactics but where you got it and how you went about doing it.It makes you credible and trustworthy. With freedom of the press, you should owe it to the public to disclose your gathering tactics. And there is nothing to hide. If you are good at news, let the world know how you do it because we have enough bad journalists in this world not helping our career.
Ethics are hard and everyone should collaborate in the news station to think about the decision. Ask people if your not sure. If they tell you no ask why... if the reason is ethically concerning do not do it. Figure out an alternative way to tell the story. And if people are not cooperating tell the public that and make it a reader instead of a piece with video.
Journalism is a learning job. You should always have a dedication to learning. And learning the ethics of journalism is part of that life long learning. Each story is an ethical choice. Your calls. Your news. Your career. Be the best journalist you can be and love it.
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