Ethics in Journalism is a tricky sort of business to say the least. Not only are there specific types within the field of Journalism that we have to follow, depending on your choices of course, but there are also the influences that society places on us. Combine all of these factors and you end up with a very muddled system and a very confused Caden. However thanks to a fairly enjoyable lecture hosted by the amiable Dr. Harrison, I have come to both better understand and appreciate Ethics in Journalism.
The main aspect that could be ascertained from the first half of the lecture, was that there are four ways that things can be reported and presented in Journalism, Ethically, Unethically, in Bad taster or Good. Each one of these aspects plays a significant part in how the news is viewed and how much influence it can be expected to provide. For example, Dr. Harrison provided the cohort with 10 examples of Good, Bad and Ugly advertising. Let me first point out, that the ethics in Advertising and Journalism are very similar, so the two can be used interchangeably.
One of TV commercials, was a smoking advert. While reported as being highly graphic and possibly disturbing, it was considered neither in bad taste or unethical. This ad went on to see large publicity and has shaped how various peoples view smoking. Another add that was shown, was a now infamous Australian tourism ad, featuring a bikini clad Lara Bingle, before all the “scandal.” This ad was considered controversial because of a phrase “Where the Bloody Hell are You?” resulting in it being pulled for television in the UK. It wasn’t helped by the fact that they used objectification of women as a selling point to come to Australia either. This resulted in the ad being in both bad taste and arguably unethical and was a significant loss for the Australian tourism industry, showing just how far a bad ad or bit of journalism can have on someone, or in this case a country.
The second half of the lecture, dealt with the three main types of ethics, Deontology, Consequentialism and Virtue Ethics. Deontology put simply, is following the external rule, the established rules of society set by others. This mainly results in Journo’s who follow everything by the books and who would probably be considered uppity by the Queen’s royal dress maker. Consequentialism would be considered the opposite of this, the rogue cop in the precinct who plays by his own rules, focusing on the end and disregarding the middle as a necessary occurrence. While not mentioned in the lecture, I imagine this is how some of the people involved in The News of the World Scandal felt, which shows just how badly this code of ethics can be. Finally we have virtue ethics, basically a toned down version of consequentialism. What sets this apart, is that it is based on the ethics and personal values of the journalist in question, deciding whether he/she is doing what is right and going only as far as they see fit. While I personally like this type of Journalism, I can’t help but see issues arising from it, depending on how far the journo is willing to go and the consequence that could potentially arise from this.
Lecture 8, while not being necessarily the most entertaining, was a very helpful lecture and really shines a light on just how black and white the whole situation is.
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