Ethics in Journalism: What to do?

Scholarly Paper

Elizabeth McKinney
Think to Win TREX
Dr. Walker
12-2-11

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Journalism, in its real essence, though a world profession, is a local product. This quote
comes from Walter Williams, an editor and global journalist, and an important person in the
world of journalism ethics (Ibold 207). Journalism is a business that belongs to the people. It is
used more locally than worldly, and the locals eat it up. However, the people want to know the
whole story, and they want it to be the truth. In order to keep their jobs, journalists do whatever it
takes to get the whole story, which raises the question of ethics. What is considered ethical or
non-ethical in the journalistic world? The problem is that many journalists and reporters dont
know where to draw the line, or if they do know, they simply draw the line and ignore it.
Journalism has its roots with the first cities. People needed a way to communicate with
other people; they have always wanted to know what is going on both in their town and in the
next town over. By 1901, the postal system was delivering almost eight billion messages in the
United States alone. This number only continued to rise as technology and populations advanced.
In fact, in 1915 over 2,200 English newspapers were published daily, along with almost 200
foreign papers (Ibold 210).
All this reporting and sharing led to some discussion amongst journalists and journalism
professors. What should be told? How much should be told? How should we get our
information? All of these questions have been attempted over the years, but there has been no
solid answer yet.
Today, journalism is part of clashing cultures, values, and identities which pose a
challenge to the people who recognize the problems in journalism ethics and are trying to fix
them (Ibold 208). Because journalism is not only facts but also a combination of social values
and preferences (Birsen 231), ethicists have to look at many factors when discussing the ethics in
journalism. One factor that has been fairly widely determined is what exactly the ethics of

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journalism should be. According to the article Internet Journalism and Journalist Ethics:
Working Conditions and Qualifications of Journalists in the New Media, ethics should include
accuracy, objectiveness, honesty and fairness (Birsen 231), along with integrity and balance,
which contradict the rapidity and haste of journalism (Birsen 234). Reinardy and Moore say
journalism ethics also consist of responsibility, credibility, and a lack of bias (163). Theodore
Glasser and James Ettema, in their article Ethics and Eloquence in Journalism, also say that
ethics can be summed up in a single word: accountability (512). This means, basically, that a
journalist should not publish any work that they would not want to be held accountable for.
The biggest problem journalists face is where to draw the line when it comes to making
an ethical decision. Many are at odds as to what constitutes being or not being ethical. Someone
who is not a journalist might say the answer is simple: do what you personally think is ethical.
Journalists are conflicted even on this, however. In the article written by Glasser and Ettema, the
interviews described provide examples of these conflictions. Several of the reporters have
admitted to posing as someone else in order to get a story, though they say they wouldnt actually
say they were someone they are not. This statement is a direct contradiction to the actions of one
of the reporters: he was investigating a riot situation at a prison and discovered there were
hostages being held in the jail. He climbed over the fence into the prison grounds and posed as a
hostage for several days, long enough to get the names of everyone there. Finally, the guards
noticed him and questioned who he was. The reporter told the guard he was with a certain family,
without knowing that the family he chose had a different ethnic background, and the guard
became suspicious, so the reporter had to leave (520). Another example is a reporter who
theoretically said if he were to go to a crime scene and be greeted by an office as detective, he
would not deny that he was a detective. Instead, he would continue and get his story (519).

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However, by failing to deny the officers claim, the reporter is saying that he is indeed a
detective.
Birsens article also points out several obstacles found in journalism practices that may
lead to non-ethical practices. One of these factors is the competitive structure of the journalism
world (232). The journalism realm is indeed one of competition. Reporters all over the world are
racing each other to get the top story out first. There are a number of steps they must take in
order to do so, and any one of these steps can give way to a bad decision.
The first step a reporter faces is deciding what to report. Based on his or her audience, a
decision must be made. Is the story okay for children to hear? Will this story upset people
enough to make them stop reading my articles? Is this something the people really need to
know? On top of worrying about the audience, the reporter must look at his or her bosss
company (Birsen 232). What sort of stories do we publish? Will this story fit? Once a reporter
has weeded through these questions, he or she can start writing the article.
Next, the reporter has to decide where to get the information. When conducting
interviews, the ethics of recording comes up. Many journalists feel it is okay to take notes
without permission, but it is not okay to video tape or record the interview without permission
or at all. After gathering all of the sources, the reporter must put everything together into a story.
For a good, ethical reporter, the story will accurately represent each of the sources and will tell
nothing but the truth. For other not so ethical reporters, this is not the case. Many will publish an
article without knowing the whole story, or not having legitimate sources, or maybe even having
used sources that were supposed to remain confidential.
Out of all of these ethical questions, problems, and decisions, a broader question arises:
when exactly do journalists learn ethics? Two obvious answers to this seemingly simple question

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are schoolmainly collegeand experience. However, courses in the first schools of journalism
did nothing to encourage moral philosophical thinking in the students (Ibold 213). Even today,
the students are not learning much about ethics in their classes. A study done by journalists Scott
Reinardy and Jensen Moore examined incoming journalism students and graduating journalism
students and their ethical reasoning habits. They found that students who are entering the
program have higher ethical standards compared to the graduating students (169). This shows
that ethics are, essentially, being unlearned in college journalism courses.
Since journalists learn ethics through experience, they often make a decision they later
realize was wrong. At the time, they may be a little unsure about the act, but they make up
excuses. Cary Spivaks article Short on ethics? looks at the idea of financing journalism
businesses by trading the stocks of companies investigated by the journalists. One example is a
man named Christopher Carey, who, at first, is unsure about this mode of finance, but later
accepts the idea because he needed an excuse to escape from his job at the local newspaper
(58). Spivak offers several other viewpoints from different journalists in the same types of
business who all accept this type of revenue, even if they are a little unsure about it. In the article
When do Journalists Learn About Ethics? An Examination of Introductory and Graduating
Students Ethical Perceptions, two authors, Kovach and Rosenstiel, who wrote about a
journalism scandal in the 1990s, are quoted, news organizations (are) unable to maintain or
even define their own ethical standards (qtd. in Reinardy and Moore 163). When a company
cannot set an ethical code for their employees to follow, how can the public expect the journalist
to be an ethical reporter?
The public view journalists as their go-to person. Journalists are supposed to know all the
details about all the stories. In order to stay in societys good graces, journalists make sure they

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know all the details of all the stories, even if they have to get their information in a not-so-public
way. When the public finds out about a reporter who has done something like this, they lose
respect for that person, and sometimes even the newspaper, magazine, journal, or television show
that reporter works for. That journalist will then lose his or her credibility and most likely, his or
her job. This exposure also does further damage: the public has, at least temporarily, a lessened
perception of ethical standards in journalism (Reinardy and Moore 162). This is a major
setback for the entire journalism world, not just the individuals charged with the crime, who
must now win back the trust of the public.
The pressures from the public go even further, however. Of the six interviews in
Glassmer and Ettemas article, three of the reporters said they would not tell their interviewee
they were taking notes, but they would inform them of a tape recorder. When asked to clarify the
difference, each mentioned they werent sure what the difference was, but it might have
something to do with the fact that a recording device is much more accurate (516-520). This
information reveals to the reader that, whether consciously or not, reporters worry that their
informant will not want the most accurate representation of their words. With a reporter taking
notes during an interview, they are likely to make mistakes. When using a tape recorder,
however, mistakes are much less likely. This also tells readers that, despite the publics
seemingly apparent desire for truth, they are afraid to give the truth to reporters.
All of this pressure on journalists to find a good, full story quickly is what pushes them
over the edge. One problem they face with this issue is deadlines. These blaring obstacles often
push a reporter to making non-ethical decisions. For example, someone who is trying to get a
story done quickly may not cite their sources correctlyor at all. Other times, a rushed reporter
will misquote a source or maybe make up information in order to fill in gaps in their story. In the

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article When do Journalists Learn About Ethics?, the authors write the push in the newsroom .
. . can lead some journalists to fabricate, distort, or embellish their stories (162). This behavior
is not only unethical, it is unfavorable, and is something that can be and needs to be stopped.
At this point, many people are wondering what exactly we, as society, can do about this
issue. There are two plausible solutions: continue as is, with ethics being perceived as goals
instead of habits (Reinardy and Moore 163), or set strict rules for journalists and teach them
these rules during their schooling. Obviously, the system that is in place now is only harming the
community journalism has a hold on. The only way to remedy the situation is to start enforcing
the rules of ethics in journalism while the aspiring young journalists are still in school. Students
should be given hypothetical situations so they can learn how to analyze the scene and pick the
most ethical response to it. As Birsen says, the best way to reduce errors concerning rules of
ethics is to internalize these rules. He goes on to say experience and training are the most
important tools for that (235). Before a reporter can get any experience, he must go through
trainingboth in school and in the world of journalism.
When ethics are taught in school instead of in the real world, we will see the rise of a
stronger, more trustworthy journalism world. Teaching ethics through experience hasnt worked
thus far, so why should we continue with it? Colleges need to create syllabuses and courses that
focus on the importance of ethics in a journalism career. Then, the professors need to apply these
syllabuses, through their lessons, to real life. That is the only way to ensure there are journalists
in the world who are able to make ethical decisions when it comes to their job.

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Works Cited
Birsen, Haluk. Internet Journalism and Journalistic Ethics: Working Conditions and
Qualifications ofJournalists in the New Media. Journal of US-China Public
Administration 8.2 (2011): 230-240. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Nov. 2011.
Glasser, Theodore L., and James S. Ettema. Ethics and Eloquence in Journalism. Journalism
Studies 9.4 (2008): 512-534. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Nov. 2011.
Ibold, Hans. Walter Williams, Country Edotir and Global Journalist: Pastoral Exceptionalism
and Global Journalism Ethics at the Turn of the 20th Century. Journal of Mass Media
Ethics 25.3 (2010): 207-225. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Nov. 2011.
Reinardy, Scott, and Jensen Moore. When do Journalists Learn About Ethics? An Examinatoin
of Introductory and Graduating Students Ethical Perceptions. Journalism and Mass
Communication Educator 62.2 (2007): 161-175. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21
Nov. 2011.
Spivak, Cary. Short on Ethics? American Journalism Review 32.3 (2010): 58-63. Academic
Search Complete. Web. 21 Nov. 2011.