Ethical decision-making

Some newsrooms deal with ethical quandaries from the top down. Whenever an issue or dilemma arises, a senior manager decides what to do. This approach has the advantage of being quick, but it can be arbitrary. It does nothing to help journalists make good decisions when they are out in the field or when the manager is unavailable. For that reason, many newsrooms have adopted an ethical decision-making process that is more inclusive and that helps all journalists make good decisions under a variety of circumstances.

The first step in the process is to define the dilemma. Most people recognize when they are facing an ethical quandary. An internal alarm goes off. Something does not feel quite right about a situation. When that happens, it’s important to spell out what's bothering you. What are the values that may be compromised? What journalistic issues are at stake? Often there is tension between a journalistic goal and an ethical stand. The reporter who has an exclusive story may want to rush it into print before any one else gets it, but he also needs to consider the possible consequences. What if the story turns out to be wrong? Journalists should not sacrifice their ethical values to achieve other objectives, such as beating the competition.

The next step after defining the problem is to collect more information to help you make a good decision. Consult newsroom policies and guidelines, if any exist, and talk to others about the dilemma. Begin with colleagues and supervisors in the newsroom, but don’t stop there. It’s often useful to include other voices, people who are not directly involved in the story but who are knowledgeable about the circumstances.

It’s important to note that journalists, unlike doctors, are not expected to promise to do no harm. Many truthful and important stories will hurt people’s feelings or reputations. It’s inevitable. But journalists do try to minimize the harm by not putting people at unnecessary risk.

A journalist should take into account the type and placement of the coverage, as well as its tone. The impact of a front-page story with a banner headline and a large photograph is considerably greater than a smaller story that runs on an inside page. A television story that is promoted multiple times before it airs would have more impact, and therefore greater ethical consequences, than a story told once in the middle of a newscast.

Going through a process to make good ethical decisions puts journalists and news organizations in a position to justify their actions clearly. By explaining what was done and why, journalists are able to bolster their credibility and justify the public’s trust in them (From “The Impact of Information on Society”).

Дата добавления: 2015-07-11