Media Code Of Ethics Essay Research Paper

Media Code Of Ethics Essay, Research Paper

Media Ethics Definition

Webster s New World Pocket Dictionary defines ethics as moral standards and as a system of morals. Webster s then defines moral as, of or dealing with right or wrong. Similarly, media ethics are moral standards that are applied to the media. An example of this is the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics(1), a standardized list of items that members of the SPJ use as a guide in their strides to be effective journalists. In a similar manner, media professionals sometimes use their code of ethics as a device to shield themselves from attacks that are often led by individuals from the public who are dissatisfied with the journalist s work. Just as codes of ethics are utilized in various ways, the definition of media ethics is multifaceted.

There is no single, ruling definition of media ethics. Instead, the concept of media ethics exists in many forms that are all based on a similar premise of acting as a blueprint from which media personnel can base their practices and their decisions. Ethics are not absolute rules, and individuals who work with codes of ethics are not legally bound to them. But, a media worker may be held professionally responsible for their actions if they are in conflict with their profession s code of ethics. For example, if a journalist was to include racist remarks in their newspaper story about an Asians American politician, that journalist would not likely be arrested, but they would certainly be fired from their job. Even though ethics are not as absolute as laws, individuals can still be held accountable both socially and professionally, if they intentionally or carelessly break the code of ethics that they work from.

Ethics vary from individual to individual in the same way that they vary from organization to organization. In Webster s definition of ethics as a system of morals, it is important to recognize that the definition of morals can vary greatly form one person to another. My personal moral standards are substantially different from the moral standards of a Catholic Bishop, who was raised in a strict Roman Catholic household. This is to say that my ideas of what is right and what is wrong would be considerably different from a Bishop s concept of right and wrong. This is what makes the term ethics, and specifically media ethics difficult to define, because there is not a universal mindset as to what is morally correct.

Luckily, there is enough of a standard among the different media professions to allow for a general outline of ethical standards that is accepted by the large majority of media workers. This general standardization grants the media credibility that it would not otherwise receive from its ever-watchful public, who it relies as both a source of material and also as a source of income.

Revised Sutdent Ethics Code

My group has chosen to adopt the SPJ Code of Ethics as our model code of journalistic ethics. We based our decisions on the premise that we were building an ideal code that would be applied to our journalistic efforts as editors and reporters on a student-run campus publication

After carefully reviewing the SPJ Code of Ethics, we decided to utilize a majority of the code as it was already written. We did make some changes as they applied to our own campus publication. The SPJ Code is written around the same central purpose of public enlightenment that our group believes is the most important task of the journalists. Our group decided that the overall order of the SPJ Code of Ethics follows along with the same general order that we assigned to the ethical values of the code. As a group, we did decide that we would change the order and wording of some of the points in each of the SPJ s four sections. I personally feel strongly about the changes that we made because I believe that they are necessary to help guarantee that our paper will be the best that it can be.

In the report section of Seek Truth and Report It, I made more changes than I did in any of the other three sections. SPJ s third standard, to identify sources whenever feasible, does not meet standards for our newspaper. I think that it is crucial that our publication identifies all of its sources that we use for our information. This is because the public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources reliability and their identity. By giving sources’ identity we are taking every possible step to report the truth and to discourage people from using anonymity as a mask for their own biased intentions. Along with changing this standard, I also changed the following standard that read, Always question sources motives before promising anonymity. Clarify conditions attached to any promise made in exchange for information. Keep promises. In my new code I will never promise anonymity, therefor I changed the standard to read, Always question sources motives. Clarify conditions involved in exchanging information. Make no promises. The sixth SPJ standard, which states that the content of news photos or videos should never be distorted, is effective, but it is not specific enough. Our group believed that no image should ever be altered by our publication, not even flipping a picture to make it more aesthetically pleasing. Also, I think that the seventh standard should be moved to the very bottom of the Seek Truth se