What are Ethics?
• Ethics are the moral principals that govern the conduct of individuals and organizations.
• The moral basis we use to resolve dilemmas.
• Ethics is not about laws.
• Journalists must always conduct themselves ethically
Elements of Ethics
1. Accuracy
2. Credibility
3. Objectivity
Accuracy
• Accuracy means getting all the facts right and always seeking the truth.
• From something as simple as getting the correct spelling of a name
• The smallest mistake reduces credibility • Never guess, always double check if you are
not sure.
PLAY – Richard Jewell
Credibility
• Credibility is the reputation for being right.• It is the ability to be believed and trusted.• Without credibility a Newspaper or News
station loses its audience
Objectivity • Objectivity is to be fair and impartial..to
present both sides. • Avoid any conflict of interest.• No matter what your personal feelings are,
you must remain objective.• Always set aside personal feelings
Ethics Violations• Plagiarism
• Fabrication
• Lack of objectivity
• Deception
Plagiarism
• Plagiarism is copying the work of others and passing it off as your own.
• Computers and the internet make it easy to cut and paste and pass things off as your own.
• There are no excuses for plagiarism
Jayson Blair
• 27-year-old rising star at the New York Times
• Fired in 2003 after he was caught plagiarizing and fabricating stories about the Washington-area sniper case
• Editor Howell Raines and Managing Editor Gerald Boyd resigned after failing to catch the fraud.
PLAY
Fabrication
• Making up a story that never happened • Making up quotes • Making up details• Fiction
Stephen Glass• a 25-year-old former superstar at the
New Republic• fabricated quotes, sources and stories
to rise to the top. • He attempted to substantiate his
wrongdoing by inventing phony business cards, creating a bogus Website and crafting notes from interviews that never took place.
• His con ended in 1998 when a Forbes online reporter unmasked the serial liar's "Hack Heaven" story as a fraud.
PLAY
Lack of objectivity
• Not keeping personal opinions to yourself.• Not just in stories, but in the public• Not being balanced
Juan Williams
• Commentator for NPR• Fired for making
statements about muslims on Fox News
• Has a right to his opinion
• Doesn’t have a right to continue being employed by NPR
PLAY
AVOID LIBEL & SlANDER
• Libel is printed false defamation of character• Slander is spoken defamation of character • Libel is rarely considered a crime, it is a civil
action• Only the truth is a defense against libel• Attribution is no defense
Case of Richard Jewell• American police officer • While working as a security guard became known in
connection with the Centennial Olympic Park bombing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.
• Discovered a pipe bomb on the park grounds and alerted police.
• Helped to evacuate the area before the bomb exploded, saving many people from injury or death.
• Initially hailed by the media as a hero, Jewell was later named as a suspect through the media.
• Jewell's case became an example of the damage that can be done by reporting based on unreliable or incomplete information.
• He was never charged • Eventually he was exonerated completely. • In 2006, Governor Sonny Perdue publicly thanked Jewell on
behalf of the state of Georgia for saving the lives of those at the Olympics.
PLAY – Getting it Wrong