JOUR1111 - Lecture Eight

So essentially, a journalist's job is to collect the news and write about it, whether it be for newspaper, magazine, television or radio. However, sometimes Journalists are too focused on the story to consider whether what they are writing is ethically correct. You know, moral versus immoral, good versus bad, right versus wrong. At the end of the day, the judgement of whether or not a story is ethically correct and without implications to a certain group of people, is completely down to the journalist. Thus, understanding of the importance of ethics in communication is essential, and so we have ethical codes to assist us in deciding whether or not what we are writing is morally correct and sympathetic to the involved parties.

Ethical Codes are merely guidelines which point us (as journalists) in the right moral direction. For example the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) states the importance of honesty, fairness, independence and respect for the rights of others as key in deciding whether or not a story is ethically correct. There is also the Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA), which goes along the lines of treating sex and sexuality with sensitivity, only suing language which is appropriate, no violence and no discrimination. The last of the Ethical Codes covered in the lecture is the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA), which outlines the importance of dealing fairly, honestly and not knowingly disseminating false or misleading information.

However, in some situations, the aforementioned 'guidelines' may be no help at all, thus your only way of detecting whether or not what you're writing about it ethically correct, you can try following the Virtue Ethics guidelines; does it align with the type of person I want to be? Goodness comes from morally good habits of character - character building. And lastly, Aristotle identifies 'virtues' such as courage, temperance, justice and prudence. My advice however, is to simply go with your gut instinct. If you can't be confident with that, take the risk. 

As an aspiring travel writer, I hope not to report, but to simply write. Therefore, (fingers-crossed), not have to encounter Ethics on a regular basis. However, it is of fundamental importance for every journalist to understand as it may always come in useful - somewhere down the line. I guess it all comes down to what you think of as right. How you would feel being in the given situation and knowing how you'd react. You just have to be empathetic to all parties involved.

Unless controversy is what you're after.