Journalism is a job where expression of opinions and telling all the truths are important. Awareness is a vital weapon every citizen must have. And to be aware, journalists are needed. Delivering the news is the job of the journalist. There are 5 core principles of ethics in journalism. There are: truth and accuracy, Independence, Fairness and Impartiality, Humanity, and Accountability. Also, deception in journalism is sometimes necessary in order to collect information. It is important for the reporters to have ethical obligations to their sources. A journalist is ethically obligated to maintain privacy when it comes to confidentiality of records.
Being aware of the incidents in a society is the people’s job. And delivering the news is the job of the journalist. Journalism serves as the key to convey one’s feelings, findings, and truths. As time goes by, it is tainted by lies, money, and power. There are 5 core principles of ethics in journalism. There are: truth and accuracy, Independence, Fairness and Impartiality, Humanity, and Accountability. One ethical principles of journalism is independence. It means having their own voice. And that also means no plagiarism. Here is an example of paraphrasing the passage from a source. Original passage: “The stock market crashed on October 29, 1929, a Tuesday, the most disastrous session on Wall Street to date in a month of turmoil.” (The Worst Hard Time, by Timothy Egan.) The following is not plagiarism: “The stock market crashed on Tuesday, October 29, 1929, following a month of economic jitters.” Next sample shows how reporting can be ethically irresponsible. Journalists should be aware of the impact of words and pictures of news to other people. “Oliver Sipple became a hero in September 1975 for helping thwart an assassination attempt on then President Gerald Ford. In the ensuing press coverage, he was outed as being gay and his mother disowned him.”
Deception in journalism is sometimes necessary in order to collect information. According to Elliot and Culver, journalists have acted deceptively if they attempted to initiate or sustain a false belief, or if they have allowed another person, with whom they have a special relationship, to initiate or sustain a false belief. Journalists need to observe and gather data for stories, and in doing so they pretend to be someone else. For example, A reporter pushes through a crowd of spectators and steps over police barricades at a crime scene, saying, "Let me through, I'm a doctor." Deception here is allowed. On the contrary, when journalist write stories that includes false statements just to be informative, deception is ethically wrong. For example, Reporters write news art: sies about the man who saved the President's life by knocking a gun from that hand of a potential assassin. Although the reporters know that the man is gay, they withhold that information.
It is important for the reporters to have ethical obligations to their sources. According to Australian Journalist Association, an ethically responsible reporter knows how to interpret and report truthfully for consistency, justice, and complete transparency of all relevant information. An ethically irresponsible reporter obfuscate important evidence or placing a skewed emphasis on them. For instance, a Chinese reporter was arrested because he was accepting bribes and fabricating facts as announced by the Global Times (2013). This is an irresponsible way and should not be allowed. Injustice Watch journalists exposed the facts to let the public knows it even though there is a possibility of lawsuit (Uoregon, 2020). This led them to get the Ancil Payne Award.
A journalist is ethically obligated to maintain privacy when it comes to confidentiality of records. According to the case of Lewis (2010) about the invasion of privacy that resulted to the victim taking her life. The victim was currently in turmoil when she read the article that brought back all her nightmares and suffered a depressive disorder. This is a result of an irresponsible journalist where they are used by the government to mask the ignorance and corruption and claiming to be defending security while, in fact, they are attempting to escape embarrassment. An ethically responsible reporter should not be swayed by this and should know the responsibility that he hold when that article is published.
