Teaching Notes
Is Media Ethics Education DOA?
No one admitted cheating despite pressure from the school’s administrators and pleas from classmates, who feared the scandal would damage the market value of their degrees. Meanwhile, the teacher of the course, New York Times columnist Samuel G. Freedman, refused to comment. But if the disgruntled posts on RateMyProfessors.com are any indication, his students hadn’t exactly been soaking up knowledge. “Maybe he could e-mail his ‘speeches’ to the students instead of making everyone suffer through the most wasted class in j-school. . . ,” one read.
There’s an old cowboy saying that goes, “When your horse dies, get off.” Journalism ethics education is a dead horse. Or else those aren’t vultures circling in the sky.
A Question for Socrates
The question of how ethics is learned, or even if it can be, is as old as Western philosophy. In Plato’s dialog Meno the title character asks, “Can you tell me, Socrates, whether virtue is acquired by teaching or by practice; or if neither by teaching nor practice, then whether it comes to man by nature, or in what other way?” Of course, Socrates, being Socrates, resists giving a definite answer. But we can’t. The sad fact is, students had better get an effective ethics education now or they may never.
Last summer I conducted an ethics workshop for some reporters and editors at the Poughkeepsie Journal, a small daily in upstate
But what I remember most is the air of defeat that clung to the staff as we sat on hard plastic chairs in the break room discussing the cases. I could hear in their voices the bitterness and cynicism of employees forced to follow corporate policies they despised. Recently, for example, the paper had started running display ads on the front page and section fronts, a much more grievous ethical lapse, their mumbled asides suggested, than anything the case studies might have to offer.
I don’t want my students to ever wear the gray, defeated expression I saw that day on the faces at the Journal. But given the downward direction in which the media are moving, and fast, how in the world can I prevent it from happening?
Teaching Media Ethics by Telling Stories
A friend of mine who teaches at a big Midwestern university recounts in class the events of her first week as a reporter for the Minneapolis Tribune. She was sent to Duluth to cover Democratic presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey on the campaign trail. When they were introduced, Humphrey vigorously shook her hand. “Oh yes, Susan,” he said, “I read your stuff all the time.” He couldn’t have read her stuff, though; she hadn’t written anything yet. “Just a few words,” she explains to her students, “but words that taught this fledging reporter a great lesson about pols and the little lies they tell.”
I usually find occasion during the semester to quote I. F. Stone’s dictum, “Every government is run by liars and thieves, and nothing they say should be believed,” to make the same point. But Susan’s story makes the point better. That’s because it has existential force. Her story vividly captures in a way a secondhand quote can’t the realities of a reporter’s life.
Some might think telling “war stories” is a waste of precious class time. I’ve a colleague who didn’t want to fall into the “trap” of regaling students with stories ad nauseam (“which, let’s face it, is easier than teaching or grading,” he said). So one semester he kept track. When he toted it all up at the end, he was surprised that he’d used less than an hour - out of 45 – talking about his newspaper experiences. And yet, he admitted, it was his stories that students seemed to remember most.
“Stories teach us how to live,” Daniel Taylor said in his essay, “The Ethical Implications of Storytelling.” What he meant was that stories preserve our experience for contemplation and evaluation. Although not all stories carry a heavy message, there’s an entire category of stories, so-called “exemplary tales,” that are told to convey a moral.
Our war stories are potentially just such tales. They can provide evidence, in ethicist John Barton’s words, of “how real human beings live through various crises and trials and remain human.” My colleague who kept tabs on his storytelling has described his stories as cautionary. Most, he said, deal with “screwups I learned from.”
But sometimes the storyteller and the audience can’t agree on what exactly the moral of a story is.
When Susan was a cub reporter on the Tribune, she interviewed the Beatles, who were on their second tour of the States. She got into their hotel room by dressing up as a waitress in an ugly, mustard-colored uniform and accompanying an actual room service waiter upstairs. Ringo took one look at her little plastic name tag – it read “Donna Brown” – and snorted, “What kind of name is that?” The waiter nudged her in the side. “Tell them what you real name is,” he urged. She did, as well as her reason for being there. Rather than throw her out, the Beatles politely answered her questions. They even let her phone for a photographer. The next day her story ran on the front page, with a photo of John sitting at a table and looking up at her and laughing as she poured coffee in his cup. She still has a glossy print of that photo somewhere.
Many of Susan’s students think she’s nuts for not having the photo hanging up in her office. They also think she’s nuts for saying she’d never participate in the same kind of stunt today. To her celebrity-struck students, disguising herself as a hotel waitress to get an interview with the Beatles seems soooo cool. They lose all sight of the fact that it wasn’t a story of vital public interest that demanded undercover methods.
Susan intends one lesson when she talks about her hard day’s night, but her students, living in a paparazzi-saturated culture, draw another. “It may be a lost cause,” she remarked to me.
Or maybe not. Negotiations over what the point of a story is can be part of the point of the story. In the process of negotiating, we test different interpretations, try out different themes. This is helpful. This is educational. Lawrence Kohlberg, the Harvard psychologist famous for his research on the stages of moral development, contended that “the teaching of virtue is the asking of questions. . . not the giving of answers.” Stories don’t necessarily have to yield clear moral rules to be of value. It’s enough sometimes if they just give us something to think about.
24 comments:
Hi my name is Jillian Borde.I am a junior and a Public Relations major. I look forward to learning in this class.
i'd like to know what you'd like to learn. . . what would be interesting and useful.
My name is Deanna DiBenedetto and I am a senior Media Production major. Specifically, I am interested in learning the issues in the ethics of television media. I would like to work in the business after I graduate producing television shows and I believe a knowledge of media ethics is essential.
Hey, my name is Andrew Carden and I am a third-year Journalism major. Last semester, I took Copy Editing and Layout, and much of the last month of the course was spent assessing what does/does not constitute a legitimate case of libel. I'd be interested in further exploring that issue.
Hey, my name is Jon Novick and I'm a sophomore media production major. I'm not exactly sure what I want to do after I graduate but I know I'm going in the right direction. I took this class because journalism has always intrigued me and it would be interesting to learn the problems that journalists face.
My name is Michelle Eisenstadt and I am a sophomore Journalism major. I would like to learn about what is considered ethical and unethical in journalism when dealing with public figures
Hello, I'm John and I'm a third-year year journalism major/law and politics minor. I took a very basic ethics class my freshman year at the University of Oregon; however, it was terrible. I don't remember much. So, I'd like to solidify my knowledge on what's acceptable to write while working for the press. To have a really comprehensive understanding of what's taboo, and how to avoid those touchy issues. I'm sure it'll be an interesting semester.
Hello Profesor Good,
My name is Sunya Bhutta and I am senior studying English and journalism. I have taken several journalism courses at New Paltz such as Copy Editing and Layout and Feature Writing. I have also interned at Chronogram magazine and I am currently interning at Hudson Valley Magazine. I have heard a lot about this course and how interesting and enlightening it is. I am specifically interested in learning about ethics in print and electronic journalism.
Hi my name is Allison Weiner. I am a sophmore and I am interested in evaluating what is said in today's media outlets and discussing what is ethical and unethical and how to make that distinction.
Hi Professor,
My name is Maggie Vasconi, and I am a Public Relations major with a minor in Women's Studies.
I am interested in learning about how 9/11 and terrorism in general has affected journalism ethics today. I am also interested in media outlets reporting information that is simply not true, as well as the ethics of journalists and politicians using social media.
Looking forward to this class!
See you Wednesday,
Maggie.
My name's Jake Horowitz, I'm a sophomore and I'm very interested in film. I'm fascinated by television networks and the controversy regarding networks presenting the news in favor of one political party over another.
Hello, my name is Andrew Wyrich. I am a second-year Journalism major and I am the Sports Editor of the Oracle. I am excited to take this class and discuss ethical gray areas in journalism, such as blogs, and their impact on modern journalism.
Hi, my name is Rachel Freeman. I am a second-year double major in journalism and Spanish. I'm interested in what is considered ethical and unethical in journalism, and if the standards change based on what the story is about. I'm also interested in looking at examples of articles that were seen as controversial or unethical.
Hello my name is DeShaun (Dey) Armbrister. I am a third year student majoring in Public Relations with a minor in Black Studies. I am generally interested in learning the do's and don'ts within the media, as well as challenge what I already think is ethical/unethical.
Hi my name is Evan Brieff. I am a junior and a Media Management major. I am interested in learning different perspectives on what is ethical and what is not. I would also like to learn how ethics plays a role in the world of digital media that we are so engrossed in today.
Hello, my name is Kelsey Lang. I am a first semester senior with an Organizational Communications major and a minor in Psychology. Because the internet is such a relatively new thing, I am interested in learning about the ethical practices concerned with the online world.
Hi my name is Kimberly De Jesus. I am a junior majoring in Public Relations. My goal through taking this course is to fully understand the fundamentals of how to avoid ethical dilemmas and remain objective in journalism writing.
Hi Professor,
Hope your feeling better. My name is Rose Dovi and I am a Public Relations major and will be graduating this may.
I would be interested in learning about corrupt companies and how they use their PR department in a way that is considered to be "ethical." (i.e. BP... August 5, 2010, Rolling Stone, "The Poisoning" by Jeff Goodell)
Hi, my name is Philbert Reid. Am a Public Relations Major. Am looking forward to learning much about 'media ethics' because what constitutes 'ethics' in the world today seems very much blurred to me!
Hello, my name is Ann Cooper. I'm a senior and am double-majoring in Asian Studies and Public Relations. Ethics to me is something that sounds hard to define as people have different opinions on the matter, but that makes it more interesting to me. It's a subject that seems to also differ depending on which type of media, as well as culture and society.
Hello, my name is Anna Han. I am a junior with a major in Public Relations and minor in Business Administration. I am looking forward to learning about ethical and unethical controversies and how the media effects our perception of ethics. I think it will be interesting to compare and discuss my own ethical values with those of the class to help gain a wider perspective.
Hi, My name is Adam Shanks. I'm a junior, journalism major, and love to write. I'm in the process of starting my own blog. My goal is to better educate the people of my own generation, and even myself, about the real current events in the world.
Hello My name is Elizabeth. This is my final semester at New Paltz and I am a public relations major. I am interested in learning the importance of media ethics and the guidelines companies and organizations use and follow.
Okay... I'm still not sure if I'm going to be taking this class because the registrar's office insists I haven't paid my invoice for the semester and my.newpaltz.edu says I've been de-registered, despite me having a printed copy of my receipt at home on LI, where I paid my tuition over break, so I'm still waiting for that all to be cleared up, but... my name is Matt. If I actually get to take the classes I signed up for this semester than I'll be graduating Fall 2011.
I'm a PR major and signed up for the class because I enjoyed having professor Good last semester. I'm really most interested in exploring ways to (re-)make the fourth estate into an honest, reliable tool for the masses rather than a puppet for entertainment and mass media corporations.
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