Teaching Notes
You must become the flame on the candle. - Thich Nhat Hanh
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Is Media Ethics Education DOA?
It sounds like a joke Jay Leno would tell during his opening monologue on The Tonight Show. Hear about the graduate students at the prestigious journalism school? They got caught cheating on an ethics exam. Ha ha ha. Except that’s actually what happened at Columbia University
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.
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.
28 comments:
Cliff Maroney:
Honestly (as sick as it may be) I do agree with Alicia Clark's statement regarding the accuracy of tabloid content, simply based on the fact that, well, it is a tabloid, and such publications are taken with a grain of accuracy salt. Furthermore, I would also concur with the overarching idea that there are different ethical standards in place for different types of journalistic forums. For example, while the ability to instantly disseminate news is great feature of the new media landscape, it seems to have caused journalism (at least in the online forum) to become more about reporting what you know when you know it, rather than waiting to be factually correct "right off the bat". This trend obviously stands in stark contrast to traditional ethical standards and illustrates that not only is less emphasis being placed on correctness, but accuracy as whole in the realm of journalism is being redefined. However, as stated above, taking into account that tabloids are basically an old-school, longer version of a "Tweet" aimed at satiating people's insatiable need for gossip, the fallacies of the new media landscape and mainstream news media, and the fact that news is just as much entertainment as a movie, I believe that while every source should be held to the same moral and ethical standards, they simply are not and that anyone who has held their breath waiting for publications to hold the truth in highest regard, well, probably have died.
All journalists, whether they work for a print publication, online publication, or TV should strive to seek truth and report it. Readers should receive accurate information no matter the medium that a journalist uses to employ the story. There is no hierarchy that establishes the correlation between a journalist's chosen medium and his or her duty to report facts. But when I think of tabloids I usually associate these journalists with celebrity gossip. Though I think newspapers, tabloids, and online news should have the same standards of truthfulness, I think that each of these news outlets have a different agenda. Most people seek out newspapers for accurate information and events going on around the world while tabloids serve to entertain. Often, information presented in a tabloid article is not well sourced. The information is usually presented by stating that " a source close to blah blah blah" told us this. It is easier to print a story if the person who provided the information is not held accountable. For this reason, it is easier to produce stories quickly. Because we expect our news to be presented to us as it happens (and it is easier to do this if the journalist or source is not held accountable for the information being provided), I do not think that tabloid journalists feel as if they are bound by the same ethical standards as newspaper journalists.
In all honestly, this question is quite difficult and I'm not entirely sure if I could answer it fully. In my view, sometimes its hard to capture the actual story and gain the full truth. Then again, when I think real hard about this situation I believe some journalists are fabricating different stories for public entertainment. From what I understand so far, it seems as though the TV and some other forms of media are not really following the moral or ethical standards. Again, I'm not sure if I can elaborate on this but this is just my opinion.
I do not believe that Alicia is correct when she implies that the standards of ethics are different because it is a tabloid. I think that the standards of ethics for all news should be equal whether it is brought to the public through a newspaper, tabloid, or television. There is never a right time or type of publication to spread false truths. Unfortunately, many publications do not follow this standard of ethics, which is made obvious through tabloids that publicize fabrications of celebrity lives on the regular. It is well known that most of the information in tabloids is embellished but that still does not make it ethical.
After seeing both sides of this particular type of argument, Alicia Clark is completely wrong in this situation. When she implies that the Sun does not have to accurate as other papers since it is a tabloid should not matter in any instance. Each source of news media should always want to inform readers on the accurate truth in order to gain new readers as well as keeping the ones that have already subscribed. All journalists are bound by the same ethical standards no matter what they are reporting on. They should all be reporting the truth. Why would someone want to read an article that is completely incorrect with inaccurate quotes, false titles and everything else that comes with false statements. The public deserves the truth and that is what they should get on a regular basis in important topics.
Tabloid newspapers are absolutely taken less seriously than an elite news organization, such as The New York Times. This does not mean that they should be held to lesser standards, which is why I think Clark is incorrect when she implies that the Sun doesn’t have to be as accurate as other papers. What she is right about is that her readers don’t expect her paper to be as precise in its reporting. People expect different products from different sources. These expectations should not be reflected in the product these sources turn out, however. Those varying standards should not be echoed in newsrooms. Journalists, as a matter of integrity, should hold themselves in higher regard than their readers often times might. Although, as mentioned in the essay, almost no human being is capable of absolute truth, all journalists are responsible for truthfulness. The excuse of typical tabloid trashiness is an easy thing to hide behind when falling short of truthfulness, but what is easy is rarely right.
Alicia is incorrect when she implies that all the Sun doesn’t have to be as accurate as other publications. It is important that all of the press is reporting the truth because if one medium whether it is on the web, television, or magazine, it can “snowball” into a huge media mess. For example, in 2006 several newspapers around the nation reported incorrectly that all twelve workers survived being trapped in a West Virginia mine. Around midnight, family members believed the press as expected and told other mediums such as the Associated Press and CNN the supposed good news which followed to the governor repeating the news to even more people. Around 3 a.m., publications learned updated news and began scrambling re-printing the newspapers, correcting websites and trying to stop the press in time, but by then it was too late. By this example, there are not and should not be different standards of truthfulness and accuracy when reporting in the media. To meet the public’s expectations, news publications rely on deadlines throughout the day to pursue motivation and get their work done as soon as possible. Journalists should not rely on deadlines even though it is a good thing to have, it should not be the main aspect that keeps the presses. Journalists need to diligently find the correct facts without the pressure of a deadline. Journalists need each other to pursue the truth responsibly with moral support and the right knowledge. Journalists should not become prisoners of a time deadline to rush and put out false information. All publications are bound to the same ethical standards. The public needs the right facts and the truth. In order for a news story to be valid, materials should be deeply inspected about the event. It’s a journalist’s job to deliver the truth regardless of what publication they may work for.
The definition of a tabloid is a small newspaper with short articles: a small-format popular newspaper with a simple style, many photographs, and sometimes an emphasis on sensational stories. According to this definition it is self explanatory that tabloids main purpose is to serve the public with gossip, “infotainment” and information that a regular news based source would not always write for the public. Their main intention is to entertainment the public in a way that they will enjoy. By having multiple pictures, short stories that are easy to read and a lot of “gossip” makes it easier for people to read and enjoy rather than an actual newspaper. However, all journalists, whether they write for TV publication, print publication or even online publication all strive to gain the truth and report it. No matter what type of publication a journalist works for they all have the same responsibilities. Making up facts, adding facts to support the story, or disregarding certain facts are not the duties of journalists. Therefore, I would say Alicia is not correct. Regardless of what kind of medium you write for your story needs to be newsworthy, correct, and display accurate information. Each medium should seek to write the same level of accuracy, regardless of the type of publication it is. To say that a journalist writing for the Sun can leave out information about a story just comes down to the idea that they then would not be considered a real journalist because they are not fully searching for the truth and then reporting it to their best ability.
I believe that Alicia is wrong in her statement about tabloids. I agree with Katie. Although it is understood that a tabloids have a lesser reputation doesn't mean that it's right or that they get permission to do things wrong on purpose. Different types of news media should all be kept to the highest level of accuracy under the circumstance of which they operate. There may be different time lines for each individual media outlet but that dose not give an excuse for work half done or work not executed with the utmost clarity and accuracy. Misinformation, once out in the open, can change lives -more likely for the worse. The people involved, as well as the people it will impact, deserve the truth no matter the outlet. News and its truth should never be taken lightly. News is powerful and "with great power, comes great responsibility."
Alicia is incorrect when she claims that the Sun does not have to be as accurate as other papers just because it is a tabloid. I would like to think that any journalism student looking to pursue their career does not enter the field with goals of simply writing for tabloids, fabricating stories with no concern of seeking the truth. However, our culture has allowed tabloids to sensationalize stories by buying these papers even though the majority of the circulation knows to not take their content too seriously.
Alicia implied that tabloids can get away with inaccuracies because the reality is that tabloids are not held to the same standard as elite publications. Ideally and theoretically, every medium of media should be held to the same standard but it is clear that that high standard is not enacted. A tabloid's primary purpose is to entertain whereas publications such as the Times and Wall Street Journal truly seek the truth and report it. Therefore, yes different forms of media are held to different expectations because of the reputation each holds.
After reading over my previous comment I realize how contradictory I am being by saying that Alicia is incorrect when she implied that tabloids do not need to be as accurate as other publications because then I say that they are not taken as seriously as other publications. It is tough to come up with a cohesive answer to the multiple layers of questions here. However, Alicia should not lower her standards just because she works for a tabloid. This type of attitude is the reason tabloids have a bad reputation
I believe “Two Teen Suspects Arrested,” would be an appropriate headline. This covers their name, in case they are innocent. There are many things that can go wrong with headlines. First, you have to think about the audience you are speaking to. Would it anger people before they even read the article? As a writer, you also have to think about whether the article will be read or not, after reading the headline. You don’t want to assume things, just stick with the facts, it’s safe. Let the readers’ judge for themselves what’s wrong and right. You don’t want to lead your audience to your imaginary point of view.
I believe stealing a story from another person is morally wrong. The Suns had the choice to research before publishing. You have to get the facts right for yourself first, as a writer. You need to verify that what is said is the complete truth. I think the Suns needed to investigate on their own, find their own conclusion, and then report it.
I don’t care if it’s the tabloid, newspaper, television or the website; I like the truth and the fact. This world of media has become a time and money market. It’s all about feeding the consumers what they want. This is why I can’t watch the news for what it stands for. There is so much time used for opinions, and gossips these days. The mass media is a great influence to the people of earth and so there should have fewer gossips and more truth and facts. I actually miss those news reporters that have no facial expressions as they report…
In class we talked about the different "Code of ethics" that exist in the vast world of journalism. I can therefore understand Alicia's point of view when saying that the Sun doesn't provide AS accurate/truthful information because it's a tabloid magazine. Maybe that's why tabloids are tabloids, and also why she is categorized as a certain type of journalist (in this case the kind that isn't taken seriously). Tabloids have different means of gaining information and different ways of writing stories. If you wanna hop on the Tabloid code of ethics and write as a Tabloid writer, go right ahead, however you won't be taken seriously as a "journalist." I don't think every single bit of reporting needs to be exactly the same. That's why there are different codes of ethics like in PR and Journalism. Maybe tabloids follow the same as journalism, but through time and different conditioning their expectations have change. Do what you want and say what you say Alicia, but no one will take you seriously.
I think that moral ethics should always be used whether it's for tabloids or not. The job of journalists is to seek out the truth and report the truth. Although tabloids are not as popular and many people already know that most of the information is exaggerated, I still think that the journalists for the paper should seek out the truth rather than fabricating the truth. All journalists should not only be obligated to write the truth, but should also want to do so. So although I think that there should be the same standards of truthfulness and accuracy for all types of media, I do believe that the journalists of tabloids do not think they need to uphold this because of the reputation that the tabloid has. Personally, I do not think that any form of news media should be twisting the truth in anyway, but sadly this is how it is done. All types of media, including tv news reports, fabricate and only show what they want the world to see whether they know if it is ethical or not.
I don’t agree with Alicia when she implies that the Sun, a tabloid, has less of a responsibility to pursuing and reporting the truth than more “reputable” new sources. I think that people expect tabloids to less reliable, but that does not mean that those papers should be allowed to completely disregard the truth. Tabloids have an audience and they have a responsibility to root their stories in as much truth as they can. The title tabloid does not absolve them from the ethical codes that other newspapers and magazines should abide by. All news mediums (print, television, and web) should strive to be as accurate and truthful as possible when reporting. I don’t think that there should be separate standards of truthfulness, but I do think that people tend to be more sympathetic towards inaccuracies in web reporting. We live in a culture where people want the most current news that they can get and the internet provides that for them (albeit sometimes spotty reporting and fact-checking). Internet news sites want to meet the expectations of a constantly news hungry audience which is why people are more sympathetic to inaccuracies. A correction can be made to an internet article instantly, which cannot be said for print mediums. Alicia’s implication that tabloids should not be as responsible as other sources is what is wrong in journalism. If news sources don’t hold themselves to the highest esteem and accountability possible, then who will?
No matter the form of media news is printed on, its still news and should abide by the same ethical standards. Although the Sun is a tabloid, people are still using that as a source of information and for that reason they should still print accurate information. Using the excuse that they are going by the information they had at the time shouldn't be allowed still. Journalists should always strive to tell the truth no matter what. I thought Clark was definitely wrong in her decision to print the false information because she already had the proper information. A deadline is a deadline but I personally think it would be better to say not all of the information is there yet, rather than printing false information.
I think that, if a paper, like a Hollywood tabloid, makes it known that its first priority is getting news out fast, then it can focus on that. With today’s new technologies, news can have more flexibility in the areas of timeliness and accuracy. For example, news agencies that use Twitter can post information as it is received, updating quickly on errors and confirmations. However, when printing news in a paper, it is important to secure accuracy before the paper is circulated. If a tabloid is an online one, it makes sense for there to be errors that can quickly be corrected as new information comes in. People who read tabloids are often looking for the scoop anyway. However, papers that deliver important news should be more focused on accuracy than timeliness. In the case of the West Virginia mining accident, journalists should have confirmed the information before publishing it. They’re lucky that there was not a large negative reaction to what happened. In the case that occurs in The Paper, information should still be accurate, considering the topic of the article. I guess what needs to be considered is the significance of the article, and the person evaluating that needs to consider the impact of the information on the reader population.
you know what i think. i think people spend time & money on entertainment, infotainment, distraction, etc. if a tabloid undertakes to satisfy people's cravings for such stuff, shouldn't the stuff still be accurate? i mean, it may be trivial, but that's kind of beside the point. most of what people do or think or feel is trivial.
(This is late only because I just entered the class)
I do not feel that Alicia is correct in thinking that The Sun doesn't have to be as accurate because it is a tabloid. All journalists, no matter what publication they are working for, have to strive for the truth. If a publication lies or gets the facts wrong (even a tabloid) it gives that specific publication a bad reputation or name. Not only that, but it hurts the person or people being lied about. Plus readers may not want to read that specific source again in fear that they might not actually be reading the truth. Who wants to read a publication that is known to get it's facts wrong? The standards of ethics should be equal no matter what the news media or journalist. Sure they may all be different, but that does not mean one journalist can occasionally lie and get away with it. No matter what the situation, medium, or publication journalists need to seek the truth and tell the truth. It's their job to do that. Their careers are riding on it.
I diasgree. If Alicia Clark is going to call herself a journalist, she has an obligation to be as accurate as possible. Just because the Sun is a tabloid, that doesn't mean that that can be inaccurate. Frankly, it's irresponsible. The Sun's readers are not only looking for interesting gossip, they are looking for news and how are the readers supposed to be able to trust the reporting of the Sun if they are reporting false information regularly
I diasgree. If Alicia Clark is going to call herself a journalist, she has an obligation to be as accurate as possible. Just because the Sun is a tabloid, that doesn't mean that that can be inaccurate. Frankly, it's irresponsible. The Sun's readers are not only looking for interesting gossip, they are looking for news and how are the readers supposed to be able to trust the reporting of the Sun if they are reporting false information regularly
I think that all media, TV, Web, and Print, should be held to the same ethical standards. However, that does not seem to be the case. In today's society different forms of media are certainly held to different ethical standards. It is publicly accepted that tabloids, such as the National Enquirer, are known to contain information that isn't exactly truthful. People read this tabloid for entertainment, not as a source for learning current world news. People know that for solid, truthful information, you should use a publication such as the New York Times. I don't know how this clear division of media came to be, but it is sadly a part of our times. People crave entertainment and hard facts do not always fulfill that craving. Due to this need, the market for false information formed and publications jumped at the chance to make a profit.
My first reaction to this question was that I completely disagree with Alicia Clark's statement. Just because The Sun is a tabloid, doesn't mean it shouldn't be held to the same standards as other forms of journalism. Then I realized that I don't even hold stories in tabloids to the same standards as other forms of journalism. Technically, all forms of news media should be bound the same standards of ethics and practice, but I do believe that tabloids have evolved into a form of news media that most people do not expect to hear the truth from. Very few people read tabloids as a source of truthful news. Instead, people buy and read tabloids to get gossip stories and information as quickly as possible. Regardless of whether it's accurate or not, readers of tabloids are looking to be entertained by a story.
Although each side of the argument is quite compelling, Alicia Clark is absolutely in the wrong here. Yes tabloid news is known to have skewed facts but this does not give the Sun a free pass to misinform the public. What if the Sun was someone’s go to source for news? While this person should probably go to a more “elite” publication, why should they not be able to trust what the Sun has provided them with? My point here is that just because they are a tabloid does not mean that can get away with printing false information. The Sun is not doing itself any good by misinforming the public, because the more they do it, the less credible they ultimately become. The public deserves to be informed so that they can be involved and possibly create change. It is a journalist’s responsibility to have the right quotes, headlines, and information so that the public trusts them to be a source of truth. Of course, everyone has an opinion, or a different take on things but journalism is supposed to be exactly what happened, and how it happened, with no bias opinions. The public should not have to swim in a sea of ignorance because a paper believes they are not credible enough to report the truth.
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