Discussion 1 and 2 Response to Classmates

This assignment is due tonight January 15, 2018 by 10pm PST. I have attached six files that you must provide a reply to. 

Nathaniel Searl

ThursdayJan 11 at 12:42am

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The most recent article I read was a news article about how Trump did not need to interview Mueller, the man responsible for investigating Trump’s possible collusion with Russia. The article mainly consists of quotes from Trump and how the journalist interprets them. In the article Trump states that he doesn’t need to interview Mueller because there is no collusion with Russia, and that is the end of the story. I believe that this is a proper story to report because it does not violate anyone’s rights or reason to be. The article is very straight-forward and discusses the views represented by the president himself through direct quotes.

The public has a right to know this information because the president himself is disclosing it. This information isn’t classified if the president is giving the information publicly. This might be a different story if he had said these things behind closed doors, and the journalist had taken them and revealed them to the public, but this was not the case for this situation. The journalist here is just reporting on what the president has said.

The only ethical considerations I can recall from the story were the words that the journalism quoted Trump on saying. The president made multiple implications that democrats were behind any collusion with Russia. While the journalist himself isn’t responsible for these words, and is just reporting what the president said, it may be more ethically correct to leave these allegations out, since they are not backed up by any factual evidence and could be an inadvertent falsehood. Outside of this, however, I don’t believe there are any ethical considerations to be made.

Nathaniel Searl

ThursdayJan 11 at 1am

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Upon hearing about the robbery at the church the main moral consideration that comes to mind is to get the information correct without falsely accusing anyone. The first of the truth telling imperatives states: “It is morally obligatory for journalists to the best of their abilities to tell the truth in reporting the news and to avoid both deliberate, and, to whatever extent possible, inadvertent falsehoods” (Jacquette, 2007). The main moral concern is staying honest and giving information that is known to be true.

When writing the story, I would mention that there is a suspect, since this is true. The neighbor who spoke to me clearly suspects W.L. Jorgensen, which is the very definition of suspect. I would leave Mr. Jorgensen’s name out of the article, however, since including it may lead to defamation of character if he turned out to be innocent. I think that writing in this sense would be morally responsible, and would also match the known facts behind the robbery.

I would choose to interview the neighbor for the story, to see if he has any more useful information than his suspicions that the ex-custodian is the robber. Whether or not I quote him would be heavily based upon what he says. If he provided useful information on the church and the people surrounding it, then perhaps I would include some of that in the report, but I would not report his suspicion of W.L. Jorgensen because this could just be an unfair bias for all I know. Without more knowledge on the subject it would not be right to accuse this man.

Source:

Jacquette, D. (2007). Journalistic ethics: Moral responsibility in the media. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc.

EricHairston

ThursdayJan 11 at 11:29am

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This article which appeared in the Associated Press titled “ Search goes on Calif. Mudslide Victims; death toll at 17″ set ethical standards in my opinion. This story was properly reported and was also timely and well written. The article pertains to the recent mudslide in California, which claimed about 17 lives. The journalist’s who wrote this story provides details about the extensive damage the mudslide caused including quotes from first responders and correcting a death toll that was previously reported by emergency management officials. The inclusion of factual information, as well as graphs, video, and pictures, gives the public vital information that gives a clear picture of the situation. The public has the right to know this information because they may have family members or loved ones that may be missing. The Journalist emphasizes that there are many still missing and that first responders are working 12 hours a day braving hazards, some being injured themselves. Once again, including this information gives the reader a view of what first responders are experiencing. The Journalists chose to quote family members of a missing elderly couple, which did not need to be included but it added an emotional tone to the story. Concerning ethical considerations, I think the journalists made their best attempt to describe what happened without adding too much detail, while also being vivid and descriptive with their depiction of events. In conclusion, no ethical lines were crossed and the story did what it set out to do, which was inform and report. I think this article was written very well and remained within the scope of what was ethically and morally right in the journalistic sense.

Sanchez, M., Jablon, R. (11 Jan 2018), “Search goes on for Calif. mudslide victims; death toll at 17.” The Associated Press. Retrieved from https://www.apnews.com/3903ac2663f844239f64bbc42c17858e/Search-goes-on-for-Calif.-mudslide-victims;-death-toll-at-17

Eric Hairston

ThursdayJan 11 at 12:09pm

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In this situation, given that there is not much information to go on, I would avoid saying there is a suspect considering I was not told by the police or a first-hand witness to the crime. Our text states that “It is morally obligatory for journalists to the best of their abilities to counteract the effects of bias and consider the impact of perspective, predisposition, and other factors that can affect truth-telling in reporting the news, and, again, to the best of their abilities, to overcome these and other frequently encountered obstacles to truth-telling in journalism. Journalists are morally responsible for being aware of the extent to which any and all such factors can affect the truthfulness of their reporting and taking steps to identify and counteract them”( Jacquette,2007). Considering this, the neighbor may have a bias toward the person he is accusing and his accusations may or may not be true, which if published would be pure speculation. As a journalist, it is our ethical responsibility to report the facts and confirm all information that we receive through the appropriate channels. The moral considerations that should be looked into would be to consider the history of the Neighbor and the person that he accused of the crime, do they know each other? Does the neighbor even attend the church? These are questions that I would ask the secretary, but I still would omit that there was a suspect since I was not told that there was a suspect by the police. I would not interview the neighbor because he has no direct connection to the story and interviewing him would not progress my story any further. furthermore, Including his statement even if I did not give a name, would result in dishonest reporting, not to mention adding the name could result in a defamation suit.

Jacquette, D. (2007). Journalistic ethics: Moral responsibility in the media. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc.

Michael Angelo

Michael Angelo

FridayJan 12 at 5:36pm

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Eric,

National outlets are one thing. Then there are community newspapers to consider. They must constantly struggle to find the line between being accurate reporters of ugly events and becoming a booster for business interest. They risk being damned by critics on both sides. While an ability to withstand criticism is an essential requirement for anyone entering the field of journalism, editors and reporters of community newspapers in particular should seek questions and critiques from their readers as well as their professional peers.

I understand what was meant by that but when it comes to reporting a crime, especially a murder in the community, the community needs to know about it. I believe in order to present sensitive issues, the reporter and editor, have to put themselves in the place of the readers and question themselves about what they would take from the report if it was someone else writing it and they were the person on the other end reading it and that would be the only way of presenting it without re-victimizing the victims and/or family and friends of the victims.

But this also applies to natural disasters because there are plenty of victims involved as well. Perhaps even more care needs to be taken by journalists when it comes to reporting this kinds of events.

Just a thought. Thanks for yours!

Reference

Cote’, W. & Bucqueroux, B. (1996). Covering crime re-victimizing the victim. Victims and the Media Program. http://victims.jrn.msu.edu/public/articles/nashvill.html

ChristinaPeacock

ThursdayJan 11 at 7:45pm

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As a journalist, we are obligated to tell the truth without any bias, and until the full truth is discovered then we can only report what we know. The secretary stated that upon returning from lunch she noticed that over $3000 was missing. I believe although this is her personal account, as a journalist it needs to be proven that there was in fact $3000. Although, I’m sure that there were offerings from the church, there still is no sure way of knowing the amount just from one person’s account. Secondly, the neighbor’s account can only be taken as speculation. Although losing a job is a tragedy, it doesn’t make someone a thief. This couldn’t be reported, without proof and without revealing sources. With, if the authorities who are investigating the crime has no suspects, I would not name the custodian as a suspect based off hearsay. Having the obligation to avoid falsehoods, it’s our obligation to investigate before reporting. For this story, I would not investigate the neighbor simply because there is no proof of what he is stating. Also, I do not know the relationship between the neighbor and the custodian. It could be possible that the neighbor has motive against the custodian as well. However, I would interview the secretary, considering she is the person who reported the money missing. Therefore, she could possibly provide a timeline on the events as well as the recent events in the church. I would also quote her account of what happened, in hopes that this will assist in the development of the story.

References:

Jacquette, D.(2007)Journalistic Ethics:Moral Responsiblity in the media.Upper Saddle River,New Jersey.Pearson Education Inc.