Week 8- Ethics in Journalism

This week's presentation led us to think about the ethics and principles in Journalism.

One aspect of reporting that journalists and news writer learn in formal settings is ethics. Responsible journalists research, interview and report through a lens of ethics. The emphasis is on responsible journalist. Some journalists do not take ethics to heart, and are concerned more with their byline, their own 15 minutes of fame, and yes, the payday.

Because journalists and news reporters are struggling for our attention, they sometimes forget they have a responsibility. The responsibility is to produce honest, well-researched, thought-provoking information. The ability of the journalist to grasp these values and apply them in his or her daily practices goes a long way to define his or her quality of work, steer him or her, as much as possible, from ethical controversies, and differentiate his or her work from the rest.

After this term's study, I learned that Journalism is not only about reporting. As some external factors, the journalists have to do something the not beyond their work. For instance, they have to use the PR releases and handouts to meet the tight deadline and production outputs. They have to hide something, otherwise they will destroy some big company or organization's reputation. So, the reputation of journalists is continually being questioned. Nearly every public opinion poll shows that people have lost respect for journalists and lost faith in the news media.

Week 8 - Truth and Objectivity

Journalists first priority is to tell the truth, they have the obligation to present the most credible description as possible of society to itself, thus objectivity is the key. However, in this technology advanced society, can we still believe the information that we are receiving?

Based on the presentation, the journalism is more relay on the PR handouts and materials. Technology is placing demands on journalists to produce production quickly. Consequently, this has resulted in them relying on information supplier by PR companies. So, journalists use the material to produce news production and  meet the deadline and production outputs. But, I am not saying that the journalists are lazy, for them, it is really attractive to sit in the office and receive the handouts and material from PR agency, rather than go out to find the news sources. Actually, a good PR release should be a foundation of a good news story, but the journalists have the responsibility to check the information that the PR release given. It is necessary that journalists have to check the facts and achieve the analytical level of reporting.

To achieve truth and objectivity, journalists should follow the guidelines that we mentioned in our presentation. Journalists should get the whole story first. To do this they need to talk to as many people as many people as they can and keeping asking and re-asking questions. they need to get as many viewpoints as they can. They should also make sure all the information they are given are accurate. Journalists should be as transparent as possible about sources and methods so audiences can make their own assessment of the information.

Finally, even there is some problems exits in the journalism industry, we should still believe journalism as there are still a number of undaunted journalists are upholding the investigative journalism by showing deep investigation or exposing some dark corner of the issue.

 

Week 7 - Privacy and public interest

There is a news caused a great concern among the celebrities in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong actor Wong Chung Chak's nude photos at home were splashed across the covers of some Hong Kong tabloids in recent days. He said that, as a celebrity, he already expected that he will have no privacy, but the nude photos were taken in his bedroom. He mentioned that he usually did not draw the curtains as he preferred to let sunlight into his apartment and had a habit of not wearing clothes just after showering.And this gives a great convenience to the paparazzi to snap photos of him naked.The tabloids also showed Wong's girlfriend Myolie Wu, who recently moved into the apartment above his, visiting and sharing meals with him. Hong Kong television giant TVB issued a statement condemning the actions of these paparazzi and the tabloids they worked for."Photographing our artistes when they are in their homes, in their rooms no less, is immoral and violates their right to privacy.nWe (TVB) condemn these acts and appealto the media to observe reporting ethics and standards," said TVB in a statement, adding that the company and its artistes reserved the right to seek legal redress.Wong's colleagues also showed their support by condemning the tabloids. They said that they can't understand that some people taking photographs on the sly and fabricating stories to attracting readers and increasing sales.

In my personal opinion, the media practitioners can not always use 'press freedom' as an execuse. Home, which is a place that someone should be feeling the most at ease.

However, when we talk about privacy, it is a quite controversial topic, as different people hold different opinions. So, to what extent is the public should know? Do we really have the right to know when Paris Hilton is fall in love with a new guy,or when did a celebrity couple married?

On the issue of celebrities privacy, the artist should be aware that the job they are doing is requires high exposure. They should know that their photos will published on the newspapers, magazines very often; they will become a topic of discussion. But this does not mean that they agree they will expose all their parts to the public, they still have the privacy right. Hong Kong paparazzi have been able to shoot these photos and published to the public showed the government's dereliction of duty in this area. Only moral condemnation is not enough, they should publish some laws and regulations to regulate the practitioner's activity.