Megan was in the newsroom when then the shooting at the
local college occurred. Her Twitter feed was already exploding with
information: it was a lone wolf, there were three shooters, fifteen killed,
five killed, the shooter had been captured, he was still on the loose. Megan’s
editor was already breathing down her neck for a story and she knew that the
other news groups would be publishing any moment. She needed to get her story
out fast, but she didn’t have all the facts yet.
She knew the Code of Ethics (2. Regulating Standard) published by the Society of Professional
Journalists (1. Authoritative
Organization). Her news group had modeled their own code after the SPJs.
These codes emphasized the importance of accuracy over speed. But that model, to
many journalists, seems outdated.
Megan’s editor had just sent her to the SPJ Spring
Conference where other journalists as well as students and educators all meet
to hear for experts on current journalism topics (3. Influential Event). Some of the speakers talked about social
media and how these platforms made new more immediate. They talked about how in
the past, journalists would go through many checks before a story was
published, but now stories are often published and then checked. But just
because that may be the case with some groups (typically the less professional
ones), doesn’t mean the SPJ deems it ethical.
Besides the conference, the SPJ publishes an ethics blog to
keep members updated (4. Authoritative
Publication). But nothing has changed on the accuracy front—and Megan
thinks it never officially will. Accuracy will always ethically trump speed on
the ethical front (5. Changing Standards).
So despite other organizations who publish their “facts” as
soon as they get them and then make updates to fix the stories later, Megan settles down to research. She picks up her phone and calls the police on the scene while checking the school’s
official feed for information. She wants her story to be right the first time.
wow it seems that it would be unethical to be allowed to publish something before it is checked. But in some regard it makes since seeing as you are allowed to publish anything on the internet and those articles are never checked for authenticity.
ReplyDeleteSolid job, Maren! It's hard to balance what people want (audience, readers, viewers, bosses) and what the regulations ask us to do, which is difficult if the immediate pressure (and immediate reward) comes from those who want the quick fix news story.
ReplyDeleteEven though Megan is a fictional character, I appreciate her ethics! I remember times when I have clicked on a news article and have seen an "Update" at the top of the page with corrections and I will often skip reading the entire article because I got all the info in the update. It's unfortunate that a journalist's work can be skipped over simply because extra time wasn't invested in the beginning.
ReplyDelete