KEY INSIGHT 2: ETHICS
Before coming to college, I had a publish-all, tabloid-type mentality surrounding journalism. If there was a story, it was worth reporting, no matter who it hurt. I believed this because it’s what I was exposed to: gossip columns and exposés. In these past few years, my outlook has done a complete 180° shift. Having the influence of a journalist requires intense ethical consideration for everything I write, because I have the power to change people’s perceptions on the world.
In my Introduction to Rhetoric class (ENGL 387), I was first introduced to Isocrates’ idea that eloquence must be joined with wisdom. For me, this means that the production of words and speech must be joined with understanding the effect my words and ideas can have on people. Isocrates believed wisdom without eloquence is useless, and eloquence without wisdom is empty, even dangerous. In this class, I was first introduced to the idea that what I’m writing is equally as important as why I’m writing it.
This idea was explored further in my Freedom, Responsibility and Ethics of the Mass Media class (JOUR 501). This course broke down controversial topics in the newsroom, including privacy, violence, graphic images, race, culture and gender, by forcing students to think critically on how to report such stories. Further, we were asked to think ethically. Oftentimes, this meant not reporting a great story for the sake of an individual’s privacy. Other times, it meant going against someone’s wishes and publishing a story for the sake of public knowledge. Each week during class, we were presented with scenarios and called upon randomly to make quick and decisive arguments on courses of action.
During this class, I learned the term teleological ethics, a theory which sees ethical actions based on a consideration of their consequences. Rather than a right or wrong view of decisions, this theory allows for a gray area. While objective moral truths might have ruled in the past, this situational consideration has a stronger place in today’s world. For example, while an objective moral truth is that lying is wrong, teleological ethics might consider it better to tell someone you love the meal they cooked because they worked hard on it, even if you don’t like it. Thus, an immoral action can lead to a moral result. In terms of applying this kind of thinking to journalism, our professor presented us with a real-life scenario:
A man in prison is looking to hurt the prosecutor who put him there. He tells another inmate, who will be released soon, to burn down the prosecutor’s house with him and his family inside. Once released, the inmate tells the police everything. Though the inmate is not going to burn the house down, the police worry about the family’s safety, knowing the vengeful prisoner can ask someone else to start the fire. The police ask your news station to print a front-page story in your next issue, saying the house burned down with the prosecutor and his family inside, so when the prisoner reads the paper, he will assume them dead. Then, the family will be safe. What do you do?
A deontological, or black-and-white consideration of ethics, would say that a journalist should never lie. However, a teleological consideration sees the moral implication they have in the situation. We spent time in class weighing the responsibility of the newspaper with its commitment to the truth, questioning whether or not to publish the false story. Using teleological ethics, we came up with an alternate solution. We would write the false story, print a dozen copies and drop them off at the prison. The prisoners would be exposed to this false story, but the general public would not. The prisoner would believe this family to be dead, making them safe.
This lesson helped me understand the power that journalism can have on people. Further, it helped me see my future readers as individuals rather than just part of a group. A journalist’s job extends far beyond delivering a story, but we have a direct impact on the daily lives of our readers. In this scenario and many others that we encountered in the class, journalists were faced with difficult decisions that go far beyond informing the public. In such situations, a journalist must examine how their publication will impact a single person’s life. It can be the difference between life and death.
In this class, I co-authored a research paper responding to the lack of trust in news stations. In this paper, as highlighted in the attached artifact “Creating an Ethical News Consumer,” we created a formula of three teleological ethical theories, that when used together, someone can effectively consume news through. The formula takes into the account the source, the content and the reader’s personal beliefs, applying it to two real-world situations. While the writing itself took a significant amount of time, it took weeks to comb through many ethical theories, weigh their significance and find their place in news consumption. We had to confront ethics from every perspective, talking through different situations and rationalizing the ethical approaches of each.
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These lessons translated beyond the classroom, in my role as the president of Kappa Kappa Gamma. Ethics were an important part of my position because of the diverse thoughts and needs of such a large group of women. My chapter consisted of 330 members and a leadership team of 16 women. Each member had a different outlook on how chapter council should be leading the chapter, and each council member had a different approach to leadership. One of my roles as president was making sure my peers felt heard.
I applied the lesson from my Introduction to Rhetoric class that eloquence must be joined with wisdom. Being the head spokesperson doesn’t make someone a leader. Leadership lies in the wisdom behind the words. As president, I was intentional with my words – speaking clearly, assertively, when necessary and oftentimes staying quiet. I learned that being a leader isn’t about being the loudest one in the room, but in the silence, other leaders bloom.
I applied teleological ethics to my role, specifically by treating people as individuals. Oftentimes, members would come to me with personal situations, concerned about their role in the chapter, or with frustrations about how the chapter is running. While having these meetings were commonplace for me, I understood that it took a lot of courage for them to open up to a peer, so I treated each situation with care. I listened, kept conversations confidential and treated each person as an individual rather than a number in the chapter. Because of this, I formed trusting relationships with members of my chapter, which is where I believe I had the biggest impact. For example, a member once talked to me about how she felt she was being bullied out of her living situation. I found a spot for her to live in the sorority house and worked it out with our House Board and property manager, even if that meant one of my closest friends would no longer have a solo room. She moved into the house and her mental health improved tenfold. This wasn’t in my job description, but for this member, I feel that I made an impact. While I performed traditional “leader” tasks like presiding over meetings and signing contracts, my relationship with individual members made my time as president mean something.
The Annual Chapter Expectations (ACE) Packet, something I had to complete for the university, explains chapter council’s role in treating members as individuals. For example, as highlighted in the attached artifact, “ACE Program Planning Document,” we focused on transforming the Standards Committee to reflect our members’ opinions. For the first time, members had a say in the severity of Standards offenses. We sent out a survey allowing everyone to have their opinions heard, in order to ethically discipline members who broke the rules. This reflects a sub-theory of teleological ethics, utilitarianism, which believes the opinion of the majority is the most ethical. By listening to our members, our chapter is better off.
Chapter Council meetings prepared me for the workforce because they function much like a busy newsroom. News comes quickly and the media are expected to respond by the next news cycle, so newsrooms are often filled with stories flying back and forth, angles, titles and most importantly, ethical considerations of stories. During my role as president, I presided over Chapter Council meetings, which consisted of 16 women all trying to have their opinions heard. Oftentimes, we had to make quick decisions that would impact the entire chapter, like canceling a function last minute due to liability insurance issues. In these meetings, I kept things orderly and efficient so we could explore all angles of an issue without wasting time. In this way, my role as president was comparable to that of a news editor. Just like an editor must consider ethics in each news piece and how it will impact readers, I had to consider ethics in how our actions would impact our members, who have put time and money into the organization. Most importantly, I had to be decisive and defend my decisions to 330 women, even if I began to question them later, which is a key part of being a strong editor.
In terms of taking an ethical approach to situations, both my Introduction to Rhetoric class and Freedom, Responsibility and Ethics of the Mass Media class informed my experience being the president of my sorority. I was first exposed to the idea that wisdom and eloquence go hand in hand. Then, my understanding was deepened when I learned about teleological ethics and the importance of critically thinking about everything I write and speak. Both of these ethical approaches appeared in my role as president, specifically by ensuring everyone in my chapter felt like their voices were being heard. Therefore, I have not only learned about ethics in a classroom setting, but I have practiced in real-world situations.
This critical thinking is essential to my pathway, professional and civic engagement. For me, “engagement” means a participation, an exchange of ideas or learning from one another. It is about listening to others and allowing them to feel heard, not asserting my opinion over anyone else’s. With this kind of public exchange, people can be more understanding of each other. With my experiences in this, I can be a leader of this movement.
These lessons will make me a better journalist because when interviewing people, I will be able to connect with them as people rather than just informants. One large part of interviewing someone is being a reliable, trustworthy source who the interviewee can feel safe opening up to. I can curate questions to them more effectively by understanding who they are as individuals, which will result in more interesting responses that I’ll be able to write about. Most importantly, I’ll make sure they feel heard. Through my experience in my Freedom, Responsibility and Ethics of the Mass Media class, I have learned how to properly handle sensitive stories through the perspectives of ethical theories, specifically teleological ethics. The combination of these experiences will make me a better journalist because I can be proud of the content I put into the world.
ARTIFACTS
Creating an Ethical News Consumer
ACE Program Planning Document