CONVENTIONS OF
ETHICAL JOURNALISM
Adil Bhat &
Atif Khan
What Are Ethics?
Ethics is an appropriate dispensation
of responsible behaviour towards the
person/group concerned.
In the binaries of good and evil,
ethics deals with the former
enmeshed in moral duty and
accountability.
Ethics in the Corporate
News Age
Ethics in Media Coverage: The concept of ethics in
media coverage is guided by objectivity and lack of
prejudices. From war journalism to coffee table
coverage, the lens and the pen of media primarily
requires independence. An independent media
delivers voice of the people and is skeptical of power.
The major challenges faced by the media today is
the influence of corporate houses and the constant
nudging of politics.
It is equally important to distance oneself from
sensationalism and abstain from making
generalisations.
Present Scenario of Patriotism and
Ethics Gap
Newsmen might say that a doing a story
about the nation like the lack of armor or
the foreign policy at the
heart of what defines journalism.
But many in the public domain might
consider the story muck-raking or
unpatriotic to question the decisions of our
leaders thereby branding them as Anti
-National.
News/ media view their of their
profession/role and the publics perception
of the same creates an ethics gap
Contributing Factor to the
gap
The personal biases of the audience (Why
are you picking on my guy?)
Lack of understanding of journalistic rules
and goals (Why give both sides?)
Rise of infotainment has clouded news and
soured public perceptions of the news media
Ivory tower attitudes by journalists. (Our
way of looking at things must be the right
way.)
Lack of news councils.
Sloppiness. Not doing your job. Realize that
people will lie to you or spin the facts
Ethics: Guiding principles
Seek the truth and report it as fully as possible
(afflict the comfortable and comfort the
afflicted; give voice to the voiceless and hold
the powerful accountable)
Act independently, avoiding associations that
can create conflicts or cast doubt upon your
information-providing goals
Minimize harm (to yourself, the medium your
represent and to those directly and indirectly
affected by the story)
Censorship and Ethics
There are some pertinent questions that we need to
answer in an attempt to address the issue of
censorship in media coverage.
Should a newspaper ever be censored? When
talking about censorship the first important issue is
the right of the people to know.
Who has the right to censor news? State control
over newsrooms is both unethical and leads to
distortion of perceptions.
Media helps in forming and shaping public opinion.
A fiercely independent media is antithetical to
power.
Media Credibility & Crisis Reporting
Curiosity is human nature and hence
people turn to different sources of
information to satisfy their hunger. It is
in quenching this thirst that people
access different sources of media.
Media credibility is directly linked to
media literacy. One has to be aware of
the vast sources to be able to evaluate
the available raw data. (JNU incident)
Credibility & Literacy
Credibility of media and the
information it releases, poses a major
question to the people when there is
an open data of information out
there.
To what extent is the information
is true? To what extent do media
illiterate people get affected by
false information out there?
CHARACTERISTICS OF ETHICAL
NEWS REPORTING
The primary structure of a ethical news
reporting constitutes the following five
features:
Accuracy
Objectivity (Communal riots)
Human interest
Fairnesss (non-partisan reporting)
Brevity
Clarity
Dangers of Unethical
Reporting
Stereotyping( Kashmiris as terrorists ,
Muslims as Fanatics , Blacks as
criminals , Dalits as Corrupt )
Vulnerability ( Kanhaiya and Umar
Khalid became Vulnerable in the
public domain )
Polarization (Us Vs Them on
Communal lines )
Or Jingoism
Bias in News Coverage
When media news coverage of issues is bias in favor
of the status quo, these are the results:
1. ownership of media is held by major corporations
with interests and goals similar to power elite
elements of society
2. people with different views, "dissenting voices," are
not heard much
3. the breadth of debate is limited
4. the official stance and institutional memory prevail
and become history
5. people's interest and attention are often diverted
away from issues about which they could become
concerned
NAOM CHOMSKYS IDEA OF
CONSENT MANUFACTURING
Chomsky's concept of media manufacturing, which means ideas must be
stated briefly so it can fill up the TV content between commercials or fit in the
print media news hole). Thus, dissenting views are mostly disallowed because
they take longer to explain and need more complete evidence.
Chomsky asserts that in order to break free,
citizens must take 2 actions:
1. They must seek out information from ALTERNATIVE MEDIA (media
outside the mainstream and usually having a particular point of view)
2. they must move toward change by becoming engaged in community action
-- because people can use their ordinary intelligence to make changes in their
lives and communities. Grassroots movements begin there.
Chomsky argues that people need to work to develop independent minds -maybe in part by forming COMMUNITY Action Groups with others with
parallel interests and values, not in isolation, which is where the present
system tends to keep people.
Avoid Manufacturing
Consent
Manufacturing consentis related
to the understanding that
indoctrination is the essence of
propaganda.In a "democratic"
society indoctrination occurs when
the techniques of control of
apropaganda modelare imposed
-- which means imposing Necessary
Illusions.
Conclusion
Doing your job in a professional and ethical manner
will
boost your credibility and enhance your marketability.
People might disagree with your decision or not like a
particular story, but at least they will know your
information can be trusted.
Also, realize that as a human being, you can never be
fully
objective. But you can strive to be fair and be
consistent in that fairness.
