Ethics In Journalism

Being ethical means, essentially, doing the right thing. An ethical person abides by a code, which he has set down for himself, founded on his own beliefs. Ethics can be very diverse, what is morally wrong or right from one person’s point of view can be completely different from another’s. Ethics are self-motivated ways of regulating one’s behavior. Behaving ethically often incarnates as being truthful in what you do or say.

Ethics can apply to journalism in many different ways. Keeping a rigid code is very important if you are to be received well by the public. I think that the news watching audience typically likes to see a news entity following with what is morally accepted by the masses. When watching presented news I don’t want to see reporters trash talking subject A or lying about what happened to subject B.

If a news corporation or even citizen blogger does not behave ethically not only will the lose viewers but also credibility. Other viewers can always replace lost viewers, however, if you are not regarded as credible and ethical no new viewers will come. Often news companies might be placed in a situation where they can both be ethical in their behavior and hurt their business or they can do the wrong thing and remain unscathed. Such a dilemma often comes up when displaying controversial news; this is when a code of ethics comes in handy.

Different News Sources In Today's Society

In today’s world there are many different ways of obtaining news. They can come from a wide variety of places on a broad range of subjects. Most methods of getting news updates have similarities and differences. It is important that everyone understands these individual traits and how to select a news media appropriate for their present situation. For instance, someone driving a car would benefit from a television broadcast or Internet blog; they would want something like a radio report.

Newspaper, radio, television and the Internet all have a few things in common. On the broadest spectrum, they all deliver the news to the public. The Internet can have various means of relaying news stories. There can be streams, blogs, or even live footage coverage of a story. For this reason, I will say that all afore mentioned news medias have people reporting through either voice or sound. Then, there is also spectrum. All these medias can either deliver local, national, or international news.

Newspaper, radio, television and the Internet also have numerous differences. One huge difference is the “reaction time” they each have. Newspapers are published daily so you won’t see news in the paper that is breaking. Television, radio and the Internet do not have to deal with a printing press; because of this they can all deliver breaking news. Television and the Internet have the ability to display images and video as well as sound, the radio can only broadcast sound and newspapers, still images.

I don’t have a preference for one news media that is so strong it overwhelms the others. I tend to get my news from an evenly distributed base. Usually, in the morning I will read the local news in the paper. From then until the afternoon I have the potential to obtain Internet based news because I’m already on it doing schoolwork. In the evening I like to tune into a Baltimore based radio stream, WTMD. This is mainly a music station but they do sometimes provide news updates. At night, I sometimes watch news on TV such as CNN. I like the way I get the news because each media is convenient for wherever I am at a certain time.

As you can see, news can come from so many places. Hopefully, it is now easy for you to discern between different types of news media. This is an important skill for anyone interested in keeping current on the news. Right now it seems like we are living in the pinnacle of mass newsgathering. The more people who know how to best use different media the better.

News Programming Report

I watched news channel 25 which is a local based news station dealing with a varying spectrum of news coverage. They broadcast local, national and international news. I was watching the 11:00 news, basically an overview of the day’s events. It was slightly perplexing to watch because they told you about a number of stories crammed into a small time space.

I did not see any opinions being expressed during the broadcast. The announcers spoke in a fairly monotone voice. They did not get emotionally involved in any of the stories nor did they openly express their opinion. While this is good for getting an unprejudiced view of the news, a little inflection at least makes it interesting.

I would say that no, they did not do a good job of informing me on the news stories. They gave barely more than a sentence worth of information on each story. In fact, the only segment they dwelled on at all was the weather. I definitely can think of a few things they could be doing better. I would start by getting you more information on each story. You don’t even have to take longer. Just get more info across without using up your entire time saying, “Coming up next is such and such.”All in all, the experience was so so at best.