Ethics 

Ethics is...

• Moral Principles

• Right vs. Wrong

• Report vs. Not Report

• An individual responsibility 

Ethics 

Seek truth and report.

Be Honest - Be fair - Be courageous

While...

Gathering - Reporing - Interpreting 

Ethics

Minimize Harm

Ethics

Act Independently

Be free of obligation to any interest other than....

the public's right to know

Ethics

Be Accountable

To...

Readers, listeners, viewers, each other

Ethics

Modes of Thought

Deontological Ethics

• Always right and always wrong

• believe in doing right

• Consequences are not critical

• Getting a good result from doing a bad thing is BAD

• No lying or deceiving

• Follow a set of rules (ex. SPJ Code of Ethics)

Ethics

Modes of thought 

Teleological Ethics

• Final ends

• Not the act itself, but the consequences

•  For example, stealing might not always be wrong. A mother stealing to feed her starving children would be performing a good act. 

• What are the intentions of the actor?

Ethics 

Deontological Ethics As a Journalist (1 of 2)

Report the news

Consequences don't matter

if it has news values, it should be reported

Concerned with what would happen if you knew something and didn't report it

Ethics

Deontological Ethics As a Journalist (2 of 2)

• Public relies on the news media to keep them informed

• That's why the First Amendment exists

• "Don't blame the messenger"

• Reporters don't make events happen, they just report them

• Journalists are unethical only when they withhold the news

Ethics

Teleological Ethics As a Journalist

• Job of a journalist is:

1. to be the watchdog of the government
2. to protect the common good
3. to keep the public fully informed

According to teleological ethics, whatever must be done to accomplish these goals is clearly ethical 

Ethics

Journalists must decide for themselves, rather than having others decide for them, what information they will distribute, and what form that information will take