Good M orning! M CS1250 Introduction to Journalism October 2016, - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Good M orning!

M CS1250 Introduction to Journalism

October 2016, Ulrich Werner, Adj. Prof. (IIS-RU)

What’s on the Plan for today

• Earning and keeping Trust

– Journalist Ethics – Fairness and Balance – Plagiarism and Fabrication – Undercover Reporting and Deception

J

• urnalist Code of E

thics

E arning and Keeping Trust – J

• urnalist E

thics

• Laws – can’t govern each and every situation
• Journalist Associations and M edia Companies have

their own Code of Ethics

– Guiding through the decision-making process – Designed to give you some basic principles – How is helped by my reporting? Who is hurt by my

reporting? What is the ethical thing to do?

U.S . – S .P .J . Code of E thics

• Sections:

– Seek truth and report it – M inimize harm – Act independently, serve the public – Be accountable and transparent

• Keep readers informed what’s going in to your decision-

making process

• Take responsibility for your work
• Codes of Ethics are not legally binding

Undercover Reporting and Deception

Undercover Reporting and Deception

• Undercover reporting stories expose major societal

problems

• But there is a difference between doing an

undercover investigation, or simply not identifying you as a journalist in a public place or attending a public event

• Undercover reporting needs active deception

– You are lying to people about what you’re

doing and who you are

Undercover Reporting and Deception

• Criminal charges if you break the law
• Civil lawsuits for trespassing, fraud or invasion of

privacy

• Damage to your reputation and credibility (and that
• f your media organization, if the public becomes

angry about your undercover tactics)

• Never go undercover without the full knowledge
• f your editors or superiors

Undercover Reporting and Deception

• Are there other ways to effectively get and tell the

story?

• Who will be deceived?
• Will innocent people be harmed?
• What will you tell your audience about your

methods?

• What will you do if there is no story?

Fairness and Balance

Fairness and Balance

• Reporting about controversies and disagreements
• Your own interests should not undermine providing
• bjective coverage for your audience
• Fairness usually means the simple inclusion of the
• ther side in new reports about conflict
• Balance concerns how usually sides of a conflict are

treated relative to one another in your coverage (that is valid over a longer period of time as well, e.g. presidential campaign speeches)

Fairness and Balance

• If you can’t do a fresh interview, regardless of

whether the newsmaker is an individual, a company, a government agency, or an association

– Previous interviews – Position papers – Letters – TV and radio appearances – Company reports – Court and legal documents in public court files

Plagiarism and Fabrication

Plagiarism and Fabrication

• Plagiarism is stealing, and it is unethical.
• The same is valid for fabrication, making things up,

whether it is news sources, quotes, or so-called facts.

• Plagiarism is a serious charge. If true, it has the

potential to upend a career and destroy a journalist’s reputation for life.

Determining Plagiarism (Poynter Institute)

• Is the central idea or some of the language

unoriginal?

• Are there quote marks around the unoriginal words?
• Is there other attribution? (Attribution is the
• pposite of plagiarism)
• Are there more than 7 to 10 identical words in

sequence without attribution or quotations marks?

Avoiding Plagiarism

• Carefully take notes and collect background material
• Carefully attribute
• Carefully re-read and proof-read
• Use free checking software such as Grammarly,

NoPlag, PlagiarismChecker and CopyLeaks

• How would you feel is somebody steals your work?
• Treat others like you would like to be treated

yourself.

Fabrication

• Plagiarism could be deliberate or careless – that’s not

an excuse but may affect the punishment

• Fabrication is an intentional ethical violation. There is

never a legitimate excuse.

If a News Organization finds Plagiarism or Fabrication

Take action – don’t ignore the situation:

• Ask the journalist for an explanation
• Examine his/ her past work for other wrongdoing
• Punish the journalist
• Publicly admit to the audience what went wrong and

apologize

• Correct or remove plagiarized or fabricated material

from the Web site

Assignment No. 2 consis t

• f 2 parts.

Please find it on the Web page. Have a nice weekend!