Ethics

Let's talk ethics, folks.

We, as journalists, wield an extraordinary amount of power over other people and their opinions. Naturally, this places us in an awkward position because what we say and what we write can have huge implications. What is to stop the abuse of this power? Ethics. Well, ethics and legislation (but let's not get into that right now).

Ethics can be described in many ways but I like Edward Spence's definition "A set of prescriptive rules, principles, values and virtues of character that inform and guide interpersonal and intrapersonal conduct: that is the conduct of people toward each other and the conduct of people toward themselves."Essentially, ethics are the guiding principles that we all have inside of us. Ethics are a subjective sense of right and wrong and as such, can vary from person to person.

How does this relate to journalism?


Every time that we write a story, we need to evaluate who it will have an effect on and how profound that effect is. If something will cause somebody to lose their job but is in the greater public interest, should it be published? If something will result in the injury or death, is it still worth publishing? Is it wrong to report on somebody who has died? Is it wrong to photograph somebody attempting suicide instead of helping them? To what extent are we responsible for the actions of people affected by our stories? To what extent do we directly influence other people? Should we uphold confidentiality and anonymity even if doing so will result in justice being subverted? Why should we have this control? How can we ensure that it is not abused?

I want to say that morality is consistent and that good people are always good and that their decisions are always just... But I can't. Morality is tricky. Everybody feels it to a greater or lesser degree and it is guaranteed that people won't always agree with a decision. Yes, we all have to answer to an authority figure; the legal system, the MEAA, the APC, etc., and we have to answer to the public, but most importantly, we have to answer to ourselves. We have to ensure that, at the end of the day, we can live with the decisions that we make. That is, in my opinion, what ethics are all about. Being able to live with ourselves and the repercussions of our actions.