JOURNALISM ETHICS & ISSUESCLASS #11 | JRNL 4650 | FALL 2016

• Instructor: Bill Mitchell • bmitch (at) gmail (dot) com• 727-641-9407• 13 October 2016 | Northeastern Univ.

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WHAT WE’LL DO TODAY • All in the Name of Science by Anita

• Coverage of Christopher Serrano’s Death by Maddie

• Ethical issues in the Presidential Campaign

• Review of Foreman’s Chapter 14 & 15: Making News Decisions about Privacy and Taste

• Right to be Forgotten

• Assignments for Tuesday Oct. 18

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CAMPAIGN COVERAGE ETHICS ISSUES: SHOULD NEWSPAPERS BE TELLING THEIR

READERS HOW TO VOTE?

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• Dan Kennedy on the value of newspapers’

• Endorsements in local elections

• Innovation in political coverage and commentary

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POSSIBLE EVENT FOR ETHICAL-ISSUES-IN-AN-EVENT-YOU-COVER ASSIGNMENT

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FOREMAN CHAPTER 14:

PRIVACYPRINCIPLES IN CONFLICT:

• Does the public have a legitimate need to know information …

• … that the individuals involved want to keep private?

These cases involve a conflict between the principles of truth-seeking and minimizing harm.

Following slides adapted from Wiley & Sons Instructors’ Resources

THE PENN STATE TWEET

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• Note discussion of this Tweet in Chapter 14 (Privacy) of Foreman text

THE “RIGHT” TO PRIVACY

• Morally, a case can be made that individuals should have the power to control information about themselves.

• Although this “right” does not appear in the Constitution, laws give individuals some protection.

FOUR GROUNDS FOR LAWSUITS

• Intrusion into a person’s solitude or private affairs, including trespass into one’s home or private papers.

• Publication of irrelevant, embarrassing facts.

• False light – creating a false impression of a person.

• Appropriation – using someone’s name or picture for commerce.

WHAT THE LAW PERMITS

• Anything that happens in public can be reported.

• Anything in the public records can be reported.

In these situations, journalists still face a moral question.

IN THE PUBLIC’S INTEREST

• Public performance of public officials• Crimes• Accidents

In these situations, the public’s need to know generally trumps a desire for privacy.

THE GRAY AREAS

• Do public officials have a zone of privacy in personal matters?

• Even though they often seek publicity, do celebrities have a zone of privacy?

• Should business executives be held to the same standards as public officials?

• When reporting on crimes and accidents, should some “private” details be omitted?

FOREMAN CHAPTER 15: MAKING NEWS DECISIONS

ABOUT TASTE

Journalists have to decide whether:

• To report offensive information because it is important, or …

• … to withhold the information or tone it down out of respect for the sensibilities of the audience.

TASTE AS AN ETHICS ISSUE

• Respect for the audience is a matter of ethics.

• So is concern for the people involved in the stories and images.

PRINT VERSION OF THE OPEN LETTER NYT PUBLISHED ONLINE SUNDAY

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GLOBE’S MCGRORY ON BOSTON PUBLIC RADIO ABOUT THE DIRTY WORDS

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HOW THE MEDIA CAN OFFEND

• With news coverage that some in the audience see as insensitive.

• With words that are obscene, are sexist, or disparage ethnic groups.

• With images that portray graphic violence or nudity.

INCENTIVES FOR RESTRAINT

• News organizations do not want to drive away customers by needlessly offending them.

• Broadcast outlets must abide by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules.

2-STEP DECISION PROCESS

1.Recognize content that is likely to offend many in the audience, and assess the degree of offense.

2. Assess the news value of the content, and decide whether it outweighs the offense.

APPLYING THE GOLDEN MEAN

• If you decide to use content that you realize will offend, consider Aristotle’s Golden Mean.

• You can take steps to soften the degree of offense.

STANDARDS OF DIGITAL NEWS

• The taste standards of digital news usually reflect those of the print or broadcast “mother ship.”

• These digital sites have an alternative, e.g., requiring the user to make a personal decision to click on a link to content that might be offensive.

THE RIGHT TO BE FORGOTTEN

EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE, MAY 2014: INDIVIDUALS CAN REQUEST

REMOVAL OF PERSONAL INFO THAT IS…

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• Inaccurate or Inadequate or Irrelevant or Excessive

• Court ruled that the right to be forgotten is not absolute and will be weighed on a case by case basis against such rights as media’s right to free expression

• Ref: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/files/factsheets/factsheet_data_protection_en.pdf

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IN THE U.S., MEANWHILE, MORE & MORE PEOPLE ARE ASKING NEWS

ORGANIZATIONS TO FORGET THEM

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• News organizations are weighing:

• Relevance of the information to the public

• Compassion for the individual asking to be forgotten

• In other words, truth-telling in tension with minimizing harm

PUT YOURSELF IN THE SHOES OF ONE OF THE THREE INDIVIDUALS:

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• Someone seeking to have something removed from a news organization’s website

• What would you like removed and why?

• The editor in charge of making that decision

• What reasons will you offer for your decision?

• A journalist advising the editor

• What process do you suggest the editor follow?

ASSIGNMENTS FOR TUESDAY OCT. 18

• Read and perhaps post a comment to posts by Tessa & Zafirah• Read Chapter 13 in Foreman: Dealing with Sources of Info• Ethics in campaign coverage: Send me your examples (optional)• Prep for Roy Harris visit by• Perusing site about his Public Service Pulitzers book

(https://cup.columbia.edu/book/pulitzers-gold/9780231170291)

• Reading one of the prize-winning stories (http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150619/PC16/150619306)

• Reading Roy on how reporters gathered info for that story(http://www.thenewsliteracyproject.org/news/teachable-moments/amid-news-massacre-power-simple-reconstruction)

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FOLLOWING SLIDES TRIMMED FOR TIME BUT RELEVANT TO PRIVACY AND TASTE ISSUES

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CAMPAIGN COVERAGE ETHICS ISSUES, CONT.:A GO-FUND-ME ENCOURAGING TRUMP TAPE LEAKS

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DOES THE PUBLIC (REALLY) NEED TO KNOW?

• Journalists need to ask whether the public really needs to know certain information …

• … or whether the public is merely curious.

3-STEP DECISION TEMPLATE

1. Analyze the information.

2. Analyze the likely harm.

3. Decide whether the information’s value to the public outweighs the harm inflicted on the subject.

1. ANALYZE THE INFORMATION

• Does the public need to know, or is it merely curious?

• Is the information important?

2. ANALYZE THE LIKELY HARM

• Does reporting the information inflict harm? If so, how much?

• Is harm inflicted just by gathering the information?

• What degree of privacy is the news subject entitled to?

• Did the subject intentionally do something that created news?

3. MAKE THE DECISION

• On a scale, which is more important: the public’s need for the information or the harm inflicted on the subject?

• If the story is to be reported, can some details be omitted to minimize harm?

WHERE PRIVACY IS A FACTOR

• Ordinary people thrust into the news• Victims of sex crimes• Politicians’ sexual affairs• Suicides• Juveniles accused of crimes• Personal lives of public figures

REPORTING FROM SOCIAL MEDIA

• Never use information from social media without checking its authenticity.

• When emailing or interviewing Facebook “friends,” always identify yourself as a reporter.

INSENSITIVITY: VA TECH SHOOTER

• The media thought Cho’s video provided insights into the tragedy, and thus was news.

• The audience saw the media as glorifying a killer and ignoring the victims.

OFFENSIVE WORDS IN THE NEWS

• Taste decisions generally are a matter of moral judgment rather than law.

• The FCC, however, prohibits broadcasters from using “indecent” or “profane” content between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.

How would you report these news stories?

• A diplomat’s comment in a phone conversation that was tapped.

• VP Cheney’s remark in the Senate.• The Cleveland shooter’s statement.• Rev. Jesse Jackson’s comment about

Barack Obama.

THE DEBATE CONTINUES

• Some people think the public’s standards on coarse language are shifting, so news standards should change as well.

• Jesse Sheidlower: Rigid standards deprive us of news and information.

• Thomas Kent: If the news contains the latest vulgarities, consumers would find it very tedious.

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