What are some examples of ethics challenges that industry players have experienced?

Articles in this blog post:

"CORRECTING THE RECORD; Times Reporter Who Resigned Leaves Long Trail of Deception"

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/11/us/correcting-the-record-times-reporter-who-resigned-leaves-long-trail-of-deception.html?src=pm

“Phone-Hacking Allegations Rattle News Corp. Tabloid”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304760604576427280026154172.html

Question: What are some examples of ethics challenges that industry players have experienced?

ARTICLE SUMMARY: In the field of media, there have been several cases of ethical dilemmas, particularly in the form of journalism. Within the past decade, two major scandals have been with the New York Times and a British branch of News Corp. titled News of the World.

With the New York Times scandal, the controversy discussed is that of the reporter Jayson Blair. In 2003, it was discovered that Blair had written numerous articles with the help of plagiarism and fabrication: Blair cited interviews and conversations that never actually happened, falsified his locations and details of the stories, and stole sections from articles about different stories from different newspapers. The stories covered important events which actually did happen, such as the Maryland sniper cases and the stories of wounded soldiers returning from war, but exaggerated and deceived in order to look better, sometimes stating that he received info from unnamed sources in order to cover his deceit. Blair had been working for the paper for several years since he started as an intern, moving high on the ladder with his enthusiasm and stamina, until his fictional information had given him a place at the top national reporting staff. Ultimately, Blair was ousted when others began checking his information and the lie began to fall flat. According to former reporter Alex Jones, “There has never been a systematic effort to lie and cheat as a reporter at The New York Times comparable to what Jayson Blair seems to have done.” Blair lost his career and went back to school while the New York Times lost money and respect as it tried to convince the public that it is still trustworthy.

In the News of the World scandal, the deceit was again used, but this time in a different way. Information arose which signaled that reporters for News of the World hacked into the phones and voicemails of numerous people, including celebrities and politicians, in order to get more information about stories. Public outrage at these deeds reached a high when it was discovered that the murdered 13-year-old Milly Dowler had her phone hacked shortly after she disappeared. Besides listening to her voicemails, those involved also deleted some of them from her phone; this gave her family false reassurance that possibly she was still alive and was the one who had been accessing her phone. Ultimately, News Corp. faced heavy fines, several arrests were made, and News of the World was discontinued due to the scandal.

MY ANALYSIS: By looking at the New York Times and News of the World scandals, several major ethical challenges arise. From the New York Times case, to what extent should those in printed media (and media in general) be required to be honest? From the News of the World case, how far are reporters allowed to go in order to get the truth?

For the case of Jayson Blair, I would argue that the reporter is fully at fault for the deceit he caused. While several of his stories were altered to be more entertaining and important, he did so at the cost of journalistic credibility. Newspapers which cover real stories are expected to be true, even if it means that less people find it interesting; news organizations have fought the problem of trying to stay popular by having editorials, which are sections where people write opinions in a more casual tone which still cover the news while adding an entertainment value. As for the issue of plagiarism, that is a blatantly wrong offense; if a reporter uses information from someone else, he has to cite it, which is a lesson we’ve learned since elementary school.

As for the News Corp. scandal, the line between right and wrong is more debatable. While it is true that the organization broke the law, one can argue that they did so for a good intention, which was to get more information and make the reader-base more informed. However, while the reader base does have a right to be informed, individuals have the right to privacy, which means that the contents of their phones can only be seen with their permission on the ruling of the government which decides it is necessary. By breaking this right, it can cause serious consequences, especially with the family of Milly Dowler who were given false hope only for it to be taken away again.