More interesting readings for Ethics class, this time on whether journalists should remain a detached observer or step into intervene in certain situations.
“Nobody considers a doctor inhumane who takes a sharp instrument and opens the body of a living human. Nobody thinks they are inhumane because they can engage in that process without getting faint of heart or nauseous. Journalists step back from the fray to serve humanity on a different level… Yet journalists have been largely incapable of making that point to the American people.” –Paul McMasters, the First Amendment ombudsman at the Freedom Forum’s First Amendment Center.
“Follow your conscience. Your humanity – your ability to empathize with pain and suffering, and your desire to prevent it – does not conflict with your professional standards. Those impulses make you a better journalist, more attuned to the stories you are tasked with telling. If you change an outcome through responsible and necessary intervention because there’s no one else around to help, so be it. Tell your bosses, and when it’s essential to a story, tell your readers and viewers, too.
Remember, though, that your primary – and unique – role as a journalist is to bear witness. If you decide to act, do so quickly, then get out of the way. Leave the rescue work to first responders and relief workers whenever possible.
The journalists covering Katrina showed compassion by offering water, rides and rescue, but their most enduring service was to expose the suffering of citizens trapped in hellish shelters and on sweltering interstates, and to document the inexcusable government response.
Without journalists fulfilling that essential role, the resources to help on a larger scale might never have arrived.”–Rachel Smolkin for the American Journalism Review
You can read the full article here.
