Online Reporting, Research & Writing

What’s fair- ethics drive journalism

SPJ included a video of journalists in one of their articles who spoke on the topic of ethics where one of them mentioned that though journalists are trying to remain neutral, they do in reality have opinions. However, accuracy is more important and is a priority above all else, one journalist simply says it’s “what’s fair.”

SPJ includes a video in their article on what journalists think about bias.

As a reporter, a journalist tries to get every perspective. One source cannot run a story because it is begging for bias. Sources must be verified and reporters do this by going to more than one source to check and balance their stories. One journalists puts it like this; If a mother had a child who did something wrong and said that that same child was a straight A student and never got into any trouble with the law, one can’t quickly take her word for it. Rather, it’s important to go to the child’s school and police department to check out those sources as well. It might not be that the parent is lying, yet she may be overcome with grief and feel as if she has to prove her child is pure, just like most parents think their children are.

SPJ gives examples of different articles and how they fit ethical journalism.

SPJ puts it clearly: “SPJ Code of Ethics- seek truth and report it, act independently, minimize harm, and be accountable and transparent.”

SPJ’s perspective on what ethical journalism calls for.

How a soldier had PTSD and killed officers; FOIA used to prove it

A former soldier killed five Dallas police officers in July, 2016 during protests after returning overseas on duty. Information about the case was obtained through The Associated Press by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This act allows the public to access data and reports if the information does not contradict any of the exemptions that are set beforehand by the act.

FOIA.gov provides information on the Freedom of Information Act and the exemptions to the act as well.

AP News reported the story of the veteran that was experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) before the murder. It is proven that the 25 year-old man, Micah Johnson was seeking assistance for his anxiety and depression but physicians didn’t think he was at risk of harming himself or others and therefore did not act on his concerns.

jass23 — AP News reports a story about a veteran who was experiencing PTSD and kills 5 officers.

Reporters at AP News got their hands of records on the case thanks to the FOIA that stated Johnathan experienced an anxiety attack that required police and made Jonathan feel like, “My heart felt like someone was pinching it while it was beating fast.” Yet even as the soldier told this to doctors, no one diagnosed him with PTSD, something like this discovery could have saved the policemen’s lives.

When I initially finished reading this story, two thoughts came to me:

1) How did the reporters get records of a patient’s health information? Doesn’t this violate exemption 6 of the FOIA which states the FOIA, “Protects information about individuals in personnel and medical files.”

2) Are doctors really the ones to blame for allowing him go out in society? I try to say this with little bias because I’m conflicted with what I’m supposed to think since I try to look at each situation from every angle and give the benefit of the doubt. Why would doctors be dishonest in saying Jonathan was not a harm to himself or society? I don’t think he was a glaring warning sign to any of these doctors hence them letting go. However, they should have listened to Jonathan’s concerns more carefully and maybe prescribed him medication if symptoms persisted.

Coming from a potential future doctor, I fear ever letting a patient leaving my presence without making an effort to make them feel better. So perhaps Jonathan was at a disadvantage.

VIDEO: How journalists confront their own biases

This is a video from the Society of Professional Journalists. It features journalists talking about bias, and how they confront both their own biases and those biases others see in them. It’s worth viewing. I can’t actually embed the video, but if you click on the image it’ll take you to it.

Journalists speak about bias in this SPJ video.

Podcasting has evolved!

Podcasting really had evolved and it’s leaving evidence and audience everywhere as it grows.

I found it to be interesting to blog about because social media has and is rapidly growing in new innovative ways like podcasting.

For instance, PBS NewsHour, posts daily and is listed as one of the most significant nightly news programs in America.

Podcasting also has it to whereas the BBC news audience can tune in on its iTunes app twice daily; more and more people are now getting easier accessibility to stay in touch with what’s going on because of these types of podcasting apps.

Podcasting allows one to give creative voice and visuals which helps with growing their viewers attention by sharing information with others in newer styles because of the changing time we are now living in.

I found doing research on podcasting to be overall interesting because it’s something anyone can do to display information, art or many other interesting ideas and skills with the world or groups of interest.

Pastor and 3 others slain in Detroit shooting rampage reported on CBS News

Although I don’t like reporting on negative topics, this CBS news lede says it all. For instance, one can clearly see what has taking place in the lede, the reader also can immediately see the location to whereas the incident took place.(Free Google picture art)

Furthermore, the reader can see in the lede above, who and how just enough whereas it will draw in a intretested reader as it did myself at the time being a I’m a resident of Detroit.

I also found that a good lede with the a big cty city name provided like Detroit, can bring in more readers and be more impactful than the actual story sometimes. A good lede however, can really be conducive to getting a readers interest enough to wanting to read more on their given topic.

Having key words in a lede also helps the reader to know if they’ll be interested in the story or not quickly and that’s very important for the publisher to know and to utilize quality ledes if they’re wanting to reach a large amount of readers at once.