Ethical misbehavior and transparency’s role

Time Magazine December 12, 1983 cover taken from their website

Alessa Rosa
ar224811@ohio.edu

Nowadays with the growing presence of technology, journalists are being put to the test by bloggers, social media users and other news outlets. So what happens when newsrooms’ ethical missteps make the news?

THE PROBLEM

Well, mainly it damages the trust between readers and journalists. Being the watchdogs of news, means that journalists need to always seek truth and maintain accuracy. Thus, when plagiarism and fabrication occurs in newsrooms, it debases the whole field of journalism and makes readers hesitant to rely on the news (even accurate and well-researched stories that impact a community).

This rising issue of plagiarism and fabrication, in part, has become evident due to the fact that technology has allowed more and more people to hold journalists accountable, but also because of newsroom culture.

THE REASON

Lori Robertson in her piece, “Confronting the Culture,” asserts that the fast-pace and high-pressure of getting the story out first in newsrooms are the main causes of ethical mistakes. Thus, if we were to change the atmosphere to value and award ethical works, plagiarism and fabrication would have no place in the newsroom.

I would have to vehemently agree with Robertson. Although, only privy to the newsroom culture in high school and college, there were certain times I felt so rushed and pressured into turning in a story that cutting a few corners seemed tempting (in the end I did not). However, this environment set in many newsrooms across the world have pushed, not only young and inexperienced journalists, but also veterans into taking the easy way. Furthermore, according to Robertson, not enough worth is put on ethics as compared to getting a front page worthy story.

THE SOLUTION

One way to fix the damage that poor reporting brings is with utilizing transparency and accountability. Meaning, journalists and editors need be able to explain their decisions in a story and to own up to mistakes they commit.

In his article, "Journalism’s Summer of Sin marked by plagiarism, fabrication, obfuscation," Craig Silverman talks about his frustration with news outlets handling ethical misbehavior and points out the unfairness and hypocrisy of handling these transgressions with silence.

He is right. When foul play is involved, news outlets cannot clamp up and conceal information. Not only is that behavior hypocritical since it is the exact behavior journalists detest from people in power, but it is also detrimental because it excuses the behavior to continue from people in power. Therefore, the best way to face ethical missteps is to explain their thought and decision-making processes and apologize for their indiscretions.

However, is there such a thing as too much transparency? Are we putting too much value on it? Rachel Smolkin brings up the role of transparency in her article,"Too Transparent?" Divulging every bit of details, including interviews and memos can weaken journalists’ sense of authority while not completely ensuring ethical behavior. Not to mention that having to respond to every comment and criticism from the public is too time consuming, especially, because often these comments and criticisms are not meant to open dialogue between journalists and reader but serve to push agendas.

The thing is, not using transparency in the news is no longer an option. That era has passed with the advent of technology and social media. Thus, a balance must be met that allows for journalists to perform their work with dignity all the while including readers into their thought processes. I believe that this will prove to be a hard but not impossible task to accomplish. It will take time, but the industry will level out and the ardent expectation for extreme transparency will subdue.