Scott Agee
sa308205@ohio.edu
Perhaps it is just me, but after reading through the ethical codes of each different media organization, it seems that it would be relatively easy to draft them all together into one large, all-encompassing document. Admittedly, I might be exaggerating a bit to make a point, but I'm pretty positive some form of the phrase "...to report truthfully, honestly and objectively" appears in every groups’ code. All I'm saying is that it seems a bit unnecessarily redundant.
I don’t think I am being naïve to suggest that most aspiring and professional journalists harbor a strong enough grasp of what’s right and what’s wrong to avoid making unethical decisions or mistakes. Inevitably, there will always be exceptions, as in the cases of Stephen Glass or Jayson Blair, but if anything I think these exceptions serve only to prove the rule further.
In the particular cases of Glass and Blair, both men were young and under a great deal of pressure to prove themselves in two wildly competitive newsrooms. Their mistakes came into fruition not because they were unaware of the ethical rules they were breaking, but rather because they felt they had no other option and acted out of desperation. I could be being cynical, but in my opinion it wouldn’t have mattered how many times Blair and Glass had read the SPJ code of ethics. They made a conscious decision, and as far as I’m concerned, they knew exactly what they were doing and that it was definitely not kosher.
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