Norlex J. Belma
Media Ethics
One major topic that deserves a considerable amount of attention when it comes to of ethics is the general media. The media has been a great source of information and knowledge. On the flipside of that, the media is also perceived as a lying deceitful enterprise that is easily accessible by millions at any given second. These media personalities and corresponding media outlets have the moral responsibility to be forth coming with truthful information for the mass audience. This moral responsibility is often called into question and the equilibrium is often skewed towards professional development and advancement.
People in the field of journalism are faced with this complex on regular a bases. As journalist, they have the professional obligation to help inform the masses with accurate, timely, and truthful information. This even stretches to the field commonly referred to as investigative reporting. Often times these “reporters”, who are more like information “super sleuths”, pry into the lives of the rich and famous in hopes of unearthing some deep dark secret from that person’s life. In most of these cases, they are not doing this in a grander scheme to help better the general public, or to help further our culture. These are young reporters who are looking for that big break. They are seeking professional advancement and this taking away from the original need and purpose of reporting.
One outstanding issue with and point of debate in the media is the notion of perception. The media is not only a source of information in the sense of journalism. The term media encompasses sitcoms, movies, comedy, fashion, and advertisement as well. In our society, the basic notion is exploited more than ever. The main problem and this is not to try to stray too far away from the topic, is the notion of beauty and this perception is a basic human issue and that has been prevalent since the beginning of time. There have studies proving that often times, what we view on the television or various other channels of media are directly correlated to how one perceives themselves. The media is linked to issues of insecurities, and this is always almost attributed with physical attributes. We often see that unless you are blonde and have pearly white teeth with a nice body, you are not pretty.
Journalists often have to balance their personal ethics, or lack thereof, and professional ethics when it pertains to dealing with cases of honesty and being entirely forthright. This is also common in daily New Reports. This loosely correlates to the “Big Brother’ conspiracy concept. Some believe that those in the media have the right to gage how much information they allow for the general public to obtain. It is an age old question, how much information should the news and powers at be reveal to the public. Also we can ask, how much should be held retained from the public? It is the undeniable responsibility of individuals to reveal the most truthful information to the public. As I mentioned earlier, there is a complex in the media and it directly involves the truth. Journalist, Editors and Writers often have to walk the fine line in between the truth and deceit. This is the fundamental moral issue in the professional construct of Journalism.
This issue can even be related to the 1950’s and the overall success of the Barbie Dolls. In one study, they have black and white girls from the age of 5 to 8 play with Barbie dolls that were both black and white for an extend period of time(over a year in most cases). At the end of the study, they asked what dolls where prettier, all the white girls picked the white Barbie Dolls as expected. The intriguing aspect of this study is that almost all of the black girls all picked the white Barbie Dolls. This is proof that the media bombardment of these images has taking a toll on our society. It has come to be more of a psychological issue at times. Media ethics has become one of the ethical hot beds of debate that is most directly related to our society and our personal construct. Many of us depend on the media as a source for not only news, but as a source of enlightenment, social topics, style, trends, and sometimes just in passing. All media leaves a lasting effect in some way because it is meant to be remembered.
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