You want to talk about Ethics!

Tragedies occur everywhere and everyone has to try move on past it. In Valley City, we have been struck with two disasters right after one another. I do not want to get into details on either of them because they are not my place, but there is one thing about these events that has gained attention. If you were in Comm 200--Intro to Media Writing, you remember discussing journalistic ethics and behavior.



What is right and what is wrong? Who allows the media to pick and chose what goes in a newspaper and what gets broadcasted on air? Why is it that only a select few have this right and everyone else has to endure what they decide is ethical?



If you do not know what I am talking about, Sara Gullickson, an 18-year-old from Spirtwood, North Dakota, was submerged in her car for a half hour before being rescued. It was the next day that the article hit the times record, with a picture of Gullickson lying unconsciously on a gurney. What type of newspaper would do this? I later found out that this is done all the time in bigger cities, such as New York, Chicago, or L.A., but in a community where every face is recognizable, then this is preposterous.



Of course, this raised a cry of ethics. The T.R. tried to defend itself by saying that it was only trying to show how fast the rescue squad could work, but there are better ways to show this and leave an unconscious girl aside. It was not illegal, but I had never seen anything more wrong.



The next week, another tragedy struck, and this one hit much closer to me than Gullickson. A very close family friend was found dead in her house, at the age of 15. Jenna Diemert was a fun-loving girl and always wore a smile on her face. The moment I heard of her death, I sank into such a state of shock; I accused the person who had told me of lying and playing a horrible May 8th joke.



Where will the media take this? There is way more to this story, involving the type of death and where she was found? Is this the type of information that is allowed to be placed in a newspaper? If a reporter can try to justify an unconcious girl, how will they try to justify this?



It all comes down to what is right and what is wrong? Ethics, and where do certain people stand? I do not think either of these instances should gain that much publicity simply because they are personal, family affairs. With Gullickson, she is still in the news because of her recovery and that is different, but the photograph they used on the FRONT PAGE was sick.



With Diemert, there are already so many rumors going around and people trying to convince everyone else of what happened, that I do not even want to think of how the media will affect this. Since when did a family event become elligible for public endorsement?


Since this is my last post for class, I want to close with something I read by Oscar Wilde:

“Its failings notwithstanding, there is much to be said in favor of journalism in that by giving us the opinion of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.”

That's all folks....