Ethics in journalism is a topic of great importance and has been challenged amidst pandemic life. There are and will continue to be ongoing discussions of ethics in media during the present COVID-19 crisis. There was and still is an emerging need for ethical guidelines for the media with regard to COVID-19 reporting. Back when many towns and states, including New Jersey, closed “non-essential” businesses, media was deemed essential along with the likes of medical facilities, first responders, and grocery stores and pharmacies.
The Ethical Journalism Network lists the five core principles of ethical journalsim as 1) Truth and Accuracy, 2) Independence, 3) Fairness and Impartiality, 4) Humanity and 5) Accountability. The Ethical Journalism Network then posted their 7 Points for Covering a Pandemic. This in the attached PDF – Covering a Pandemic. I also posted the dictionary definition of ethics.
Your assignment is to write about ethical guidelines for journalists (print and/or video/audio). Why do we have them? What are they? What is unethical reporting?
Specifically, how have the ethical guidelines evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic. There has been and still are many articles and so much news coverage right now that it can be overwhelming as we start to move into coverage of the vaccines and booster. I want you to explore the varying coverage and formulate what you believe should be the ethical guidelines for journalists during the pandemic. Please find and cite examples of both good and bad examples of ethical reporting.
When I first assigned this paper, the vaccines were just starting to become available. Has your opinion changed about ethical reporting now that we are 2 years further into the pandemic and to some considered over the pandemic?
Should be 4-5 pages, not including a cover p age and Works Cited. You will have to find examples of what you believe to be ethical and unethical journalism.
