Ethics And Power In Journalism

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What Roles Do Ethics and Power Play in Journalism?

For the most part, journalists have power that can hurt, instead of help citizen autonomy. The ways journalists treat their subjects and sources have generated much concern. The ethics of these two endeavors share much in common, because both use people in various ways to reach each others goals. The well-developed guidelines in research designed to protect research participants' autonomy, to guard against needless deception, and to recognize the special needs of vulnerable research participants have direct application to journalism. Christopher Meyers argues that the news media are ethically constrained by procedure, resulting in journalists asserting power inappropriately at the individual level, and unwillingly giving up moral authority institutionally and globally. In this paper I will discuss how journalists use power and the role that ethics plays in journalism.

In particular, journalists have power at three levels: the micro level, as in relationships between reporters and news subjects or sources; the institutional or professional level, as in media impact on regional political or cultural agendas; and the social level, as in media contribution to establishing and maintaining ideology. Power by definition is the ability to implement one's agenda, often, though not always, by successfully manipulating others. The ability to implement one's agenda is seen through power, and directly linked to the promotion of autonomy; powerful agents have greater opportunity to act upon those choices they find important to the development of character. However, power can also be constructed to restrict others' similar choices; that is, power can be used to coerce or constrain, as wel...

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...Empowerment as a Universal Ethic in Global Journalism."

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Radio-Television News Directors Association. http://www.rtnda.org/ethics/

coe.shtml. Journal of Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct; 2004.

Rao, Shakuntala, Seow Ting Lee. "Globalizing Media Ethics? An Assessment of

Universal Ethics Among International Political Journalists."

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