Case study Analyse of Henry's Publick House
Over recent years high profile cases have brought to the forefront, questions of ethics in journalism. The purpose of this thesis will be to investigate the significance and context of a past case in which a journalist and news organization engaged in questionable operations to report the news. The issue being discussed is the considerable attention gained by the local media for the negative role they played in the Sept 27th 1990 “Henry's Publick House” incident. This thesis will address ethical questions within journalism from the viewpoint of the news organization of this case study and their breach in ethics.
“On Sept. 27, 1990, Mehrdad Dashti, a deranged man carrying three concealed handguns, walked into a popular U.C.-Berkeley hangout. Twenty minutes later, he opened fire, injuring many people and killing one. Ultimately, the incident became an eight-hour siege during which 33 people were held hostage.”
During the onslaught of negotiations and rescue efforts by the Berkeley Police Department, a media frenzy began to ensue as media stations competed to carry the broadcast live. The days following the incident resulted in expressed concern and anger from the public about the perceived irresponsibility of the media coverage by a particular local television station and
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its team. This particular station obtained and casually broadcasted, detailed and often unverified information about the incident from police scanners, opinions and assumptions about the assailant, Mehrdad Dashti, and frequent updates about police activity without regard for any adverse effect. The case study goes on to explain that witnesses near the sight of the incident saw Dashi watching the television coverage, where the live broadcast would’ve alerted him to the Police Department’s location and approaching rescue efforts. According to The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, a journalist should seek truth and report it, which despite the controversy that followed this incident, is what the local television station had intended.
This is where the lines of communication come into focus as statements released by the accosted station reiterated the fact that they were, at no point told by the prevailing police and authorities to withhold information or stop taping and shut down cameras. The television station and their crew maintained the fact that they were doing their jobs as journalists, and reporting the truth to viewers about the ongoing
situation. While there is no policy preventing information from being broadcasted, it also states within The Code of Ethics that journalists should minimize harm. Which is where the publics cry of irresponsibility, in the stations release of information during their live broadcast, calls into question this organization’s ethics. Journalists should balance the publics need for information against potential harm or discomfort. It’s clear that the television station’s news director and crew, thought nothing of the ramifications, and those who may be adversely affected by the release of such pertinent information. However, the lack of restrictions placed on information used and reported on the scene of the incident, also contributed to the television stations conclusion that there was nothing wrong in what they were broadcasting and that they were in no way obligated to limit or withdraw any information being reported. Yet in this instance, this particular television station was the only one that felt it necessary to live broadcast such detailed and exclusive information about the ongoing incident taking place, which puts into question the organizations journalist ethics and motivations. Where they really just thinking about the public’s right to know and informing them, or were they trying to gain viewers by creating a more graphic story, or were they trying to accomplish both?
On August 01st, 1966 on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, many families lost their loved ones to the actions of Charles Whitman, a lone gunman who was only 25 years old at the time; Whitman climbed the campus tower, and with three rifles, two pistols, and a sawed-off shotgun, he shot forty-three people, (thirteen of whom died,) in just under ninety-six minutes. This historic tragic event became known as the UT Tower Shooting.
In “Reporting the News” by George C. Edwards III, Martin P. Wattenberg, and Robert L. Lineberry, the main idea is how the media determines what to air, where to get said stories that will air, how the media presents the news, and the medias effect on the general public. “Reporting The News” is a very strong and detailed article. The authors’ purpose is to inform the readers of what goes on in the news media. This can be inferred by the authors’ tone. The authors’ overall tone is critical of the topics that are covered. The tone can be determined by the authors’ strong use of transitions, specific examples, and phrases or words that indicate analysis. To summarize, first, the authors’ indicate that the media chooses its stories that will air
On May 4th 1970, when rallies surfaced again in the commons area, tear gas was used to disperse the crowd. The conflict between students and the National Guard had begun to expand, and the cursing and rock throwing were increasing the tension in the air. The Guard ordered the students to retreat and as the crowds began to break up, it appeared the Guard was also retreating. Then shots were heard. The Guard for reasons unknown had to turn back and open fire at a crowd of students. Within thirteen seconds, four students were dead and nine wounded. One student who was killed was Allison Krause, who had been the only one of the four killed that was actually involved in the demonstrations.
October 2002 was the beginning of what seemed like the longest three weeks in the Washington Metropolitan Area. No one wanted to believe that what was happening would change the lives of thousands. What appeared to be a random killing spree by an enraged lunatic, turned out to be part of a massive plan that claimed the lives of ten innocent people in DC, Maryland, and Virginia. When these shootings first began, they were believed to be linked to a white van or truck. It was later discovered that these shootings were being carried out by a man named John Allen Muhammad, and his teenage accomplice Lee Boyd Malvo, in a blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice sedan.
In conclusion, the Kent State shooting was a tragedy that has never really had anyone held responsible. Thirty-eight years later, “Official investigations as to exactly what happened at Kent State were inconclusive.” The days preceding the shootings, the students burned down the ROTC building, protested on the commons, and threw rubbish at police officers. The violent actions of the students put the law enforcement officials and National Guardsmen around them on edge. On the other side, the Guardsmen arrived in full combat gear to put down unarmed college students. There was no reason for the soldiers to fire at the students that were hundreds of feet away from them. Whether one of the soldiers fired in a moment of panic or if they were order to commence shooting may never be known.
Martínez, Louis E. "The Police Response To Critical Incidents In Academic Institutions." Journal Of Police Crisis Negotiations 12.1 (2012): 69-77. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
In comparing ethical issues surrounding the journalists in “All The President’s Men” and “Welcome To Sarajevo”, there are several ethical issues that the journalists experienced. Ethics are an important aspect of journalism, since journalists face a multitude of ethical issues within their industry. Therefore, there are ethical guidelines that journalists’ use called “The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics” [SPJ Code of Ethics]. When analyzing how the journalists in “All The President’s Men” and “Welcome To Sarajevo”, one can refer to the SPJ Code of Ethics to observe the possible ethical issues the journalists experienced. The four main concepts in the SPJ Code of Ethics are: seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently,
On New Year’s Day 2009, the police were called because a fight broke out on a train in Oakland, California. Oscar Grant and some of his friends were pulled off the train by former cop Johannes Mehserle. Grant struggled some with the officers while being arrested, but then he was restrained. Oscar Grant was lying on the platform when Johannes Mehserle shot him around 2 am. Granted had both hands behind his back and he was also unarmed when he was shot (Bulwa). The shooting made national headlines because bystanders videotaped it. These videos went viral and they made their way to the news (Cater).
There is a tiny widow of opportunity that the press has in these situations to report the facts, before the overwhelming
The more people hear of these disasters, the easier it is to accept them. Shocking ‘breaking news’ headlines have now become common and ordinary. In fact, different news broadcasters seem to compete between each other trying to announce the most surprising stories every day. The viewer’s slowly become apathetic to stories of other people’s sufferings and calamities. Many may say that there are good sides to the media’s involvement. Author Ruxandra Floroiu, in her book, Altering America: Effective Risk Communication, discusses communications regarding risk associated with hazards and disasters, she boasts,” [it’s] making it possible to track potential disaster agents, alert authorities, and educate.” Although the media and technology help these issues, the media often exceeds these boundaries and interferes with the lives of innocent victims. Writer Anant Bhan, further explains my stance in a letter he wrote to the editor of a previous article. He reminds “media plays an important role in providing information at the time of crises,” however one should not forget the people who “might be vulnerable as they have gone through a traumatic experience, might be in acute pain and distress and also in grief because of loss” (Bhan, par.2). Here he portrays that there are other ways of alerting the public without having to utilize suffering victims. Those people often times are not given a choice and are presumptuously interrogated. In his letter he includes how the media handled the Asian tsunami in 2004. He highlights that the care and aid for the injured are the most important things in the aftermath of a natural disaster. Those victims and family members that are willing to communicate with the media and have full consent should be the only ones being interviewed. Presumptuous interviewers have in several occasions surpassed the
“Journalism is not a crime,” (Echeverria 1) several journalists are protesting against government censorship of the media; journalists see that they are having lack of freedom when they write. Journalists can no longer write with liberty, the government restricts them. In many cases, governments punish journalists when they write against them. For example, nowadays Venezuela is in a critical situation due to the poor management of the government. Several journalists have been arrested for trying to communicate to the world about what is going on in Venezuela. The government made the decision to not give them paper so they are not able to write. At the same time, the government is not just affecting journalists; the situation has also forced the closure of various media outlets. Several journalists have claimed by the scarcity of paper, but there has not been any solution for this problem.
In extreme situations, journalists choose the angle they can find, tick the boxes to the news worthiness, but never having a stand. According to Kempf, journalists fulfill certain criteria of newsworthiness and fake empirical evidence, which implements propaganda and in the journalists’ defense “that it did not matter the pictures were faked since they only showed what people already ‘knew’ and since they served the goal of opening the eyes of the public” (Kempf 2002, p. 60). Various examples from the War on Terror, where journalists and reporters would fake evidence just to gain more audiences but examples like this could elevate the issues, and it is as if this responsibility of Journalism of Attachment only adds fuel to the fire and this is done in the name of peace (Kempf 2002).
"Journalism Ethics Online Journalism Ethics Gatekeeping." Journalism Ethics for the Global Citizen. Web. 05 Dec. 2010. .
It is often suggested by scholars that the world and in all its content is ambiguous, there is no universal meaning, nothing can be interpreted the same way. Opinions are constantly clashing and facts somehow constructed, or tempered during the processes of news production. News becomes the fictions of reality; it becomes a way of story telling, made to the taste of the viewer, depending on the society of course. The same stories carry different values depending where when and how the stories are broadcasted, I will be talking about this in this essay. There are two approaches to report a piece of news; the realist, purely factual no interpretations given and very clear in usage of language. This method differs to that of the constructionist, in which events or situations are carefully analysed, and I will be talking about the implication of media “constructed” social reality.
The author writes that journalists have legal and regulatory obligations, duties from the occupational role they have, promises of service and level of quality, causal responsibility for consequences, moral responsibility and the responsibility as a professional (McQuail, 29). The press is very valuable to society and people need to know they can trust the information that the news organizations produce. McQuail writes, “Journalism is not a single or simple activity, in itself not easy to define and the same difficulty arise in dealing with the meaning of ‘responsibility’” (McQuail, 28). The author hit the nail on the head. The act of reporting and being a journalist is a complicated process changing everyday, it is almost impossible to include every responsibility journalists have to the