Ethics In the Media

Offensive Images:
A conservative Danish daily newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, posted offensive caricatures of the prophet Muhammad with the idea that people should stop being intimidated by the Islamic fundamentalists, saying if they didn't go against European media's self-censorship, "the Islamic terrorists will have won". When there were protests, rioting, or killings, these cartoons published and became more evident to the public. Reactions to these cartoons made Western news media harder to ignore the dilemma.

Question:  Do we publish the cartoons or not?
The cartoons shouldn't be published because it creates controversy around the dilemma. If the cartoons create more conflict, it would be better if they were not published.


Who’s the “Predator”?

“To Catch a Predator,” a series on NBC’s Dateline, is a series where suspects portrayed as sexual predators that have engaged in sexually charged online chats with minors, go meet the person, and instead meet reporter Chris Hansen. The conversation are recorded, and the suspects meet law enforcement officers in the end. The recordings of these situations reach the public via the series "To Catch a Predator".

Question: If your newspaper or television station were approached by Perverted Justice [a website that identifies possible predators]  to participate in a “sting” designed to identify real and potential perverts, should you go along, or say, “No thanks”? Was NBC reporting the news or creating it?

I would say "no thanks", because this would lead to bias. The idea of catching possible predators is a great idea, but the recordings would infer that these suspects are actual predators, rather than suspects. Catching the event shows the suspects in a bad perspective, because it doesn't show the context as a whole. NBC was creating the news because it displays a dilemma and labels the situation as "justice", even though the suspect hasn't gone to court yet.




Publishing Drunk Drivers’ Photos:

Don White, publisher and editor of The Anderson News, decides the newspaper will publish photos of all of the people convicted of drunken driving in Anderson County. After learning that the battle against drunk driving "hit a brick wall", White decided to take notice of the local peoples’s call for a more innovative penalty against drunk drivers, leading to the idea of publishing local drunk drivers photos. White states that this idea will decrease the amount of drunk drivers in the area.

Question: Is this an appropriate policy for a newspaper?

No, because it violates the "invasion of privacy" idea. While this method will keep the drunk drivers away, it will also hurt the reputations of the convicted drivers. If the public notices their driver to look like a drunk driver, they're more likely to get out of the vehicle and choose a different method of transportation. This method hurts drivers who want to change and stop drinking. It also showcases that the driver's mistake of being drunk as an "unforgivable mistake", which makes a second chance harder to obtain.