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Journalism blog, 2008-2009. |
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A Question of Journalistic Ethics, Part II
Tuesday, January 20, 2009, 10:24 AM
The article, Sharing the community's grief, written by Keith Moyer, is a story about three teen-age suicides that took place in Sheridan, Arkansas within 24 hours. I believe that the story was well handled by the Arkansas Gazette compared to The Fallen Servant. The contents of the article were more organized and the research was thorough. The journalists even followed strict rules to avoid crossing the border line and causing unnecessary controversy.However, I would have handled the story in a different manner. I think the main journalistic ethical dilemma here is the theory of the "copycat syndrome" and I would not have mentioned it in the article. I do not understand how that could remotely cross their minds. Even though Thomas Chidester and Jerry McCool were friends of Thomas Smith, that does not necessarily mean that they comitted suicide because Smith commited the deed first. There might have been other personal reasons too. I like for a fact that they made an attempt at using this story as a moral lesson. There were no "pro" suicide or sympathetic views reported. The writer did not share their opinion about the matter. Overall, the Gazette was fair and respectful. Besides, the public had the every right to know straight-forward details about the story. |
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Hello I'm Tatiana. I love: reading, writing, taking photographs, reading fashion blogs, the ttc, anything and everything in french, drinking tea in the afternoon, and blogging for my journalism class. Links
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