Journalism Ethics and More

JOURNALISM ETHICS

Here we have it: Journalism news departments strive to ensure that their employee's are constantly performing the company's ethics. Ethics in the journalism world are codes of conduct, placed order to keep journalists from being liable from being fired, hurt, in a lawsuit, or in some cases jail. These codes are here to protect the station (who may look unpartisan) and importantly you (who wants to keep your salary.) While newsrooms may stress the important of these conducts, it is up to the individual to adhere to them.

Here are some examples and definitions for "dummies."

TRUTHFULNESS
Making sure that there is no false information or attribution in your story. Everything reported must be accurate. For all the Christians, the eight commandment clearly states "thou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."

FAIRNESS
Making sure that a story is told presented with all sides included sides. As my Human Resource Manager told me today at CNN-DC, there are three parts to every story: two parts and somewhere in the middle lies the truth.

PRIVACY:
Making sure that you as a reporter, producer, or newsroom manager is doing everything in your power to not invade someone else's privacy. This goes from as small as peering over someone's phone when they go to the bathroom, or as far as breaking onto their property to take a picture of them in malicious behavior. There is a quote that says "do onto others as you would want others to do upon you."

RESPONSIBILITY: 
Making sure that you are always responsibility AND taking responsibility for your actions (whether good or bad.) When you are responsible, others will rely on you, making you more valuable as a journalist.


TRIVIA FACT: 
Who was the longest person to spend time in jail for not revealing their source?
Josh Wolf. The freelance Journalist spend 226 days in jail for refusal to deliver tapes from a San Francisco demonstration.

TRIVIA FACT:
Write about a journalist that didn't follow ethical code:
The most popular answer to this would be Jayson Blair of the New York Times. The UMD graduate and New York Times renown journalist was busted for writing a story in similarity to someone who used to intern with him. In contrast they found that most of his writing was in some form, stolen from other articles.

9/11 MEDIA COVERAGE

MEDIA COVERAGE

HOW IT WAS COVERED: SEPTEMBER 11TH, 2001

After the first plane crashed the first building of Twin Tower at 8:46am, it startled every single person in the newsroom in every part of the United States by storm. Within three minutes, CNN's New York Bureau cut off their scheduled commercial time and was the first network to air a live-streamed picture of the breaking news incident. As seen in this video, the Vice President of Finance for the network just happened to be only a mile and a half away and gave his entire witness stance from his location. He was able to be the confirmer for the bureau and brought this station major ratings for days to come. 

In order from the New York stations, the next stations to confirm the reports go: ABC-7, FOX-5, CBS-2, AND NBC-4 all back to back within seconds. The majority of the station's went ahead and aired the breaking news on their affiliate stations as well. 

 Station-wide, you could hear each anchor describe exactly what was going on, in the calmest tone they can. Because no one truly knew what was going on at that point, it sounded like each journalist was reporting something similar to a very terrible car accident. 

Not even two hours later, they went into shock all over again, as a plane drives right into the Pentagon in the D.C Metropolitan area. At that point, the reporters could confirm through vision alone, that we are most likely under some serious danger. 

 Once the second twin tower collapsed around 11am, media coverage just caved in and continued to cancel all programming. For the entire rest of the day until the President of the United States spoke after 7pm, the news continue to run pictures, interviews, updates, and information on the country being under this predicament. 

Other forms of media include radio, in which Howard Stern's NPR show & NYC's 1010AM radio were one of the first to announce the breaking news. 

HOW IT WOULD HAVE BEEN COVERED TODAY:

If twitter and social media and smart phone's were around during 9/11/13 ....

• History would have been written in 160 characters (Twitter)
• Pictures would have been in a 8 photo collage (Instagram)
• Status updates would explain your entire opinion (Facebook)
• A picture of the twin towers would have been sketched (Google Home Page)
• Next to position, would've listed "survivor" 9/11/01 to present (LinkedIn)

REMEMBERING 9/11/01

REMEMBERING:

SEPTEMBER 11TH, 2001.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK



 

MY EXPIRENCE

 

On the day of September 11th, 2001, I was being dropped off to my 4th grade class in Rahway, North New Jersey. I was running a little late that morning, as the bell rings at 8:48 each day. My teacher, Ms. Valerie Wagenhoffer, had a close relationship with my family, and would never be mad that I was running a little late.

 

What a day to be late- around 8:49, I am about to hop out the car, when the programming on my favorite car radio station, Z-100 (100.3FM) announced that the world trade center just collapsed. My dad screams "what?" and I continue on to my class, not really worried about his last comment.

 

I get into class, and there is pandemonium everywhere I turn. Teachers, rushing students into seats, secretaries, stopping by each classroom and talking to teachers, and kids, just sitting there in quiet not really sure what is going on. Around 9:30, the Principal gets on the intercom and announced that our country is currently under attack. 13 years later, I can agree, that was all my fellow classmates needed to hear.

 

For the two hour, Ms. Wagenhoffer and the students sat in complete silence. No one asked her what was going on, and she probably didn't even know how to explain it. The principal notified us when a second plane crashed in the Pentagon. The Principal notified us that the second Twin Tower collapsed. The Principal even made sure to announce that the President of the United States, George H. Bush, was no where to be found (I learned at a young age that we lived in a very Democratic pro city.)

 

Secretaries were in their office calling parents. Parents were calling and taking their kids out of school. Around 12pm, I was finally picked up by my father.

 

My mother worked at a hospital in North New Jersey, a town overlooking the New York Skyline. We did not know much, but we know that we were about to go retrieve my mother. We hopped on the New Jersey parkway, where the smoke was in full vision. It looked like we were driving closer, and closer. We were able to retrieve my mother by 2pm and bring her home in safety.

 

There is one thing besides the smoke that I will never forget about that car ride. In a total of a 25 minute drive, 7 exits up the parkway, we saw, in total, three cars. Yes, three cars. In a state of 7 Million people. That's when I realize that we were seriously in trouble in America.

 

The rest of the day is pretty much a blur to me. I am happy I was old enough to remember even half of the day, with time frames.  I did watch the President's speech. I don't remember what he said, I just remember it was at 7pm.

 

Once school started up again, I found out we had three classmates that lost immediate family to the incident at the World Trade Center. Three students in a room of 30 felt like 100. Our hearts went out immediately to those students, one who is still a great friend of mine to date.

 

I will honestly never forget September 11th, 2001. There was honestly nothing like witnessing it in the forefront.

 



 

Christiane Amanpour Biography

Christiane Amanpour currently serves as the Chief International Correspondent for CNN News Network. The award winning journalist has gained much praise for her works overseas since the beginning of her career in 1983.

Amanpour was born January 12, 1958 in London, England.  Being born to a Muslim father and a Christian mother, living areas of her childhood split in half: age 1-11 she grew up in Tehran, Iran and from the age of 11-18 she attended boarding school in London, England. Both parents continued to make attempts to go back to Iran, but were unable to do so because of the country's several conflicts. Amanpour remained in London. 

After completion of elementary and secondary schooling, Amanpour accepted an offer from the University of Rhode Island School of Communications to study journalism and mass media.

Our future journalist accommodated herself in America; working heavily on campus and through her internship with a radio station and the Providence NBC-4 affiliate. She graduated summa cum laude with a B.A in journalism.

Amanpour's first job out of college was at the foreign desk for CNN. She worked heavily on the Iran-Iraq war and climbed her way up until she gained the title as the chief international correspondent for CNN in 1992.

The chief correspondent stayed in her role for almost 20 years, covering everything from out biggest international crises in Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Iraq, and 9/11. Her American coverages include Hurricane Katrina. From 1996-2005. Amanpour was also on contract with 60 minutes, contributing international packages quarterly for 10 years.

After 27 years at CNN, in 2010 Christiane Amanpour announced that she will be leaving CNN and hosting "This Week" on the ABC Network. After a year of terrible ratings, ABC cut the program . Amanpour returned to CNN and through a unique agreement, ABC still has her on contract as a global correspondent, when needed.

Christiane Amanpour continues to be an inspiration for all those interested in foreign affairs and international journalism.