An Analysis of the Ethics in Post-Modern Journalism
In our current social media driven world, journalism is at a great impasse. Print media is in its final death throes and online media is bombarded by a need to have the most views, this creates an atmosphere where the ethics of journalism have been called into question. Is it right to use someone’s publicly published statement for profit? Do journalists owe impartiality and an unbiased presentation of facts? And finally, should journalists rush to get a story out, with possibly false information, or should they wait for all of the information to come out before writing an article? In Stephen J.A. Ward’s article for University of Wisconsin's Center for Journalism Ethics, “Digital Media Ethics”, and Amanda Hess’ article for Slate, “Is Twitter Fair Game for Journalists?” the idea that journalists are bound to ethical obligations is not only supported, but necessary for the sake of the populace.
In Mr. Ward’s dissertation on digital media, he presents several pressing questions in the journalistic world, then answers the questions in an unbiased manner, and for the most part presents both sides of the argument. From the article’s conclusions, it’s clear that Mr. Ward has a proclivity towards a media that is unbiased and just presents the facts. The main purpose of Mr. Ward’s article is to get the general populace thinking about what journalism is, how it should be defined, and the ethical implications of journalism. Mr. Ward presents his information by posing a question and then providing his commentary on the topic, this makes Mr. Ward’s article very logos driven, there’s very little fault to be found in his logic. However, there is little to no usage of pathos, and his ethos is built around the fact that he’s writing for a prestigious establishment. Mr. Ward uses this to build a very strong, logical,...
