• Role of journalism in a democracy
• Independence
• Justice
• History of objectivity
• Threats to objectivity
• Conflicts of interest
• Corporate media
• Deception
• Anonymous sources

• Inform and educate citizens
• An informed citizenry is essential for a working democracy
• Expose problems
• Celebrate triumphs and joys

• Moral agency implies autonomy
• "Positive freedom" means acting on your own initiative -- you don't have it unless you use it and exercise it
• "Negative freedom" refers the state of being unrestricted
• Total freedom is rather existentialist -- it can be lonely

• Milton -- self-righting principle
• John Locke -- freedom is a natural right
• Voltaire -- the truth will make you free
• Adam Smith -- laissez faire capitalism
• Thomas Jefferson -- faith in man's rationality
• John Adams -- journalists should be bold
• Jeremy Bentham -- all laws restrict freedoms
• James Mill -- press freedom keeps elected officials honest
• J.S. Mill -- intelligence atrophies and initiative dies from too much gov't direction
• Oliver Wendell Holmes -- only speech that presents "a clear and present danger" should be suppressed

• Press councils
• Ombudsmen
• Journalism reviews
• Professional organizations and their codes

• Press freedom vs. freedom of the people
• Autonomy should be protected -- decisions on newsworthiness should be made only by editorial personnel
• Shouldn't have media content dictated by public opinion polls (parentalism versus permissivism)
• Press freedom vs. journalistic freedom
• Freedom to be controversial, and wrong

• Bad news typically means we're showing something that needs improvement in the society.

• Benjamin Day, New York Sun, objective for the masses
• James Gordon Bennett, the Herald
• Discovered being objective made good business sense, particularly when sharing info cooperatively with other newspapers

• Conflicts of interest
• Watchdog function -- anytime zeal is involved, look out for fairness and balance being questioned
• Any association with organizations, groups, sources, politics, corporate "parents," etc.

• The fewer voices there are, the less debate takes place and then fewer innovative ideas are put forward, and fewer important stories get uncovered.
• Profit-centered motives means important and expensive stories are not covered
• Media becomes "dumber," and so do the citizens

• If it's for profit's sake, is it worth doing?
• If it's impossible, is it worth doing?
• Case study: alerting the troops (how objective can a person be?)

• When is it ethically justified to deceive?
• Robert Scheer -- anytime you are investigating government& ?
• Honesty and accuracy are crucial for credibility

• Readers' "Qualified Expectation of Reality"
• Viewfinder test
• Photojournalism process test
• Technical credibility test
• Pregnant Bruce Willis test
• Essence of the image test

• Ann Zimmerman
• Non-representation (not informing people that you are a journalist)
• Impersonation (telling them you're not a journalist)
• Identity appropriation (lying about your name as well)

• Nellie Bly, Blackwell's Island
• Lewis Hine, child labor
• Upton Sinclair, The Jungle
• Chicago Sun-Times, The Mirage
• Primetime Live, Food Lion

• Information of overriding importance
• Cannot be gathered without deception
• Deception must not compromise the safety of innocents

• Reduces the chances of errors
• A third witness
• Follow the same rules, plus make sure it is not illegal (some places require beeps)

• When information is sensitive, no one will go on the record
• Journalists often are being "used" by sources who won't go on the record, since they become totally unaccountable for what they say
• Less believable to readers
• Protecting sources can be painful

Page last revised: 25 January 2000

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