Please comment and take a stance on the issue of accepting any of these gifts or freebies as a reporter:
1. A business reporter is offered a free trip to Catalina Island for the weekend if she will write a story on the new bed & breakfast that the company just opened in Avalon. The trip includes a flight from Sacramento to Long Beach and a ferry ride to Catalina, accommodations for two for the weekend. What do you do?
2. A reporter is covering a job fair at the Sacramento Convention Center. Vendors are giving out pens, notebooks, candy and various goodies to encourage people to stop and talk. Everyone is given a raffle ticket when they arrive --- the reporter wins the new Flip Video, worth approximately $175. What do you accept, or reject?
3. You are the entertainment editor and you receive a huge shipment of promotional materials, including CDs, DVDs, T-shirts and posters from a company that wants you to review their new product. What do you do with all the free stuff?
Your assignment is to look over multiple ethics guidelines posted online for reporters and take a stand in the comment area of the blog.
Prof. Sylvia Fox
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
26 comments:
In any of the three cases presented, it is not ethical to accept any kind of gift as a respectable jounalist. Gifts may be given to puposfully sway how the journalist is going to write the article they are working on. However some may not have the intention of having influence on the article.
Gifts will, in most cases whether intentional or not will have some knd of influence on the article being writen. It may have positive or negative impact on the journalist, which makes is near impossible to remain objective while writing.
This is another reason it is unethical to accept gifts from companies trying to gain your attention as a jounalist. Others may then see that you are easily swayed in what you write and take advantage of you in the future.
I agree that it is not ethical for a reporter to accept any sort of gift. Although the reporter may not consciously be aware of the effect the gift has there is potential that the gift could alter the reporters view or take on what he/she is reporting.
The SPJ Code of Ethics states "Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community." If you are a ethical reporter you abide by the SPJ Code of Ethics. Following these rules completely rules out the potential to accept any sort of gift.
As a reporter you have to be able to endure situations that arise and in the end come out with unbiased research. Accepting gifts allows for unbiased research to be tempered with. In order to be an ethical reporter you must follow all rules from the SPJ, including accepting gifts.
Going on a free weekend trip, winning the latest technology gadget or receiving free promotional materials would be the definition of the greatest job. However, when one is a journalist who is the recipient of these gifts it is considered unethical. If a journalist is to be taken seriously in this high pressured career he or she needs to follow the code of ethics set up by The Society of Professional Journalists. “Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public’s right to know” (Harrower 149.)
If I was the journalist in any of these situations I would accept the gifts and then donate them to respectable charities. I do not believe it is wrong that once I receive the weekend trip, technology gadget or promotional materials that I should not be able to do with them what I like.
For number one and number two the correct answer is not to take the complimentary trip or the flip video raffle. These gifts or prizes are not appropriate for someone who is there for professional purposes. These freebies also appear to be a way of making the subjects look better and hopefully swaying the journalists' view to a more positive story.
For number three the promotional material seems essential to the job. Even though they are free, the job cannot be done without reviewing the new products. As Paige commented before me, the SPJ Code of Ethics states that journalists must "Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community."
Even if you're not sure if you will get in trouble for special treatment, it's better to be safe than sorry and just say,"no thank you."
These situations definitely involve ethics. There are many key ingredients in the recipe for being a good journalist. Avoiding making unethical decisions is in fact one of the key ingredients necessary in the recipe for being a good journalist. A journalist indeed potentially perhaps may face any such senarios as the examplary three senarios in this blog provided example, in where the ethics of the journalist are tested.
According to Inside Reporting A Practical Guide to the Craft of Journalism, it clearly states that one of the ethical pitfalls that can land even a veteran journalist in trouble including termination, is "CONFLICT OF INTEREST" (p. 146). This includes "Accepting gifts or favors from sources or promoting social and political causes", according to Inside Reporting A Practical Guide to the Craft of Journalism (p.146).
Conflict of interest falls into the same category as deception, bias, fabrication, theft, burning a source, and plagiarism, according to Inside Reporting A Practical Guide to the Craft of Journalism (p.146-147). Knowing this, I would definitely not accept perks from source, as it would be a conflict of interest.
The three cases that are presented are a case of ethics for a journalist to face. As these places are giving out handouts and trips to thank the reporter, they may not realize it, but it may look like they are expecting a positive write up in return.
It is in the best interest for all parties concerned for the journalist to not accept the gift. By not accepting the gift the article is going to be written from an objective stand point.
Responding to the first scenario:
A journalist should not take the free trip and amenities because it states in the Journalist Code of Ethics that:
“Journalists should refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel, etc.”
For scenario 2:
Even though it may be very awesome to win the new Flip Video in a raffle, a journalist must pass on the item because one may be persuaded to write an article or review on the item one, the job fair that raffled it off, or both. It can act as something that could sway opinion.
Thirdly:
Amidst the box of free media, a journalist should check with the company he/she works with, try to offer it to a newsroom charity, or other similar cause.
As it is stated in the Journalist Code of Ethics:
"Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage."
I feel that in all three scenarios represented that it is not ethical to accept any of the offers. By accepting the gifts I feel that it lowers the credibility of the article as well as the actual writer. By accepting the gifts they are swayed to see what ever they are looking into as a positive thing without fully investigating the situation. Which in most cases will result as a biased and unfair opinion due to special treatment.
In all three of the cases ethics of journalists come into question. The case with the free vacation makes you wonder the motive behind it being free. Some people say that nothing in life is free and the payment this company is expecting in return is a positive review article. The trip should not be accepted because like it states in the SPJ Code of ethics, “Journalists should refuse gifts, favors, free travel and special treatment.” This case definitely falls into a couple of those categories. This could add incredibility to a journalist’s writing.
In the second case, this again should not be accepted because of the ethics behind it. This is your career and the reason you are at this Job Fair is not to enjoy the festivities and win some prizes but to report a story. Again, this could put a slant on a reporter’s story. If they won the raffle they would be much more upbeat about their experience. The Flip Video should be rejected and another winner should be drawn.
In scenario three there is a different spin on things. These things seem to be more essential to the job at hand. The professionals should not take these things for themselves but they should distribute them in a professional manner. The things could be donated but the journalist should not take them for themselves because that would be unethical.
All three situations involve free items being given to a journalist. According to the SPJ code of ethics and the Annenberg Online Journalism Review (ojr.org), accepting any gifts or favors can result in a conflict of interest and should be politely rejected.
In the first situation with the bed and breakfast, the reporter needs to ask him/herself what is the importance of this story? What impact will this story have and who will benefit from it. Once those questions have been answered and if it is decided to still write the story, the journalist should find a way to pay for the trip themselves. If free travel was accepted there is somewhat of an obligation to write a good review regardless of how the journalist feels.
If a journalist was to win a raffle prize it should be politely rejected for the next person to win.
If items are sent to a journalist to review then they should either be returned or donated. If the items are expensive, they should be returned but if their value is little they could be donated.
It all goes back to the code of ethics. Journalists should not accept any favors or gifts because it can create a conflict of interest.
In all three situations it would be unethical to accept special treatment of any kind. The duty of a journalist is to be honest, fair, and unbiased while reporting or gathering information. Whether you accept a free vacation or a something as simple as a free pen or piece of candy, it may negatively or positively sway your opinion of that person or organization.
According to the SPJ, a reporter should Act Independently. Therefore a reporter should:
— Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.
— Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage.
Accepting favored treatment or gifts could propose a conflict of interest, and could affect your objectivity. In the long-run it could compromise your integrity and ruin your credibility.
I agree with most of the comments left before me; in all three of the examples it is unethical to accept any form of favor or freebee.
While some may argue, in the first example, that the bed & breakfast was simply trying to grab media attention or show gratitude for a written article...either way it comes off hurting the credibility of the journalist. As the code of ethics states, a journalist should always act independently, without the pursuasive appeal of a pre-paid trip, so that they may feel no obligation toward the Inn and write a completely open and honest review for the true benefit of their readers.
This sentiment also applies for the second example. The free knick knacks being handed out are intended for potential recruits and should not be used to sway a journalist's opinion. If the writer is seen with a brand new "I Love Target" baseball hat after writing an article on how great Target's employee benefits are, most would automatically assume a huge conflict of interest and disregard any truth that may have been found in the article. (As far as the $175 Flip video is concerned, the journalist should have known not to take a raffle ticket from the very begining, there by making the issue non-existant).
As far as the third example is concerned, I had a moment of unsure thought. I knew you would not keep any of the products for yourself, but just the act of you accepting the package (before you even knew what was in it) has ramifications. While you try to keep your integrity intact and give away the free merchandise to friends, family or whoever walks by your office, don't you still to some degree have a positive reaction to the happiness of others receiving the free merchandise and therefore still may be swayed to some degree to write a more positivie or less neutral column? So then I believe the right thing to do, to cut the conflict off at the pass, would be to never accept packages from any corporation.
In any instance, as soon as the journalist takes the less than ethical path and accepts a free meal, trip, pen, phone, CD, Bentley, whatever, they may as well pack up their pencil and paper and resign because to anyone that has a scrap of intelligence, their article no longer matters.
When reading our text, I found out that no gifts can be accepted when writing a story, it is unethical because it instantly gives you a bias toward that person, place, etc. These gifts will affect how you feel about what you are reporting on and unless everyone receives a gift, it should not be accepted.
The first example with Catalina Island is a prime example. With the offers made by the bed and breakfast you instantly take a different look on the establishment, thinknig highly of them for supplying you with what they have. And although most people, and in this case reporters, may say that they are not affected by gifts in their reporting and how they view the subject, it can be subcontious. What are the odds of writing an article talking of how something is not acceptable or up to par when you have been given a free trip along with other gifts.
As far as the raffle ticket coming in, this is acceptable. Only because everyone received one when they came in the door. If everyone did not receive one it would be looked at as preferential treatment, which is unethical and will end up getting you in trouble in the end when your story is published (such as the example in the book with Armstrong Williams and accepting money from the Bush administration).
When reading our text, I found out that no gifts can be accepted when writing a story, it is unethical because it instantly gives you a bias toward that person, place, etc. These gifts will affect how you feel about what you are reporting on and unless everyone receives a gift, it should not be accepted.
The first example with Catalina Island is a prime example. With the offers made by the bed and breakfast you instantly take a different look on the establishment, thinknig highly of them for supplying you with what they have. And although most people, and in this case reporters, may say that they are not affected by gifts in their reporting and how they view the subject, it can be subcontious. What are the odds of writing an article talking of how something is not acceptable or up to par when you have been given a free trip along with other gifts.
As far as the raffle ticket coming in, this is acceptable. Only because everyone received one when they came in the door. If everyone did not receive one it would be looked at as preferential treatment, which is unethical and will end up getting you in trouble in the end when your story is published (such as the example in the book with Armstrong Williams and accepting money from the Bush administration).
By accepting free gifts, a journalist has already made their work less credible. Credibility is all a journalist has in such a competitive proffesion. If a person wants to recieve free gifts such as free vacations, they should become a celebrity, not a journalist.
There are numerous codes of ethics to be followed by journalists available for review on the Internet. Though every code is not identical each encompasses the general concept that reporters, when necessary, should refuse gifts or special treatment. The idea is that by refusing this special treatment a journalist can avoid being unfairly influenced or persuaded. According to some codes online it is not completely unethical to accept gifts or handouts as long as these items do not sway your beliefs. It is strongly suggested however that reporters defer special treatment whenever possible.
In regards to the scenarios presented above it is likely in a reporter's best interest to avoid receiving any of the promotional items. Specifically if a reporter is interested in developing a story on a given situation it is more favorable to maintain a clear and unbiased viewpoint.
After Reading the text “Inside Reporting,” I learned no gift what so ever can be accepted from reporters when writing a story. This reason is: it is unethical, and shows a bias opinion towards the person or place the reporter is writing about. If the reader were to find out the reporter received gifts while working on the story it would raise a lot of questions.
For the first and second reason if I was the reporter I personally wouldn't except the gifts from both parties. As a journalist I would feel that those parties are trying to sway my opinion in efforts to give them high reviews in a story. Doing this is against the SPJ Code of Ethnics. For the third example after receiving the gifts I would donate them to a local school.
In all three cases accepting anything at all would be wrong because it is just asking for trouble when one start accepting gifts and that is where the trail of corruption begins
For the first example it is definitly not acceptable to use the free trip.
For the second example it is also not ok to accept the flip video. At first you may think it is alright to take it since you won it fair and square but it is unethical as a report.
It may also seem harmless in the third example, to accept promotional material because all it is is free goodies. Even though they are random products the SPJ Code of Ethics states that journalists must "Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community."
Ethics is almost always circumstantial. In the case regarding flying out to do an article on the bed and breakfast, I would accept it in order to do the article. I am not going to spend my own money to cover a news article that most people probably wouldn't want to read anyways. I would fly out and give my honest opinion on the bed and breakfast, whether they paid for my trip or not.
As for the case involving the free video camera, I would decline, because I already have a job and I'm sure that there are unemployed people at the fair who need it more than myself; plus how do you know if you really won it, or they just gave it to you so that you would go over to their stand and talk with them.
Regarding the promotional materials, I would reject them because it is not my job as a reporter to advertise or promote for whoever sent me those items. Free stuff usually sucks anyways.
Finally I feel the biggest reason to not accept most gifts as a reporter is that people will eventually learn that you could be swayed or easily tempted, and in the future this could highly affect your journalism career.
Accepting a gift of any kind when you are a journalist is unethical. As a journalist it is your job to present an objective perspective to a story. You state facts and give quotes of professionals. If you accept a gift, that makes you less objective and your writing will most likely become biased, whether it is conscious or not.
In the first situation, I don't see why it's necessary to receive gifts for running a story about a new bed and breakfast. It seems like it would be something that a reporter would put in local news anyways.
In the other two cases, I think that the reporter should not receive free gifts. They are there to work and not to accept throwbacks. I think that any ethical journalist should politely say thanks but no thanks. It's a nice offer, but I feel that it's rather unnecessary. It would come across as almost taking advantage of people and no one wants that tied to their reputation.
In the first situation, I don't see why it's necessary to receive gifts for running a story about a new bed and breakfast. It seems like it would be something that a reporter would put in local news anyways.
In the other two cases, I think that the reporter should not receive free gifts. They are there to work and not to accept throwbacks. I think that any ethical journalist should politely say thanks but no thanks. It's a nice offer, but I feel that it's rather unnecessary. It would come across as almost taking advantage of people and no one wants that tied to their reputation.
In the first scenario the reporter is wrong if they accept the free trip for writing a story. His pay and benefits should come directly from his employer. I'm not saying it is wrong to use your status to gain benefits (as many celebrities and athletes do), but it is wrong to do it intentionally and explicitly.
In the second scenario I believe that it is ok if the reporter receives the gift. The happening was unintentional and everyone had an equal chance of winning the prize. Therefore, he is not at fault like the person in scenario number 1.
In scenario 3 it is not wrong to receive all the material. The job of the editor is to distribute the things he/she received within the department that he works in. The company that sent the promotional material has much more of the material and will not be hampered if it does not reach anybody in that one small office.
In response for all three of the questions it is clear that none of the reporters should have taken any of the gifts or done anything that would have promoted any personal gain. By taking any sort of special perk the reporter would clearly be biased and this would ruin the credibility of the reporter and the paper that he/she works for. This is clearly evident in the journalists code of ethics and what every person who wants to be a journalist should want to seek, an unbiased TRUTH!
I think that for number 1 and 3 that you definately have to reject the gifts. Although the business are not asking you to write a favorable review its implied by the fact that they are offering you gifts. The second one is different I believe..if your going to get a story and everyone is being offered a raffle ticket and no one knows that you are a journalist and you win I don't believe that can be miscontrued as unethical...The Code of Ethics says "Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community I don't believe the raffle prize qualifies.
Post a Comment