Journalism ethics
By buddha3
@buddha3 (1026)
India
September 21, 2011 3:39am CST
I was just watching a prominent and respected news channel which was covering the recent earthquake aftermath in India. A reporter was in a hospital and was interviewing the victims. The kind of questions he was asking really irked me a lot. Every time such tragedies happen, the news channels and its reporters forget the essence of their duty and start reporting all sorts of stupid "NEWS".
Few pearls from his master-questionnaire:
-Please tell us how did it happen?
(the victim explains and says a stone fell on her. oh my, she's trapped now!)
here comes next mind blowing question:
- How big was the stone??......!!
Now what the hell would he do with such details?? The victims reply to your stupid questions expecting they would get some help. Does that mean we forget humanity and ask weird, nonsense things to an unfortunate sufferer on a hospital bed?
Journalism has got a whole new dimension these days with these so-called 24 hours news channels. There are no ethics left, no regards to humanity and common sense.
God knows when we will change!.
Your views on it friends?
3 responses
@kalyani1234 (637)
• India
21 Sep 11
Hello Buddha, I did see this particular bit of news and I too was really irked by this kind of stupid questions!
It seems nowadays that there are absolutely no moral codes of conduct left and that too with the people you would expect to practice those codes more than any one else.
Unfortunately the fact TRP ratings decide what content should be shown on the TV applies to the news as as well. So to attract maximum viewers to compete with other news channels, the reporters end up going something like that. This coupled with lack of merit, not just in journalism, but everywhere, also speaks about the dearth of feelings and any kind of sensitivity when dealing with such humane issues.
It seems nowadays that there are absolutely no moral codes of conduct left and that too with the people you would expect to practice those codes more than any one else.
Unfortunately the fact TRP ratings decide what content should be shown on the TV applies to the news as as well. So to attract maximum viewers to compete with other news channels, the reporters end up going something like that. This coupled with lack of merit, not just in journalism, but everywhere, also speaks about the dearth of feelings and any kind of sensitivity when dealing with such humane issues.@buddha3 (1026)
• India
23 Sep 11
Hey Kalyani, you made a very good point. Lack of merit in people involved in challenging professions is one of the causes for such things. People need a job just for the heck of it and have no passion for it or compassion for fellow humans.
And about the TRP, all the channels are getting down to the least level to achieve the best rating. We, as viewers are also responsible for it. We watch the same news without blinking, no matter how many times the same thing is repeated.
I feel only viewers can bring in changes in the attitude of these channels and its reporters.
@kalyani1234 (637)
• India
24 Sep 11
Yes, you are right. We as viewers can actually decide what kind of things we want to watch and if we just skip such channels consciously, then TRPs for such shows would very well go down and force them to stop showing such things. But more and more of us need to think alike, unfortunately most people enjoy watching others' misery!
@urbandekay (18278)
•
21 Sep 11
Since when did journalism involve ethics? Seems to be a profession of rogues
all the best urban
@blademaiden (734)
• Romania
21 Sep 11
I think he ran out of ideas and the first thing that came to his mind was to question the victim about the size of the stone. I think he wasn't too experienced and got overwhelmed by emotions. As far as moral principles are concerned, they are often disregarded in many fields, not only in journalism.
