The University of South Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communicactions invites visitors to probe and discuss issues of journalism ethics. This project was originally created as a part of the Society of Professional Journalists Ethics Week observation in 2008.
Artwork by Garen Cansler.
Click the pic to read the case and then click "comments" below to Make the Call on Joe's Dilemma.
10 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Joe does news - not PR. Assuming he told the candidate he was doing a "story for XYZ," the only PR he needs to do is to tactfully explain to Mr. Candidate that allowing him to edit the copy would be unethical. And I'm sure Mr. Candidate wouldn't want to do anything like that. :)
Handling situations professionally should not ruin professional relationships. As a journalist, I'm sure Joe has both the knowledge and tact to outwit a political candidate.
Joe may not want to "ruin" a professional relationship, but he would be acting very unprofessionally if he allowed the candidate to weigh in on the article. Looking out for his credibility as a journalist is far more important than trying to keep political folk happy.
i don't think he should let him edit the article and explain to him that it is unethical to do that. but do it in the most polite way....start your his sentence with "with all do respect sir..." you can say whatever you want after that but it will still sound respectful.
Joe should explain to the candidate that it is not professional to let him read it. It wouldn't be right to do it. Also he should tell him that he doesn't mean to call him a yahoo by doing so but he will just have to wait and read it with everyone else.
no. he shouldn't let the candidate go over what he said. they already were professional about it and they had already gotten all the information that he shouldn't have to change it... so no. just do the story how it is.
He is a candidate not a news editor. He can not just edit articles. If one article gets edited by a candidate, other plethora of candidates will be wanting to do it too.
he should just write the article and keep all of the exact words that the man said in his article. he can tell the man that no editing is to be done by someone and if the man doesn't want it in the paper unless he edits it, then he won't publish it.
10 comments:
Joe does news - not PR. Assuming he told the candidate he was doing a "story for XYZ," the only PR he needs to do is to tactfully explain to Mr. Candidate that allowing him to edit the copy would be unethical. And I'm sure Mr. Candidate wouldn't want to do anything like that. :)
Handling situations professionally should not ruin professional relationships. As a journalist, I'm sure Joe has both the knowledge and tact to outwit a political candidate.
Joe may not want to "ruin" a professional relationship, but he would be acting very unprofessionally if he allowed the candidate to weigh in on the article. Looking out for his credibility as a journalist is far more important than trying to keep political folk happy.
i don't think he should let him edit the article and explain to him that it is unethical to do that. but do it in the most polite way....start your his sentence with "with all do respect sir..." you can say whatever you want after that but it will still sound respectful.
Joe should explain to the candidate that it is not professional to let him read it. It wouldn't be right to do it. Also he should tell him that he doesn't mean to call him a yahoo by doing so but he will just have to wait and read it with everyone else.
no. he shouldn't let the candidate go over what he said. they already were professional about it and they had already gotten all the information that he shouldn't have to change it... so no. just do the story how it is.
He is a candidate not a news editor.
He can not just edit articles. If one article gets edited by a candidate, other plethora of candidates will be wanting to do it too.
It is unethical to let him edit his article. It is like letting someone re-edit their book before it is published. It's just not right.
He has no right to edit the story his reputation depends on the propaganda he does.
he should just write the article and keep all of the exact words that the man said in his article. he can tell the man that no editing is to be done by someone and if the man doesn't want it in the paper unless he edits it, then he won't publish it.
Post a Comment