The Importance Of Ethical Journalism

When we talk about ethical journalism we talk about why substantial information should be made accessible to the public. As journalists we can be caught in a dilemma, what to publish? and what not to publish? In order for us to solve this frustrating but educated instinct of conscientious altitude to name and shame justice in the angle of public interest, we are given the potter box model. Given the precise case study, "the decision to pursue and publish the Megan's law story,'' there are empirical information, principles,values and loyalties all distinguished in this model.

First and foremost, there in the questioning of the facts like in the study of sociology where data must be scientifically examine before a theory is constructed. Similarly to journalism where the facts must be associated with matters of the truth much in relevance with the justice system. The publishing of Megan's Law database could have been an offence of character defamation on the part of the sex offenders had it not been supported by solid ground facts. This could have led to a law suite considering if the information was not empirical.

However sometimes as journalists we can be so caught up in public interest that we may forget the confidentiality of the victim and family. This is where ethical concerns are conceived. The men can lose the jobs after their names and photos were published.They can also lose any chance of having a respectable job. There is no dought that it is the newspapers role to serve the community. It is still the publics right to be informed especially when criminals exist among them. However, the names of the victims were not highlighted rather the offenders are the ones being affected. In doing so we must think of the consequences that