When top officials make statements in public announcements, the mass madia has traditionally questioned the turthfulness of the statements made. Until there is verification, journalists refer to the information as being alleged. Following Osama bin Laden's death, most of the media accepted President Obama's version of the events.
Yet, a few papers were cautious in stating than bin Laden was in fact dead. The New York Times' headline attributed the news to Obama, and stated that bin Laden was "reported dead". Many other papers didn't report the death as news from themselves, but as being reported by a third party (Obama). From an ethical standpoint, this was a smart move for the papers that chose to do so.
Attaining truth, verification, and independent reporting are key statues in the Code of Ethics. In this situation, the media was unable to obtain the truth for themselves. Therefore, reporting the claim from another source and attributing the statement to Obama was a saavy decision.
This does, however, present certain issues in the future. With bin Laden's body being buried at sea and images of his death currently being withheld by the govornment, how do jouralists abide by the verification tenant in the Code of Ethics? Journalists are going to be hard-pressed to verify this on their own, but it is important to act independebtly and not rely solely on official sources, even if such sources are telling the truth, which is almost certainly the case with the news of bin Laden's death.
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/romenesko/130645/journalists-suspend-skepticism-about-sourcing-with-news-of-bin-ladens-death/
No comments:
Post a Comment