As I set up my curriculum this summer for the school year I am going to be sure to spend a good amount of time on ethics. I never would have considered it an issue. In my mind ethics is naturally embedded in decision-making, but ethics in journalism is something that needs to be hammered home.
Even if my kids don't plan on careers in the journalism field, the high ethical standards in journalism will certainly help build responsible citizens. Just one more way journalism builds a stronger society.
For those of you who have been teaching journalism for a while, what kinds of ethical issues do you deal with in a high school program? Is it a problem?
Janice Johnson
Vista del Lago
Folsom, Calif.
Are you planing on using a lot of the First Amendment information represented earlier in your curriculum too?
ReplyDeleteI think the biggest ethical issues my kids have is when we are doing videos and they want music and they think they can just take the music off of YouTube or another site without giving credit or writing to use it, etc. That is the biggest issue that we need to really discuss over and over again in depth.
Heather Jancoski
Desert Sands Middle School
Phoeniz, AZ
First Amendment is coming in the first day! And I want to get more info on copyright law so I can deal with that in the first week, too. My experience rests in plagiarism, so I need to expand beyond that sphere.
ReplyDeleteHi Janice. I think you really need to deal with the plagiarism issue more than anything else, since many kinds don;t really think it's that wrong. The investigative reporting issues are probably less significant. The Woodward and Bernstein cloak and dagger type of reporting was the absolute exception to the rule. It's unlikely your students will come close to such a situation.
ReplyDeleteBut you should probably set clear ground rules about basics such as not misrepresenting who you are. As for my program, I really haven't had any issues, buit I also bring up ethics issues at the beginning of each of my semesters and clearly lay out the ground rules so the kids have a good idea how to conduct themselves.
-- Steve Caswell
I was surprised to realize I've been 'doing it all wrong' when I let a student who is active in an event or sport write about it. I've done this with intention however. No one waits with anxiety to read what Schmoe writes about the football game, everyone wants to know what Quarterback Dave says. Maybe it's in the way I define this kind of reporting?
ReplyDelete