Ethical Dilemmas and Modern Journalists

Abstract

In a study to examine journalistic integrity, two recent surveys answered by a combined total of 1,936 American journalists requested responses to questions as well as to specific hypothetical ethical dilemmas. In Survey A (conducted in 1983), questions were structured to provide information on beliefs and/or news media policy in four categories of potential journalistic ethical problems: (1) gifts, favors, and free travel; (2) outside activities; (3) journalistic contests; and (4) news judgment. Survey B, designed as a followup to the 1983 study, specifically involved news judgment and journalistic technique and provided 30 case studies of possible ethical dilemmas. Responses to Survey A showed that in contrast to an earlier 1974 study, the following conditions exist currently: there is now a greater likelihood of having guidelines about accepting gifts; enthusiasm for journalistic contests has declined; and less inclination exists to violate legal or ethical privacy codes or generally accepted standards of behavior. Results of Survey B show that American journalists seem to be shifting the focus of their ethical concerns from such internal matters as gifts, favors, and conflict of interest to such external matters as news judgments and acceptable journalistic technique, while still being split about the extent to which one should go in seeking information and the extent to which information should be made public. (Tables of findings and questionnaires are included.) (EL)