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Case Studies:: Independence
Journalists are your people and
journalism is your motherland.
Second: No one has been born as a
journalist, and it is a long and very
hard way to become a real journalist.”
Questions for Discussion
1. If you were Bosnjakovski, would
you have reported what you saw in
Aracinovo? Do you think your
answer would be different if you
saw the same thing in your own
country, near the city where you
live?
2. Should Bosnjakovski have
informed authorities about what he
saw in Aracinovo? By telling
officials what he saw, did
Bosnjakovski convert himself from
a journalist into an agent of the
government? By doing so, did he
take sides in the conflict?
3. Should journalists take their
nationalities into account when
they report in conflict situations?
Should they report information or
withhold information based on how
doing so will affect their countries’
troops in conflict? Should they
take their ethnicities into account?
4. Are reporting standards different
for local journalists covering a
conflict than for foreign
correspondents covering the same
conflict?
5. Should journalists consider the
effect of their reporting on innocent
people, as Bosnjakovski did? Is
the journalist’s role simply to report
the truth without regard to the
consequences, or is it to act as a
filter to the public, reporting and
withholding information in the hope
of promoting peace or well-being?
6. Were there any potential negative
effects to Bosnjakovski’s decision
not to report what he knew? Did
the people of Aracinovo and
Skopje have a right to know that
there were armed rebels in their
midst? Or was Bosnjakovski right
in thinking that informing them of
this fact would cause violence to
break out?
7. Are journalists always journalists
first, and citizens second?
8.
Case Study: Kenya
When the Source Pays the Bill
John Oywa has learned that
standards of ethics are often different
in smaller cities than in big capitals.
Oywa is a correspondent for one of
the country’s largest newspapers in
the western city of Kisumu. Journalists
in that city are poorly paid and have
no transportation or expense
accounts, as their colleagues in
Nairobi might. To get to the story,
journalists in Kisumu often have to
depend on the source.
Though he recognizes the ethical
conflict of interest, Oywa has
frequently had no choice but to accept
rides from the people he is covering,
often politicians who are looking for
something in return.
“Every time a politician gives you a
ride in his car, he or she expects a
positive story,” Oywa said. “I once
missed a big political story after I
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