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Journalism Ethics: The Global Debate
also fulfilled his role as a human
shield. Did his agreeing to act as a
human shield to protect Iraq
compromise his independence as
a reporter? Did other journalists’
agreeing to be embedded with
U.S. troops compromise their
independence as reporters?
4. Zabci accepted a cell phone from
the Iraqi government that enabled
him to file his stories. Should he
have done that?
5. Was CNN justified in censoring
itself on stories that could have
endangered the lives of people
who worked for the network?
Should CNN have left Iraq rather
than censor itself in such a way?
6. Do you think the embedding of
journalists with U.S. and allied
troops was good or bad for the
cause of truth in the coverage of
war? Can journalists who are so
closely tied to the troops—and in
some cases, dependent on them
to survive—be truly “objective”?
What are the alternatives?
7. Should journalists who accompany
troops in war help soldiers in the
midst of battle? What if they are
asked to help wounded soldiers?
8. How much of the graphic violence
of war should journalists show to
readers and viewers? Some U.S.
media have been criticized for
being more willing to show graphic
scenes of wounded or dead non-
Americans than similar scenes of
wounded or dead U.S. soldiers.
Are the standards of sensitivity
different when the victims are from
the same country as the readers
or viewers?
Case Study: Colombia
Owners in the Newsroom
A. J. Leibling, a much respected U.S.
journalist and media critic, laid down a
reality principle for journalists in a
famous phrase, “Freedom of the press
belongs to those who own one.”
His message is a sometimes bitter pill
for workaday journalists. It means that
in a free society everyone has the
right to express himself or herself, but
it is the owners who determine what is
expressed in their newspapers.
Today, the “owner” of a media
organization may never have set foot
in a newsroom. He or she may be the
representative of a board of directors
of an immense corporation that
controls many media organizations
and whose priorities are crystal clear:
increasing profits and raising the stock
price.
It is equally clear that something else
is increasing: journalists’ suspicion
and distrust of owners. The distrust
seems to grow in proportion to the
size of the “conglomerate” that has
taken control of the news
organization.
Two case studies from Colombia
illustrate the concerns. María
Mercedes Gómez is the owner of the
company that produces “24 Hours,” a
prestigious daily television news
program. Gómez is an unabashed
activist in the Conservative Party, as
was her father, from whom she
inherited the program after his
assassination in 1995. She cares
deeply about the program and is
intimately involved in even the most
mundane details of its production,
International Center for Journalists