Unethical dillemma

Ethics. The rights and wrongs and moral standards that apply to everything you'll ever do. Just like every career, journalism as well has its own code. Journalists have a responsibility to respect and protect the subjects/sources of their articles, their publications, and their personal reputations as presenters of honest and unbiased coverage of the world around thier audience.

In the arts (especially entertainment) field of reporting the news, very often these ethical guidelines of respectable journalism are crossed.

Open a celebrity magazine. National Enquirer. People. In. Every one is polluted with celebrity gossip stories. Some are fine, and highlight good things about the few who stay off Ganseevort Street at 2am and avoid shaving their heads on a binge of impulse. But many of these gossip articles are just that. Gossip. Tiny fabrications that build into mini-mayhems. But there is a point when purile gossip becomes unethical and painful.

In early February, the world (myself included) mourned the sudden death of beautiful bohunk and talented actor, Heath Ledger. The story hit the news on television, blogs and papers within the hour.

Continents away, Heath's loving parents had yet to be formally informed about what happened in New York that afternoon - until, of course, they turned on the news station. How awful! Turning on TV to find out that millions of people know about the death of your child before you were formally notified. I think that this instance steps beyond ethical guidelines.

In my own encounters with journalism ethics in the art field, I also find that being credible is sometimes hard with the amount of activity I have in the arts. For example, because I'm a member of the National Arts Honor Society at my school, I couldn't write a publishable story about the Teen Arts Festival. A few of the entrants were members of the society as well as my artist friends.