Eye on Ethics
The practice of journalism involves the use of power: the power to influence the way people look at themselves, their societies, and the world; the power to help shape the attitudes and values of others; and the power to help liberate men and women from the shackles of ignorance so they may exercise their sovereign human right to decide their destinies.
Whether they’re practicing their craft in a democratic society or in an authoritarian one, and whether that society is “developed” or “developing,” journalists are thus imbued with the capacity to keep things as they are or to change them. Along the way they also help make people what they are: informed or uninformed, enlightened or otherwise.
The value of journalism and journalists in democracies has been well-analyzed. What has not been often remarked is their role in societies in transition to democracy, as well as in societies that may be described as authoritarian.
A free press provides the sovereign citizens of a democratic society the information they need to make decisions on public issues, to demand transparency and honesty in governance, and to hold their elected officials to account. In democratizing societies, the information a free press provides is often the crucial factor that makes the transition possible. Authoritarian regimes correctly fear a free press and try to suppress it for these same reasons. But by providing citizens information vital to their concerns, a free press can also hasten the fall of dictatorships and the coming of democratic governance. Ethical and professional journalism does not only provide the information free citizens need; such a journalism can also provide the information that can set men and women free.
By no means are the distinctions among Asian societies based solely on these and other political differences. The uniqueness of their cultures, traditions, and histories also define the countries of this vast region. While the ethics of journalism has evolved enough to be in many ways universal in character and application (truth- telling, for example, is among journalism’s universally accepted ethical principles), there is at the same time a specificity to the circumstances in which they are practiced which complicate and affect the application of principles in decision-making. To what extent, for example, is trial by publicity avoidable in societies where the justice system is failing, and where only press exposure often makes the difference between wrong doers’ being brought to court or escaping prosecution?
Nevertheless, the responsibilities that come with the power of journalists to help shape and change the lives of millions can only be realized through ethical commitment and competent practice. It may well be unnecessary to separate the two. Competent journalism is not solely a matter of craft and skill. Collecting information, processing, writing and disseminating it are governed as well by ethical and professional standards such as accuracy, fairness and humaneness. Ethical journalism is not an add-on to competent journalism. It is at the very heart of competent practice.
To generate discussion on the many ethical issues that confront journalism in Asia—a region in turmoil and change as well as stability and progress—Eye on Ethics: Asia Media Forum is open to reports as well as opinions. It takes full advantage of the interactivity inherent in the Internet, as well as the real-time speed of communication that it makes possible across our vast region.
With the support of the Asia Media Forum, the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) assumes responsibility for the maintenance of this online newsletter. CMFR will upload articles of common interest each month, but will keep the site open for your reports and comments on the most recent developments in journalism in your country and community that touch on those ethical issues and questions that often arise in the course of reporting, interpretation, and comment. Hopefully the wide audience that this newsletter should in time be able to develop will enable us all to learn from each other’s experiences, and to benefit from each other’s insights. Welcome to this learning and teaching experience.
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