As a college journalism student, the First Amendment has an important role in my life. It serves as a safety net in my career, where I can gain success from my rights in order to serve the people. Having press freedom means that I am able to publish anything that I want, in almost any way that I want.
Although there are many rights of freedom that journalists own, they are probably more that are limited by their ethical concerns than by their First Amendment rights. The difference between law and ethics is very simple. Journalists should always abide by the law. However, a journalist’s ethics should be followed even though there is usually no punishment attached unless the action is highly unethical according to which policy it broke. These policies can be found at https://nppa.org/code-ethics.
Credibility and trust are very important for a journalist to have. Readers and viewers must trust the work published or else they will turn away. In order to do this, ethical decision-making must be made. Three branches of this philosophy include utilitarian, which is the greatest good for the greatest number of people. This can save lives in situations such as a story on drunk driving where the footage scares people away from certain bad behaviors. Absolutists stand in their beliefs that privacy is vital. The Golden Rule states to “do unto others as you would have them done unto you.” More of this can be found at Oxfordscholarship.com. As a student photojournalist, I feel that right now, I identify more with the absolutist philosophy because I am still learning and am cautious about exercising my rights. However, as I gain confidence and step out into the real world, the utilitarian philosophy is bound to take way.
There are violations that all journalists must avoid. According to “Photographers’ Guide to Privacy”, manipulation is a code violation where the editor removes or adds an element to or from the photo. Other “privacy torts” include false light, which is the labeling of a subject with misleading information. Intrusion violates the privacy of an individual by wrongfully shooting pieces of their lives. The three forms are trespassing, secret surveillance, and misappropriation. While all journalists have a job to inform the public about issues, they must do so without breaking any laws. More information on this can be found at rcfp.org.
According to alsphoto.com, Justice Kathryn Werdegar writes,
“There are degrees and nuances to societal recognition of our expectations of privacy: the fact the privacy one expects in a given setting is not complete or absolute does not render the expectation unreasonable as a matter of law.”
Journalists must always remain respectful, even when they are in the wrong. If the owner of private property asks a journalist to leave, they should leave or else face the legal consequences. Photographers and reporters who accompany the police at a private property do not get a free pass and they still have to abide by the rules.
While journalists have many ethical codes to follow, they also have many rights and they are able to put those to use by striving for complete access to subjects in order to create the best pieces of work that they can. They should always respect the integrity of a photographic moment, and they should always fight for the rights of access for all journalists everywhere.
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