Week 5

Weekly reflection: 

This week we studied the ethics and morals surrounding video journalism. We revised the laws regarding trespassing and what you can and can't record. We also went into detail about various codes of ethics that regulate the media. 

In television journalism there are a range of regulators that ensure that the media reports correctly, fairly and ethically balanced stories. From broadcasting acts to privacy acts, it is a necessity for a broadcast journalist to understand what they can and can't do and what they can report on. Some cases mean that stories can't be reported on in a specific way (Alysen 2012, p. 245). 

The regulation of media ensures that journalists are kept accountable for their stories and the law ensures that they will report in a balanced manner. Journalists that report unethically or those who choose to defame another could face defamation charges and possibly jail terms.

When reporting on television there are a number of elements that journalists have to be cautious of, in comparison to radio and print journalism. On television there is an added element of visuals and written visuals. What you see needs to be ethical as well as what you hear and what you read (Alysen 2012, p. 243). Therefore, television reporting can be the most complex type of journalism in terms of abiding the law.

Television programs can also be more accurate when reporting or less accurate, depending on when the bulletin is presented. For example, a program in the evening a story from the morning has more time to be researched so the program of an evening would have more details and be more accurate than the same story that was reporting on in the morning. Journalists have to be cautious when reporting breaking news live to air because the details of the story are just starting to filter out into the public (Alysen 2012, p.248).

Therefore, journalists have to maintain visual and audio concepts to a story and make sure that the story as  a whole is ethically sound.