Deciding on what to report and how to report it poses an ethical dilemma for journalists covering the war. One aspect of this is how journ

• Step one: Understanding the facts of the case. It is the photographers choice whether or not to take pictures of dead soldiers. With today’s technology, scenes that might once have been edited as the story was compiled go straight on the air. This leaves the weight of the decision on the photographer.

It seems that a fair part of the general population has the opinion that journalists publicize information such as troop movements and locations to spice up their reports, having total disregard for the safety of the troops and national security. Karen Dunlap, the Dean of Faculty at Poynter University, wants to make it clear to the public that this is just not the case (well, with the exception of your Heraldo Rivera’s). She says that the public “needs to consider three facts of reporting in war time and peace: 1) Journalists work in concert with, but independent of government officials.” Lt. Commander Charles Owens briefly explains the guidelines to which the journalists are supposed to adhere to. He says, “As a professional courtesy we ask journalists not to report anything that might compromise the troops in the field. They are not censured; they are given some information on what they can and cannot do. Any embedded journalists who threaten security are given one warning.

After analysis with the Potter Box and Patterson’s ethical news values, I believe the ethically responsible journalist would attempt to verify as much of the questionable material as possible, using all resources at his disposal, and “checking both people and documents for every scrap of fact before beginning to write.” (Patterson). If that journalist discovers any untruthfulness in the government report, I believe they have a duty to make this known to the public, because that is usually where their greatest loyalty is placed. If the journalist wishes to publish unsubstantiated information, then that person should also provide a disclaimer identifying it as such. I think in these matters, as a rule of thumb, one should always be skeptical of government intel and check into everything that is said as thoroughly as they can. The government has lied before and will continue to do so. We must not allow incidents such as the Gulf of Tonkin and Bay of Pigs to happen again because of inadequate reporting or unflinching acceptance of government reports.

Some topics in this essay:
Golden Mean, Peter Clark, Potter Box, Poynter Institute, Iraqi Freedom, Ethics Issues, Washington Post, Box Patterson’s, Step Articulation, Al Qaeda, • step, dead soldiers, ethical dilemma, pictures dead, intelligence reports, potter box, pictures dead soldiers, government intelligence, ethical dilemma journalists, dilemma journalists, journalists report, government intelligence reports, bay pigs, choose middle ground, troop movements locations,