Ethics of Journalism

Ethics of Journalism

    Modern society has developed into an enormously dependent civilization. Our society has become reliant on several presumed necessities such as electricity, coffee shops, and cars, but most of all we cannot live without information. Information is everywhere! It is written in newspapers and magazines, and an endless amount of facts is constantly broadcast on national television, local radio stations, and of course, the internet. In case everything else fails, society can still rely on their very own personal mail box to receive urgent messages from anywhere around the world. Almost every member of this society is an “information junkie”. This leads us to this very question: What is Journalism? “Journalism is the timely reporting of events at local, provincial, national and international levels. Reporting involves the gathering of information through interviewing and research, the results of which are turned into a fair and balanced story for publication or for television or radio broadcast.” In spite of the existence of several types of journalism, the ideal type of journalism is the one that transmits information in a way that the common citizen can easily understand what is happening in his/her country and around the world.  Many people are beginning to question the information the media present to the world every day. Is the information always completely true? We all know that the main objective of most media is to make sure that the audience can be as big as possible. To achieve the task of gathering the largest amount of listeners, some reporters go to the extent of  “creating” fake news. Although some areas of the media strive for a large audience, occasionally it is not only about the size of the audience. Periodically, it has to do with political or economical interests. Politicians have been known to bribe certain TV channels or newspapers in order to change the public's opinion, which has led us to discuss the ethics of journalism.

What is ethics? ”Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is the capacity to distinguish good from bad”.

    The mass media have an enormous importance and they do seriously affect today’s society. We live in a so called “global village,” and the only way to communicate with our fellow neighbours is through information. Now let’s imagine that a certain person is living in a metropolis, and the only way to communicate with other people is through mail. Imagine that the mail station is mixing the letters and each person is unknowingly receiving fake information and are led to believe that it is true. What would the result be like?

    This is basically what is happening nowadays to our society. It is  caused by the result of a substantial amount of untruthful mass media. We need to stand up for what we believe in and what is ours by right. Information is ours by right!     

                               238- Pedro Eugénio

The Hurt Locker Review

Credits:

Director:

Kathryn Bigelow

Writer (WGA):

Mark Boal (written by)

Release Date:

17 September 2009 (Portugal) 

Genre:

Action | Drama | Thriller | War 

Awards:

Won 6 Oscars. Another 72 wins & 46 nominations

            Since mankind exists, there’s always been war among societies. Its existence has led to its recreation in the world of films, such as "Patton", "Saving Private Ryan" and "Black Hawk Down".

In my opinion, War has been people’s favourite type of films in the last decades. The reasons have to do with factors such as the “modern wars” of Iraq and of Afghanistan, the special effects in these films and the desire of being part of the war.

            Recently, the film "The Hurt Locker" directed by Kathryn Bigelow won the Academy Award for best film of the year. Actually, I had bet it would win…

            The story covers a period in the life of William James (Iraq War 2004), a brave but reckless soldier, who was chosen to lead the team of two other members of the U.S. Army. James is an expert in defusing unexploded hidden devices. Because of this fact, at a time when the Iraqi streets are dangerously trapped with these devices, his task becomes natural and regular. Unfortunately, James proves to have a true love for war, making decisions that endanger the lives of all his teammates that work with him.

            At the beginning of the film, there´s a quote - "The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug". Throughout the film we will realize that this expression is a synopsis of the film. It tries to explain that war is a drug, and like all drugs, human beings change both physically and psychologically, becoming more addictive especially to James.

            In my opinion, the film seeks to portray two aspects: first, it shows how the life of a soldier on the battlefield really is, with one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, an expert in unexploded hidden devices; the second one is to depict the psychological and physical consequences of the war on people. In general, the movie is well done, has a good script and some scenes are impressive, like the one on which a bullet is dropped on the ground in slow-motion.

            

451 - Fernades