A Week With Bland

The past week we have learned a great deal in Professor Bland's media ethics class. We talked about public figures that have had their fair share of bouts with media ethics.

Professor Bland posed the class with the question is there anything that we were willing to go to jail for. Most of the class did not respond and began to think if there was anything that was important enough to us that we were willing to make sacrifices for. 

She then told us about several journalists who were willing to do just that. Vanessa Leggett was a journalist who went to jail for 168 days because she would not release her notes to a jury. She felt that the nature of her interviews were confidential and should not be released. Her beliefs were enough to keep her steadfast to her decision. Judith Miller, also was a journalist who would not give up her sources to the CIA. She, too, felt as if her values were worth sacrificing her freedom in the plight of what she felt was right.

We also had to read the Radio Television Digital News Association's Code of Ethics for a paper. The main themes from it are public trust, truth, fairness, integrity, independence and accountability. In every aspect of journalism, all of these thrusts are integrated. A journalist must gain the public's trust. A journalist must always report the truth and do so fairly and with integrity. Journalists act independently and are accountable for their actions.