Matakuliah : O0394 – Teknik Reportase dan News Caster
Tahun
: 2010
Ethics and Media
Pertemuan 09 - 10
Learning Objectives
The discussion will be on the understanding of ethics
of media. This material will be limited to the
understanding of ethics in media communication. For
illustration, the part on ethics (1 & 2) will also
represent ethical cases in media communication.
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Journalistic Ethics in Indonesia – a
Reminder (1/4)
What is Freedom of Press?
The freedom of press is a facility for people in a
community to communicate and obtain information.
The Indonesian Journalistic Ethics is a basic
statement for journalists in Indonesia to responsibly
provide information to the community.
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Journalistic Ethics in Indonesia – a
Reminder (2/4)
The Indonesian Journalistic Ethics - It Covers
What? Indonesian Journalists obey the Ethics in
terms of:
1. Obtaining and providing the right and balanced
information to the public;
2. Properly protecting and, as well as, revealing the
sources;
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Journalistic Ethics in Indonesia – a
Reminder (3/4)
3. Disapproving bribery and avoiding professional
misconducts;
4. Obeying the embargo and committing to the offthe-record agreement;
5. Detaching and correcting the mistakes and
providing the right to answer.
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Journalistic Ethics in Indonesia – a
Reminder (4/4)
The Indonesian Journalistic Ethics (Kode Etik
Wartawan Indonesia/ KEWI) is supported with
Regulations on Pers (Undang Undang Republik
Indonesia Nomor 40 Tahun 1999 tentang Pers).
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Ethics in Communication Process (1/6)
In examining the ethical situation from the
perspective of communication process, there are 5
(five) important aspects that (especially) all media
practitioners need to know.
The following 5 (five) aspects relate to the
components in the process of news production.
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Ethics in Communication Process (2/6)
a. A moral agent (communicator)
Those who make moral judgments whether on their
own decision or on institutional representatives. For
example: reporters and editors could not become
politically active because to do so would compromise
their independence.
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Ethics in Communication Process (3/6)
b. Motives
We must examine the motives of the moral agent
because good motives can sometimes be used to
justify what appears to be an unethical act. For
example: a reporter may use dishonesty to uncover
governmental corruption, a journalistic technique
most of use would be willing to tolerate in the name
of the public good.
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Ethics in Communication Process (4/6)
c. Act
It is the act of behavioral component of the
communication process and it draws the attention to the
actions of others and may lead us to describe their
actions as either ethical or unethical. For example: Acts
may be verbal when a reporter lies to a news source,
and it can also be nonverbal when an advertiser omits
product information vital to informed consumer choice.
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Ethics in Communication Process (5/6)
d. Individual(s) or audience
An ethical situation should also be evaluated in terms
of the moral agent’s relationship to the individual(s)
or audience most directly affected by the ethical
judgment. For example: an advertiser that markets its
products to children might employee less aggressive
sales techniques that one that appeals to an adult
audience.
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Ethics in Communication Process (6/6)
e. Consequences
Ethical judgments produce consequences -either
negative or positive- for both the moral agent and
others who may touched by the agent’s actions.
Although too often the consequences are either
unanticipated or diverge from the expectations of the
moral agents, it is very likely that the agent must
know it in advance and act accordingly.
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Social Responsibility (1/7)
Background
 Based on the Libertarian view, a company is
socially responsible if it provides employment and
a stable financial base for the community.
 Within the libertarian framework, both individuals
and corporations pursuing their own self-interests
in a competitive marketplace will contribute to the
public welfare.
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Social Responsibility (2/7)
Views and facts on Social Responsibility
1. Conducting business is not a right but a privilege
granted by society (Friedman);
2. The pursuit of profits has not automatically
contributed to the public good, society has placed
increasing demands on corporations to contribute
to the correction of social ills.
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Social Responsibility (3/7)
What should the media do to perform its social
responsibility in this contemporary society?
The media must provide a “truthful, comprehensive,
and intelligent account of the day’s events in a context
that gives them meaning.”
The press must not only be accurate, it must
also clearly distinguish between fact and opinion.
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Social Responsibility (4/7)
The press serve as “a forum for the exchange of
comment and criticism.”
The press is urged to provide a platform for views
that are contrary to its own while not abandoning its
traditional right or advocacy.
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Social Responsibility (5/7)
The press project “a representative picture of the
constituent groups in society.”
Racial, social, and cultural groups should be
depicted accurately without resorting to stereotypes.
Social responsibility demands an affirmative role for
the media in building positive images, both in their
informational and entertainment content.
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Social Responsibility (6/7)
The media should also be responsible for “the
presentation and clarification of the goals and
values of society.”
The media should transmit the cultural heritage,
thereby reinforcing traditional values and virtues.
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Social Responsibility (7/7)
The press should provide “full access to the day’s
intelligence.”
The increase in the number of and scope of laws
regarding public records and open meetings, at
both the state and federal levels, is the
manifestation of this right access to government
information.
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Media as Socially Responsible
Institutions (1/11)
For media, the attitudes of social responsibility can
be acquired through a two-step process:
To promote a positive corporate and to improve the
chances of gaining public respect.
This can be done through external
communications campaign and consideration of
the impact on society of any ethical decisions
made by media managers and employees.
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Media as Socially Responsible
Institutions (2/11)
Through community involvement.
This can be accomplished by encouraging
employees to participate in civic affairs and
providing corporate financial support for
community projects. For example: major
newspapers might consider greater coverage of
low-income and minority neighborhoods.
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Media as Socially Responsible
Institutions (3/11)
The recognition of social responsibility as a moral
duty has been reflected in 3 (three) self-regulatory
mechanism:
Codes of Conduct
Media Ombudsman (sometimes referred to as
“readers’ representatives”, and
News Councils
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Media as Socially Responsible
Institutions (4/11)
Codes of Conduct
Codes seen from different perspectives:
A written statement of principles that is the only
way to avoid leaving moral judgments to individual
interpretations;
Codes provide employees with a written notice of
what is expected of them;
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Media as Socially Responsible
Institutions (5/11)
A form of self-censorship, a retreat from the
independence and autonomy necessary for a free
and robust mass communication enterprise;
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Media as Socially Responsible
Institutions (6/11)
In the field of journalism philosophy, John Merrill and
S Jack Odell have dismissed codes as meaningful
tools for ensuring accountability:
“… Journalists, of all people, … when it comes to
codes and creeds they seem to retreat into a kind of
bureaucratese, or sociological jargon that benumbs
the mind and frustrates any attempt to extract
substantial meaning from the writing.”
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Media as Socially Responsible
Institutions (7/11)
There are 2 (two) kinds of codes
Professional Codes
Professional codes are used for guidance and
prominent feature of moral landscape for certain
professions. For example: the Society of Professional
Journalism (SPJ) has adopted standards for things as
truth, accuracy, conflicts, interests, and fairness;
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Media as Socially Responsible
Institutions (8/11)
Institutional Codes
 The conduct of employees of certain media
institutions;
 The Codes are comprehensive and deal with
diverse matters as the acceptance of gifts and other
gratuities from outside sources, conflicts of interests,
the use of offensive or indecent materials, the
publication of rape victims’ names, the staging of
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news events.
Media as Socially Responsible
Institutions (9/11)
The Ombudsman System
 The Ombudsman System is an effective tool of
corporate management to demonstrate a skeptical
public that they are serious about the idea of social
responsibility.
 The future of Ombudsman as a self-regulatory
device has reaped pros and contras on the role of
ombudsman from its environment.
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Media as Socially Responsible
Institutions (10/11)
 The Pros of the Ombudsman System thinks that the
electronic media have renewed their efforts at selfcriticism and accountability in the form of audience
feedback programs, on-air-critics, and even ombudsmen.
 The Cons of the Ombudsman System thinks that several
papers have fired or re-assigned their ombudsman for
their brutal candor in assessing the ethical indiscretions
of their employers.
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Media as Socially Responsible
Institutions (11/11)
News Councils
Functions as “watchdog”, the news councils
arguably the most democratic of regulatory devices
are designed to foster a dialogue between the media
and their various publics.
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Closing
By understanding the most basic concept on the
relationship between ethics and media, the students
are expected to have a big picture on how the
media will perform within its society. And further,
how the media will perform when they are producing
news.
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