Deception Is an Unavoidable Part in Journalism. Discuss
Deception is an unavoidable part in journalism. Discuss.
Deception is a path taken by many journalists in order to uncover a story. According to Lee (2005), deception means lying to deceive, mislead, misrepresent one’s own words or actions. Though there is no clear answer to whether journalism is unprofessional ethically wrong; it will however be discussed in the essay that it is an unavoidable part in journalism as according to Wilkins (2008), at least one out of four conversations contain some form of deception.
Charles and Elliott (1992) explain that there are three forms of deception. The first form of deception is the investigative deception. This involves looking into a situation or getting information by using means such as the use of hidden cameras or not revealing one’s own identity. The second form of deception is the interrogative form in which involves misrepresenting motives by flattering a source or showing empathy towards a person to get more information. The third stage is known as the testimonial, which revolves around how the story is presented. The story can involve false attribution and mislead the reader in order to protect the source of information and the journalist’s reputation.
Besides these three, deception can take many other forms as well. The most common according to Braun (1988, p.77-83) involves the manipulation of photographs which appears to depict falsely and mislead the viewer to believing something else. The unethical and deceptive use of hidden cameras has also caused charges and arrests of many media industries. Such was the case of ABC TV, as Richard (2005) talk about how ABC charged a food chain with deliberately selling spoiled food by placing hidden cameras in Food Lion’s factory and showing evidence of it. ABC came under disgrace when it was found by a jury of 12 Carolinians found that they got the story by fraud, and in essence that it had violated the standards by which decent people live and
Deception is a path taken by many journalists in order to uncover a story. According to Lee (2005), deception means lying to deceive, mislead, misrepresent one’s own words or actions. Though there is no clear answer to whether journalism is unprofessional ethically wrong; it will however be discussed in the essay that it is an unavoidable part in journalism as according to Wilkins (2008), at least one out of four conversations contain some form of deception.
Charles and Elliott (1992) explain that there are three forms of deception. The first form of deception is the investigative deception. This involves looking into a situation or getting information by using means such as the use of hidden cameras or not revealing one’s own identity. The second form of deception is the interrogative form in which involves misrepresenting motives by flattering a source or showing empathy towards a person to get more information. The third stage is known as the testimonial, which revolves around how the story is presented. The story can involve false attribution and mislead the reader in order to protect the source of information and the journalist’s reputation.
Besides these three, deception can take many other forms as well. The most common according to Braun (1988, p.77-83) involves the manipulation of photographs which appears to depict falsely and mislead the viewer to believing something else. The unethical and deceptive use of hidden cameras has also caused charges and arrests of many media industries. Such was the case of ABC TV, as Richard (2005) talk about how ABC charged a food chain with deliberately selling spoiled food by placing hidden cameras in Food Lion’s factory and showing evidence of it. ABC came under disgrace when it was found by a jury of 12 Carolinians found that they got the story by fraud, and in essence that it had violated the standards by which decent people live and
References: Braun, P 1988, Deception in journalism, Journal of Mass Media Ethics: Exploring Questions of Media Morality, Volume 3, Issue 1, 1988, Pages 77 – 83 Canons of Journalism 2010, Eyes on Ethics, Malaysia, viewed 22 September 2010, http://www.eyeonethics.org/journalist-code-of-ethics-in-asia/canons-of-journalism-malaysia/ CNN, 2009, 30000 More in 6 Months, CNN.com, viewed September 20th 2010,