The Marcolian Online

Apr. 19 , 2007

The Ethical Dilemmas of The New Media
An Opinion Piece
By Michael Dey
kmd001@marietta.edu

You can read this supplement to the standard Marcolian publication, in print as you are now. However, if our Senior Capstone Mass Media Class had decided to do so, we could have designed a website, released a podcast (either audio or video), or released a newscast on channel 15.

We could have texted you headlines (with your permission), e-mailed you, snail-mailed you, phoned you, Facebooked you, or just stood out on the mall with megaphones relaying the news to you as you walk to class.

You have your choice of how you get your messages and the messages of today's news media. You may have a PDA or Blackberry-type device that allows you to access e-mails from class and for all 24 hours in a given day.

Perhaps you carry your computer around and access websites with frequency during the day. Maybe you watch TV during lunch, and check out the news. You can choose to ignore much of the mundane news that comes on during the day, but what about cases of extreme, utter importance? What did you do when you heard about Virginia Tech?

I will admit, as many students at Marietta College were, that I was utterly transfixed by the news for most of Monday, into early Tuesday morning. With several friends at Virginia Tech, I was worried for their safety, and wanted to glean as much information as possible from the television. I took the conservative Fox News station, added it to some liberal CNN, and some MSNBC sprinkles on the side to create my own blend of news sources that I could then trust.

Today's world of communications and media allows today's media personnel the ability to reach you wherever you are, whenever they want to, and with as little information as possible. With 24-hour news networks becoming commonplace, and with news websites such as yahoonews.com being constantly updated, are we beginning to overload viewers? Did you find yourself frustrated at watching the news on Monday, when you heard about Virginia Tech?

The number of slain students went up during the day, with different news stations giving different estimates. Then, long after the breaking news stopped being breaking news, and the graphics on the screen still said “ BREAKING NEWS!,” as it probably does now, I realized that we are witnessing sensationalism-inflation. It's been going on for years.

Not to be outdone, each news source will break a given story in a different way, a way to make you have to listen… at least for a little while. Unfortunately, what actually occurs is that all the sources break the news in the same way-- with sensational graphics, ludicrous claims, pithy posturing from unqualified news anchors, and more guesses than fact. With emotional music playing behind disturbing images, and drugstore psychology from Dr. Phil McGraw after the Virginia Tech shootings, is it really still ethical and trustworthy news? Shouldn't we be given facts first, then hypothesis and rumors, and then the advice of Dr. Phil? We may have the capability to reach audiences 24 hours a day, with constant footage and a never-ending chain of “ BREAKING NEWS!”, but at what point does this capability need to be reigned back in, and decency brought back to mind?

The ethical and moral bounds that have been pushed to the brink by today's news organizations has even found its way into popular entertainment. With movies being made about current events in the Middle East, such as “ Jarhead,” as well as the September 11 events being made into motion pictures such as “ Flight 93” and “ World Trade Center,” have we begun to bastardize tragedy? Media men and women are seen in a negative light for their often times callous methods of procuring news stories; they're probably not far off from having their own brand of lawyer jokes.

That said, could it be said that everyone wants steak, but nobody wants to date the butcher? The media is charged with a daunting task - to decide what you will hear about during the day and to tell you what to think about each event. On the same day as the Virginia Tech shootings, a kindergarten student was killed while playing outside in a Michigan elementary school. High winds pulled down a flagpole, which then crushed the child. You may not have heard anything about this, and possibly are hearing about it for the first time in reading this. Perhaps it is time for our news sources to sit in on some of our classes and remember the responsibility that they are charged with.


• Campus News • Viewpoints • Sports • Arts & Living • Greek wrap-up • Ask Marc • Spotlight • New faces at MC • Meet our staff • Staff profiles • Letters to the editor policy • History of the newspaper • Benefits of advertising • Ad rates		Apr. 19 , 2007 The Ethical Dilemmas of The New Media An Opinion Piece By Michael Dey kmd001@marietta.edu You can read this supplement to the standard Marcolian publication, in print as you are now. However, if our Senior Capstone Mass Media Class had decided to do so, we could have designed a website, released a podcast (either audio or video), or released a newscast on channel 15. We could have texted you headlines (with your permission), e-mailed you, snail-mailed you, phoned you, Facebooked you, or just stood out on the mall with megaphones relaying the news to you as you walk to class. You have your choice of how you get your messages and the messages of today's news media. You may have a PDA or Blackberry-type device that allows you to access e-mails from class and for all 24 hours in a given day. Perhaps you carry your computer around and access websites with frequency during the day. Maybe you watch TV during lunch, and check out the news. You can choose to ignore much of the mundane news that comes on during the day, but what about cases of extreme, utter importance? What did you do when you heard about Virginia Tech? I will admit, as many students at Marietta College were, that I was utterly transfixed by the news for most of Monday, into early Tuesday morning. With several friends at Virginia Tech, I was worried for their safety, and wanted to glean as much information as possible from the television. I took the conservative Fox News station, added it to some liberal CNN, and some MSNBC sprinkles on the side to create my own blend of news sources that I could then trust. Today's world of communications and media allows today's media personnel the ability to reach you wherever you are, whenever they want to, and with as little information as possible. With 24-hour news networks becoming commonplace, and with news websites such as yahoonews.com being constantly updated, are we beginning to overload viewers? Did you find yourself frustrated at watching the news on Monday, when you heard about Virginia Tech? The number of slain students went up during the day, with different news stations giving different estimates. Then, long after the breaking news stopped being breaking news, and the graphics on the screen still said “ BREAKING NEWS!,” as it probably does now, I realized that we are witnessing sensationalism-inflation. It's been going on for years. Not to be outdone, each news source will break a given story in a different way, a way to make you have to listen… at least for a little while. Unfortunately, what actually occurs is that all the sources break the news in the same way-- with sensational graphics, ludicrous claims, pithy posturing from unqualified news anchors, and more guesses than fact. With emotional music playing behind disturbing images, and drugstore psychology from Dr. Phil McGraw after the Virginia Tech shootings, is it really still ethical and trustworthy news? Shouldn't we be given facts first, then hypothesis and rumors, and then the advice of Dr. Phil? We may have the capability to reach audiences 24 hours a day, with constant footage and a never-ending chain of “ BREAKING NEWS!”, but at what point does this capability need to be reigned back in, and decency brought back to mind? The ethical and moral bounds that have been pushed to the brink by today's news organizations has even found its way into popular entertainment. With movies being made about current events in the Middle East, such as “ Jarhead,” as well as the September 11 events being made into motion pictures such as “ Flight 93” and “ World Trade Center,” have we begun to bastardize tragedy? Media men and women are seen in a negative light for their often times callous methods of procuring news stories; they're probably not far off from having their own brand of lawyer jokes. That said, could it be said that everyone wants steak, but nobody wants to date the butcher? The media is charged with a daunting task - to decide what you will hear about during the day and to tell you what to think about each event. On the same day as the Virginia Tech shootings, a kindergarten student was killed while playing outside in a Michigan elementary school. High winds pulled down a flagpole, which then crushed the child. You may not have heard anything about this, and possibly are hearing about it for the first time in reading this. Perhaps it is time for our news sources to sit in on some of our classes and remember the responsibility that they are charged with.
Mailing address: Marietta College Box A-20, Marietta, Ohio 45750-4000 Physical address: McKinney Media Center, 508 Putnam St, Marietta, Ohio Phone: (740) 376-4555 E-mail: marc@marietta.edu