Media Ethics Case Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Media Ethics Case - Research Proposal Example Journalists are pillars of our society and they need to be ethically correct in discharging their duty to disseminate correct information to the public at large. Violation of academic trust through plagiarism, cheating, falsifying information or aiding and abetting in any of the nefarious activities are now serious offences and they are considered as totally unacceptable conduct in all areas of work, including journalism. Hence their professional honesty is crucial in promoting correct facts and interpretation on issues and topics that are socially, economically and politically relevant. During the Second Lebanon War between Hezbollah military and Israel forces, there was widespread damage to civilian infrastructure, including to the main airport of Beirut. War causalities also included killing of innocent civilians. The media had lapped up the war that had generated mass reaction all through the world. The photos of freelance Lebanese photo-journalist had generated mass hysteria against the Israel attacks which had damaged civilian places and displaced millions of the people from their home. Reuter later admitted that these photos were digitally altered (BBCNews, 2006). Altering the photographs digitally for vested interests was ethically wrong. The journalists are supposed to present the real situation to the people so the people can correlate with the event and accordingly propose a course of actions. In this case, the digitally altered photographs were meant to show gruesome and grotesque footage of war torn area and people and incite Muslims for the acts of terrorism and indirectly garner support for Hezbollah militants in their war against the Israelis. The actions of the Lebanese photo-journalist will have long term implications not only for the said journalist but the whole cadre of the journalist would become the target for vested interest and