China’s Standards of Media Ethics
Order Instructions:
Giving specific examples, evaluate the standard of ethics and morals of the media industry in China.
SAMPLE ANSWER
China’s Standards of Media Ethics
Introduction
Internationally, journalists are expected to conduct themselves professionally and ethically to exhibit the maximum standards of journalism as per given principles. Considering that China is not a collectivistic society, there is high observance of morality in this society mainly drawing from Confucianism teachings (Ambrose & Cross, 2009). The observance of morality is extended from observance of traditions from the grassroots to the media. This is destined to create a good rapport between different stakeholders within media industry. Therefore, the following discussion indulges in viewing some of the standards of media ethics and morals in China.
Discussion
The government of China strives to see that freedom of press is felt among its media stakeholders. Furthermore, it has established laws and regulations to regulate and control how these freedoms should be exercised. One of the standards of media ethics in China is accuracy of reports given (Beardsley, 2010). Media houses are controlled on the type of information they releases to the public. For example, media inform of radios and televisions’ news broadcast in China face strict laws pertaining the type of information broadcasted (Christians, Fackler, McKee, Kreshel & Woods, 2013). If a journalist is found conspiring to give out false information, criminal charges are laid against him or her.
The second aspect of morality of which is an ethical media standard is the respect to the source of information (Davison, Martinsons, Murata, Drummond, Li, & Lo, 2009). Chinese people, Fukawa & Erevelles (2014) and Wang (2011), have the tendency to respect people regardless of what they are. The government as well as the public expects that respect to be exemplified by the media. In simple terms, journalists should observe that anonymous of the source of information to be adhered for security purposes. Therefore, if a source of data dictates that his or her identity to remain anonymous, then it should be it. In other cases, journalist should not be engaged in stereotypical communication (Fortner & Fackler, 2011). According to In Couldry, In Pinchevski & In Madianou (2013), it is against the law in China to engage in such practices such as naming suspects of crimes before they are being charged. Still on the same platform of the respect for human rights in media ethics, diversity of human experiences and views should also be apprehended (Ip, 2009). What this means is that the tendency of journalists in China to discriminate people based on how unpopular they are, should be avoided at all cost. Still on the same line, Jung, Klein & Caldwell (2014) demand that photojournalist while on their line of duties should be very cautious to ensure that they do not expose or risk the safety of their subjects when taking photos to represent breaking news. To the maximum, as Keller (2009) argues, journalism should be ethical in showing compassion to those people affected unsympathetically by news broadcast. In addition, journalist still on the same line should use particular special sensitivity when handling juvenile and inexperience subjects.
In China like its counterpart Western countries, genuine information is appreciated. (Kleinman, Yan, Jun, Lee & Zhang (2011) gives that it is a serious offence to fund, buy, and give gifts such as tour incentives to corrupt a source of information. In reciprocal, journalists themselves are not allowed to accept favors and compensation from those personalities who might seek to affect coverage (Lu, 2009). Therefore, they should act independently. China’s strict media rules punishes such individuals who act in their capacity to influence programs and reports. Such penalties such as jail terms and revocation of licenses follow the victim. Media ethics and morals in China extend to incapacitation of other journalists (Sardy, Munoz, Sun & Alon, 2008). In China, journalists are put under strict guidelines to ensure that they do not intentionally incapacitate the efforts of other journalists. In addition, journalists are not allowed to cause bizarre using another journalist’s condition whether to the public or to the other journalists.
Accountability is another indispensable media ethic in China. It is the sole duty of a journalist to stress and clarify new topics and welcome conversation with the general-public over a specific journalist’s conduct (Sardy, Munoz, Sun & Alon, 2010). In addition, still on accountability, a journalist should encourage the critics from the public to air out their voices against the news media. It should be a promise as Wang & Young (2014) argues of a journalist to accept mistakes and correct them with immediate effect. To supplement the concept of accountability on media ethics, Small (2013), Shaw & McKeever (2012) and Spence (2011) attest that journalist should aggressively expose unethical malpractices of the news media. Journalist should stand firm to report such malpractices such as payment of sources of information to the court of law (Ip, 2009). Above all, journalist being accountable to their listeners, readers, and viewers should abide by the same elevated standards to which they hold each other.
Conclusion
In summary, China has an easy task in observance of ethics and morals in media. This is because of Confucians teachings, which aggressively stressed on people being good to all people regardless of race, status, or gender. Therefore, China progressively ensures that ethical and morals in media are observed to the latter. Offenders caught violating media ethics and morals are heavily punished as per given rules and regulations.
References
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