Fighting the Good Fight:
Promoting Professional Freedom and Responsibility
During Difficult Times
Kim Piper-Aiken, Ph.D.
Michigan State University
Research Chair, '03-'04
PF&R Chair, '04-'05 piperaik@msu.edu
I must admit that,
at first, I was mildly amused when a major market television
station in our state
hosted a "so-you-want-to-be-a-reporter" contest last
summer. In fact, a few of my enthusiastic broadcast journalism
students drove to Detroit, stood in a long line, and gave it
their best shot. They reported back that it was a "cool" experience.
The winner ended up being Greg Adaline, a former construction
equipment salesman who spent a couple of months on the air at
WDIV-TV.
I wasn't quite so amused when I learned that the news director
at the local CBS affiliate in our community, WLNS-TV, hired Adaline
to co-anchor the morning news
and do general assignment reporting. In a memo to his staff, News Director Phillip
Hendrix stated, "After looking high and low for months, I am very happy
to announce that we have finally found a morning co-anchor to join Emily Wagner
and Pamela Land. Greg Adaline is the final piece to the morning show puzzle.
He comes to us from WDIV in Detroit where he beat out 300 people to win the station's
'Who Wants To Be A Reporter' contest."
As an anonymous writer noted in a MediaLine Internet forum, "Who needs an
education and training in ethics, libel, etc.? As long as managers keep hiring
for a quick boost to ratings, hosts/anchors/spokespeople will flock to the biz.
Just get yourself on a reality show or rip-off, and you're set."
For those of us who spend countless hours helping college students grapple with
legal issues and ethical dilemmas, not to mention helping them find ways to strengthen
their credibility as young, relatively inexperienced reporters, it's hard to
understand a hiring decision like this. And, it's even more difficult to explain
it to current and former students (many of whom applied for this plum anchoring
opportunity). But, these are the types of things we need to talk about with students
and among ourselves.
I think of this as, "Fighting the Good Fight."
My intention here is not to critique the hiring decision or the work of this
man; it is simply to point out that the realities of the broadcast journalism
profession highlight the need for the AEJMC Standing Committee on Professional
Freedom and Responsibility. It also seems like an opportune time to examine what
PF&R is all about.
By its own definition, the term "professional" in the Committee's name
refers to professional communicators such as those in print or broadcast journalism.
It follows that "professional freedom" refers to the freedom of communicators
to express themselves and "professional responsibility" refers to the
standard that should exist in the work place. The Committee has also identified
five specific subject areas that fall under the overall umbrella of "professional
freedom and responsibility." These are: free expression; ethics; media criticism
and accountability; racial, gender and cultural inclusiveness; and public service.
In the area of free expression, AEJMC has traditionally been concerned with the
open circulation of ideas and promoting the freedoms of speech and press as embodied
in the First Amendment. The PF&R Committee has encouraged AEJMC members to
work to improve the understanding of freedom of expression in its historical
and legal sense but there is still much work to be done. This is evident based
on the recently released Knight Foundation report that found that nearly 75-percent
of American high school students didn't understand the First Amendment and about
one-third of those surveyed thought journalists should have to get prior government
approval before they report anything. Another one-third of the students felt
that news organizations need even more restrictions on what they produce.
In the area of ethics, the PF&R Committee challenges members to seek the
highest ethical standards possible. For Radio-Television Journalism (RTVJ) Division
members, ethical concerns range from sensationalism and conflict of interest
issues noted most frequently on the 24-hour news channels to truthtelling and
deception concerns raised during the CBS News investigation of Dan Rather and
his crew's story about President Bush's National Guard Service. Journalists/commentators
who take government money to articulate certain views are another major drain
on the ethics brain trust.
In the final three areas of media criticism and accountability, racial, gender
and cultural inclusiveness, and public service, the educational role is vital.
The PF&R Committee reminds educators that their work should include a constructive
evaluation of the professional marketplace, media analysis, and a continued search
for mechanisms that foster media accountability. The Committee is also charged
with addressing issues of unequal treatment of women and minorities reflected
in hiring and promotion practices, institutional policies and stereotypical portrayals
in the mass media. Members are encouraged to foster cultural inclusiveness, meaning
that efforts should be made to include segments of the population historically
excluded from public communication because of discrimination and lack of opportunity.
And, finally, in the public service area, the PF&R Committee reminds members
to serve society beyond the service provided in their teaching and research with
activities that enhance understanding among media educators, professionals and
the general public.
It does seem helpful for me to reflect upon the mission of the Professional Freedom
and Responsibility Committee when gearing up to "Fight the Good Fight" another
day...even if the "news-of-the-day" tells me about the demise of ABC's
Nightline, that paying journalists violates the public trust, that racy promos
tell you it's sweeps time, etc.
rtvj-aejmc.org is
the official webpage and online newsletter
for the Radio-Television
Journalism
division
of
the Association for Education
in Journalism and Mass Communication
webmaster and design by Tim Bajkiewicz, University of
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