RTBF has violated the ethics and ethics of journalism
By Marc-François Bernier (PhD)
mbernier@uottawa.ca
That's called "docudrama" or " hoax, "the initiative of the RTBF remains indefensible in terms of ethics and ethics of journalism. Here is a flagrant violation of journalistic standards, a real professional misconduct.
It is not enough to claim that the RTBF news staff has complied with the ethics Journalism, as claimed by some of its representatives after the program aired controversial. We must make a rational demonstration that is consistent with ethical principles and rules of conduct recognized. Such a mission seems impossible.
Indeed, analysis of hundreds of codes of conduct reveals that the ethical principles of journalism organized around the following values: to serve the public interest, disseminating truthful information at the end of a process marked by rigorous arguments and factual accuracy, to be fair in both means of collecting information in its treatment and monitoring; be impartial and honest.
Specifically, these principles are available in the form of ethical rules that prescribe (and proscribe) certain journalistic practices. For example, in the name of public interest information, the journalist must respect the privacy of individuals. In the name of fairness, the reporter must clearly identify themselves to sources of information. On behalf of the integrity, the journalist should not find themselves in conflict of interest or engage in any cheating whatsoever. The list is not exhaustive, but these few examples suffice.
course, if they are relevant and applicable in most situations of everyday life, ethical rules can not anticipate every case, so it would be untenable to follow them blindly.
In some cases, the rigid adherence to ethical standards can lead to absurd situations, even dangerous. Thus, the journalistic duty to disseminate the truth must prevail whenever it threatens the lives of individuals in situations such as kidnapping, or where such information can generate panics important within the population? We also know that situations arise where the journalist must hide his identity to gain access to important information to clarify the choices of citizens.
Reflection applied ethics in journalism, therefore, recognizes that there are "good reasons" to depart from the ethics. One can identify these reasons by asking "good questions". The most common are. What are the rules that generally apply in such circumstances? Who will benefit and who will suffer the adverse effects? Are there better options? Can I justify myself to others, the public? The public information is better than all the negative consequences that result for individuals? The information she meets an important need to know?
This issue is related to social values shared by journalists and can mark and legitimize their professional practices. If the answers are favorable to it generates a deviation from accepted ethical standards, we can speak of a waiver. However, when responses are unfavorable to such a deviation from the rules, it is presence of a breach of ethics that leads to malpractice.
In the case of the RTBF, we wanted to raise awareness about the country's future. To do this, it was spreading false information that was likely. To do this, we have resorted to staging. To do this, it caused strong emotions of thousands of citizens. Officials have deliberately wanted elude the vigilance of the viewers by refusing to explicitly state that the TV special was a fiction. For many minutes they have deprived the public of their autonomy, making captive a scenario likely, but still misleading.
Ethically, we must ask whether the end justifies the means. Was it to deceive people to stimulate debate? Was it possible to produce a "docu-fiction" explicit, with actors rather than professional journalists, which would have been a major publicity campaign to arouse public interest? Was it possible to serve the public interest without exploit citizens, without the use of citizens, without abusing their good faith and credibility granted to journalists that several of the RTBF?
is permitted to assert other options to stimulate an important debate without exploit citizens, without depriving them of their autonomy, without mistakes. The "docudrama" of the RTBF (if indeed such a journalistic genre exists!) Is incompatible with ethics and the ethics of journalism which he transgresses norms and rules, which characterizes any journalistic misconduct.
While this special should reopen the debate on the future of the country, it put the spotlight on the excesses of the RTBF news staff in addition to harming many people. The disadvantages outweigh the advantages, which rejects the utilitarian justifications.
As citizens, they have been guinea pigs in an experiment in social psychology which was never accepted by a scientific ethics board, on behalf of human dignity, which precludes such manipulation.
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