Reponse to Melisa Dawson

Melisa, like many others in the class, focused on the ethical issue in journalism. I felt like the group ethics activity in class was a good way to think about and experience making ethical decisions. Melisa mentions how journalists have to decide between releasing a big story and protecting those that could be affected negatively by such a release. This is a constant dilemma, but I think journalists try hard to get the big story as best as they can. If there is an ethical issue, is seems like there is enough room to try and get around it, whether it's through attribution or obtaining appropriate consent from those closely involved. And as Melisa also mentions, people are attracted to disturbing and other controversial news, they want the big stories just as much as the journalists do. On the other hand, some people will have something negative to say about any kind of news that is put out there. The important thing for journalist is to do their best to prevent further harm to people associated with the particular story.