Rosemary Pennington | Sept. 28, 2007
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| Photo by Ryan Ridge |
| From left, Dave Furst, Bob Zaltsberg and Michelle Sinning joined Career Services Director Marcia Debnam for a discussion of ethics and the Internet. |
About 30 students piled into Ernie Pyle Auditorium to discuss ethics with a panel of professionals that included WRTV sports director and alumnus Dave Furst, Hirons & Company senior account manager Michelle Sinning and (Bloomington) Herald-Times editor Bob Zaltsberg. While the three look at ethics through different lenses, they agree the Internet shakes up any discussion.
“The Internet is changing the game,” Zaltsberg said. “It’s changing the rules of the game considerably for newspapers. How do you decide what’s true or not?”
Zaltsberg said his paper is trying to find a way to deal with the Internet’s effect on news. Often, rumors about something happening will begin to work their way through blogs, and newspapers have to find a way to deal with them.
Furst said things are very similar in the sports world.
“We get a lot of rumors from fans,” Furst said. “You’ve gotta be careful. No matter how juicy or what you get, you’ve got to be careful.”
While the Internet adds another dimension to the ethical dilemmas faced by news and sports outlets, Sinning says it’s altogether different for public relations firms.
“I think its making companies more accountable,” Sinning said. “Information spreads like wildfire over the Internet, so companies want to be more honest because information will get out.”
Several students asked about the Internet’s effect on media ethics, but freshman Jess Mullins wanted to know if “ethics is becoming more of a problem in the journalism field?”
“I don’t think it’s gotten worse,” Zaltzberg replied. “It’s a moving target. There’s always something coming down the pipeline.”
That pipeline spit out the coverage of Paris Hilton last summer. One student, who interned with a television station, wanted to know if “real” news is fading in deference to entertainment.
“Why you don’t think Britney Spears is a real story?” Furst quipped. “I find it disturbing how much time stations spend on it, but ultimately ratings will win.” And, celebrities like Spears and Hilton, Furst said, bring in the ratings.
Junior Jessica Anderson was one of the J492 Media Internships students attending the panel. These students enroll in the class as part of the credit process for internships they completed last summer. Anderson said she thinks it’s important for student to hear from people working in the field. It gives them an insight into the business they’re not likely to get anywhere else.
“It was pretty interesting,” Anderson said. “You get a lot of ethics information in the classroom in the j-school, but it’s always good to come to these things and hear about these people’s careers.”
Junior Lydia Cox adds that, while she might be getting credit for last summer’s internship, the J492 panels are helping her prepare for future experience.
“I’m working on getting an internship this summer,” Cox said. “And this is really helpful. It’s helpful to hear other stories, to hear from people who have already gone through this.”
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