[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.The result is that many in the mediaaudience fail to comprehend the difference between the competent and theincompetent journalist, thereby supposing that an inferior product reflectsthe abilities of the entire profession.Although the same is true in public re-lations and advertising, the effect in journalism is more damning because ofthe higher expectations for the profession.Diligence—or Zeal.Although diligence is closely related to compe-tence, it is not the same thing.One can be competent but not diligent.Dili-gence refers to pursuing a client’s interest with vigor and intensity.Too of-TLFeBOOKMEDIA AND PROFESSIONALISM65ten, professionals let important items slide, due either to laziness or towork pressures.A client realizes that a professional may have other clients,but that does not absolve him of serving her interests with diligence.This isan expected obligation of most consulting professions but its place in jour-nalism is not as strong.Certainly journalists must be diligent in their pur-suit of important news; however, their audience is less likely to feel ne-glected if journalists don’t pursue every story, only if they fail to cover thebig stories.Diligence in journalism may also refer to the completeness ofstories, since an incomplete story may be misleading.Loyalty.Loyalty is probably one of the most important differences among the media professions (as already mentioned in chapter 1).Loyaltyhere refers only to that owed to the interests the professional is hired toserve, not to the client in all his or her dealings outside this relationship.And there are limits to this obligation.The biggest problem associated withloyalty is determining the boundaries between a professional’s loyalty to aclient and other responsibilities.For example, third-party obligations, as wedefined them in chapter 2, certainly affect the degree of loyalty owed a cli-ent.In addition, clients may expect only a loyalty that does not violate aprofessional’s other responsibilities.For instance, a client can’t expect aprofessional to commit illegal acts on his behalf.Journalists also have divided loyalties.As discussed earlier, they are ob-ligated to provide information that is both useful and interesting to their au-dience; they must also turn a profit for their owners, and follow the dictatesof their professions and their own consciences.For a journalist, however, fi-delity to the ideal of news gathering, what its ultimate purpose is and whomit ultimately serves, is the highest order of loyalty.Fairness.Fairness in journalism is discussed in some detail in chapter 5; the concept of fairness is part and parcel, however, of all professions.Forthe consulting professions, fairness can refer to equality of service given tovarious clients.For example, ignoring one client in order to favor another,higher paying client is patently unfair.Fairness also refers to how clientsare chosen by professionals (including serving clients regardless of race,religion, ethnic origin, or gender).Discretion.Discretion usually refers to confidentiality.Underlying discretion is privacy, the control of information that others have about one-self.Consulting professionals generally maintain client confidentiality, and,in fact, confidentiality clauses are among the most common clauses in pro-fessional codes.The importance of discretion to professions such as adver-tising and public relations is obvious.Many of the clients of these profes-sions are in competitive businesses.Their business strategies, includingTLFeBOOK66CHAPTER 3their advertising and public relations plans, are as important as state se-crets are to national governments.For journalists, confidentiality usually refers to that promised to sourcesin return for information.Sources would generally be considered as third-party claimants rather than clients in the purest sense.However, the con-cept of source confidentiality is so strong a journalistic ethic that laws havebeen enacted to recognize it; and journalists not protected by such lawshave sometimes gone to jail to defend source confidentiality.Can the Fiduciary Model Work?If we consider the media to be professions, consulting or otherwise, thenthey need to operate from within a model that brings out the best they haveto offer and that encourages ethical consideration of their primary constitu-ency.The fiduciary model does that.For advertising and public relationsprofessionals, this model provides for a way to discharge professional obli-gations while retaining as much autonomy as possible in decision making.Autonomy allows the consulting professional to adhere more closely toprofessional standards of conduct [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]