Dr. Anand Pradhan in his lecture ‘Media Ethics’ enlightened
students with the ideas as to how ethical dilemmas can be dealt with and
resolved. He also presented before them some ethical standards of journalism.
He told the students that the sole aim of journalism is to provide information
to the citizen. Mr. Pradhan said,‘Ethics is concerned with basic questioning of
what is right’. He emphasized the importance of ethics as a prime concern for
the professional satisfaction.
In his lecture, he explained ten journalistic ethics and
standards: truth and accuracy, objectivity, balance, impartiality, serving
public interest, personal integrity, respect for individual privacy,
independence from vested interest, respect for law and universal human values
and moral decency and good taste.
He also discussed objectivity. ‘In order to ensure
objectivity, one should not take bribe and must avoid conflict of interest’, he
quoted. During his lecture, he also talked about dealing with sources, for
journalist should always maintain the confidentiality of anonymous sources and
never be dependent on a single source and thus always cross check and verify
the sources. While talking on plagiarism, he termed it as ‘illegal’ and
‘unethical’ to the profession of journalism. Adding more to the issue of
plagiarism in his concluding lines, he cited the example of Fareed Zakaria, an
Indo-American journalist, who was castigated over being accused of plagiarism.
