Ethical Issues and Me

Our assignment this week was to find two articles online that we think deal with an ethical issue and to not only define what it is but to also illustrate what we would do in this certain situation being a journalist. The first article that I found was from cnn.com (http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/10/08/ftl.mccain.health/index.html) and is titled "McCain faces questions on age, health." The article basically discusses McCain's obvious age and health issues with concern to his possible election to the presidency. It touches on his age, (being 72- which would make him the oldest person elected to the presidency) and also his past health problems including his four skin cancer removal surgeries. However, it also discusses Obama's lack of disclosure as a "double standard" whereby Obama only released one page of health history. Also, the article notes that McCain only allowed 3 hours for journalists to review his history and no one was allowed to photocopy any documents or take pictures.

I think the writing of this article is an interesting ethical standpoint. It could prove to be damaging to the campaign of McCain given the nature of the problem, that being his age. The author of the article definitely brings up the question of how serious the situation could potentially become even though McCain seems cognitively and physically fit now. As I read the article I definitely began to think more about the situation and if there is a possibility that he would intentionally not disclose some other details. And because he released the past history does not mean he has not been to the doctor recently. Also the issue of skin cancer is a particularly sobering one. This is not a condition to be thought of lightly, especially four times.

So let us continue to The New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/us/politics/07fox.html?bl&ex=1223611200&en=6c2c0d7539595be6&ei=5087%0A) and the article "Obama's Personal Ties Are Subject of Program on Fox News Channel." This article discusses a recently aired hour long program by conservative Fox News anchor Sean Hannity aimed at criticising Obama's presidential campaign. Basically it discusses the accusations aimed at Obama from a biased slant. Called "Obama and Friends: The History of Radicalism" guests like Andy Martin a conservative writer who described Obama's work as a community organizer as "training for a radical overthrow of government."

I think this issue is also an important ethical issue from another perspective. That this article should have been written and displays good ethical conduct on behalf of the author. Biased opinions on what is a news network are not an uncommon occurrence, however this article helps to find a medium between both views of the issue of Obama's campaign. I thought that the accusations were interesting, not necessarily damaging, but it also helps to display some of conservative opinions to liberals who wouldnt necessarily watch Fox News.