Media Ethics Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Media Ethics - Case Study Example The media house’s reporter went ahead and released the story on Ashe’s health condition overseas prior to Ashe’s consent which forced the athlete to publicly admit his health condition when he was not yet prepared. The actions of the reporter were not in line with how journalists even back them ought to have conducted themselves especially in regards to moral and ethical duties as a major newspaper like USA Today. The chief ethical issue that arose out of this case had to do with the reporter’s express refusal to wait a little longer before publishing the story. The reason that he gave for doing exactly this was that the public needed to get to know this information. These actions of the reporter did not serve any level of good informative justice to Arthur Ashe (Foreman, 2010). There are various ethical facts that a reporter or journalist has to take into consideration before making an ethical decision as regards to Arthur Ashe’s case. One thing that we have to consider also is that the athlete put himself out there in the public domain the moment he decided to be a professional tennis player and become one of the leading opponents of the South African apartheid regime. A journalist could have therefore argued that a person of such social standing could be appropriately considered as a celebrity and social icon (Foreman, 2010). The other fact that had to be considered was that Ashe being an athlete, he had connections and obligations to his sponsors or some media outlets. This therefore means that he was contractually obligated to maintain a specific image. All these factors mean that he had to maintain some form of responsibility to his sponsors and fans in social and economic terms as well. The person to whom a journalist is responsible to will always tend to change depending on the circumstance. Journalists always tend to state that they are ultimately