Etika v žurnalistické profesi

Abstract

Ethics in the Journalistic Career

Questions of good and evil were a matter of people’s attention since the beginnings of our civilization. Today, when our society undergoes complicated changes, the ethical questions get to the forefront of our focus. The aim of this bachelor thesis is to depicture ethics in journalism. The media themselves are gaining on significance in today’s society. They are means of power, a key to fame, glory and status and last but not least they also offer entertainment. Apart from the introduction and conclusion, the thesis comprises of three independent chapters which are then further thematically structured. The chapter after the introduction deals with ethics and ethical codices. Here, etymologic origin of ethics, difference between ethics and morality and the foundation of ethics are explained and analysed. Also, the concepts ethics is working with are defined here. Good and evil, ethical responsibility, people’s behaviour, conscience, etc. The conclusion of this chapter then focuses on ethical code, its utilization and creation. The third chapter deals with ethics-breaking in journalism. In this section, terms like media, journalism and its specific features are defined. Further, specific features of journalism, objectiveness, fairness, impartiality, pre-opinion, evenness, etc. are clarified. This chapter focuses also on codices in printed media and public broadcasting. In the conclusion, concrete examples of ethics-breaking in journalism and cases that took place in media are examined. In the last journalistic part of the thesis, there is a questionnaire presented on a topic media and society. Next, there is also a consideration regarding media handling and in the end, questions are put to a journalist Lenka Lauerová who illustrates working for a television and talks about up-to-date happenings in today’s media.