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Ethically and legally challenging scenarios prompted lively debates among the diverse group.
An Afghan girl stands screaming among the bloodied and broken bodies of her classmates after a suicide bombing. Would you publish the photo? How did you come to your decision? Would you publish a similar picture if the girl was American and this was a high school shooting? Why not? Is the photo even real?
For five days, young writers and editors from some of India’s biggest news outlets grappled with some of the toughest decisions facing journalists today. Dilemmas ranged from the legal minefields of defamation and contempt of court to ethical questions surrounding the publication of gory photos or whether to break the rules to cover a particularly important story.
Ethically and legally challenging scenarios prompted lively debates among the diverse group drawn from all over India, as they tried not only to come to decisions, but justify them through sound and logical thought processes that stand up to scrutiny.
Would your mother approve? Would your colleagues approve? What does your conscience tell you? Important questions for all journalists, but especially for one of the world’s fastest growing media markets and biggest emerging economies.
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