Nellie Bly - Journalism

Résumé du document

Essay Question: Choose a print or broadcast reporter whose work you admire and analyse the secrets of their success with reference to best practice advice and academic literature. Identify at least one ethical dilemma they have faced in their newsgathering and discuss how they have dealt with it with reference to relevant regulatory codes.

Extraits

[...] Randall, D. (2005), The Great Reporters, London: Pluto Press, eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost, pp. 103-113, viewed 2 November 2016. Ritchie, D. A. (1997), American Journalists: Getting The Story, New York: Oxford University Press, eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost, pp. 138-141, viewed 2 November 2016. [...]

[...] Reference List: Bly, Nellie. (2015). Ten Days in a Mad House. Retrieved from https:play.google.com. Independent Press Standards Organisation. (2016). The Editors' Code of Practice. [...]

[...] Elizabeth Jane Cochran was perhaps one of the most influential journalists in late-nineteenth-century America. She worked as foreign correspondent in Mexico for the Pittsburgh Dispatch, and additionally succeeded as a stunt reporter for Joseph Pulitzer's New York World, where her fame culminated in her travelling around the world in 72 days. Despite these achievements, few people know her real name, as she is more commonly known by her pseudonym, Nellie Bly. This essay will discuss how Bly's lack of formality in writing and her brave investigative methods resulted in her excessive success and praise in the face of ethical dilemmas where she revealed greater wrongs than she committed while uncovering them. [...]

[...] Randall (2005, p.103) asserts this point, in reference to the exposé on the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island, by declaring: "The story - written in clear, simple language - was a sensation." It therefore shows that Bly's awareness of the public's desire for captivating stories was the key to her success due to such source material out-weighing the need for an eloquent, yet convoluted, writing style. In addition to her writing style bestowing her with great success, her contemporary method of investigative stunt journalism augmented her status to that of a pioneer in journalism. The bold approach she assumed in gathering the most thrilling news items and stories, in which she went undercover to experience the material of her story first hand, fascinated readers. [...]

[...] Additionally, considering if Bly were a modern reporter, she would probably argue that her conduct was necessary by reason of the conditions of the asylum being in the public interest. In her article, now published in book form, Bly (2015, p.6) states: "Eagerly I accepted the mission to learn the inside workings of the Blackwell Island Insane Asylum." Her perception of the investigation as her `mission' is repeated throughout the exposé and serves to support the interpretation of Lutes regarding her as an `agent' with a moral sense of duty to carry out such, otherwise unethical, investigations. [...]