UCO Ethics Conference

 Last week, the University of Central Oklahoma Hosted the 2013 Media Ethics Conference. The keynote speaker was Al Jazeera America reporter Josh Rushing. Personally, I attended the Ethics in Broadcasting event with UCO professors Mark Scott and David Nelson as well as KFOR reporter La'tasha Givens.

The panel was really enlightening because of the honesty with which the panelists approached the subject. All three panelists were forthcoming in describing some situations they have found themselves in while working in the media, particularly Mrs. Givens.

There is some overlap between broadcasting ethics and blogging ethics because many news stations have websites where they post content. Honestly, most of these websites resemble a blog. As someone who posts content on KFOR's website, I can attest that a lot of what gets posted is a watered-down version of what gets discussed in the newsroom. When you are dealing with an audience as big as KFOR's, you have to make sure that you don't alienate them with content that they find offensive or unethical.

I think the strongest part of the sessions I attended were the panelists. They seemed hand-picked to provide unique insight into whatever the session was about. The weakest part was probably audience participation. Many times when the panelists asked for feedback, the room sat silent for more than a few uncomfortable moments.