Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 114

Essay Example A journalist, writer, researcher, or reporter who is guilty of either plagiarism or fabrication betrays that trust because the reading audience relies on the writer, implying that what was written was original, contributed to the discussion, distilled it with his thoughts and ideas, and gave a new insight for the benefit of readers (Seife, 2013, p. 5), and committing plagiarism or fabrication is mortal sins in terms of its professional ethics. However, it must be conceded that any code of ethics has shades of gray (ibid.) and more so in writing as there is no â€Å"canonical code† for journalists; this is because it can boil down to judgment although those who are in the profession know there is a dividing line and when they had crossed it. This is where the normative code of ethics comes in; a group of journalists and reporters know they have an explicit code of conduct to follow and abide by. This particular sector in society has their own peculiar language (lingo) which only members can understand, and this includes a standard when it comes to its professional ethics not to commit plagiarism or fabrication in their stories. It is indeed a tricky minefield on what constitutes plagiarism or not; in any case, people know when they have committed it or not. Ethics can be quite subjective in the sense it depends on the times and the context in which the ethical rules currently operate. Rules against plagiarism are quite strict when applied in the academic world. This is the assurance by which professors can objectively evaluate their students; otherwise, the students will not learn and the teaching environment will not be conducive to the whole learning process. In this regard, the cheating scandal at Harvard University can be considered from the viewpoint of the second definition of what constitutes normative; in this sense, it means value judgments. A lot of students who were