Ethics In Journalism – Reviews And Giving Orders

This is Part 10 in a Multi-Part Series Examining Journalistic Ethics.

Newspapers and other publications may employ reporters whose job it is to review movies, restaurants and more. Personal opinion is somewhat necessary to perform these functions, but there are still ethics to be followed.

Many publications, and the Associated Press have rather strict criteria the critic must follow.

When performing reviews, such as with restaurants, the methods should be the same from establishment to establishment. Keeping consistent for each review makes the reviews fair whether it is good, bad or neutral.

A movie critic looks for things such as cinematography, directing, individual actors, scenery and more. This form of critic can be difficult unless familiar with the aspects of movie making.

There is one thing a critic, and any reporter for that matter should never do, and that is never to tell the readers or viewers what to do or how to think.

A news and review journalist is supposed to present the facts. In a review, some personal opinion is necessary in order to rate certain aspects of the subject.

If the reporter finds a failure to meet the given criteria for a movie, then the reporter reports that. In a review, it is okay to say if something about the subject is poorly made or done perfectly, but the reporter never tells the audience to go or not to go see the movie.

Personal opinion comes into play a lot in performing reviews, but there are certain ways these opinions are used.

The critic should report the facts as much as possible, but again some of this is up to interpretation.

Personal opinion should never consume the article, and it should never be a part of a news article.

Journalistic Ethics Series Article 1 of 11 – Personal Opinion
Journalistic Ethics Series Article 2 of 11 – Statistics and Numbers
Journalistic Ethics Series Article 3 of 11 – Political Affiliation
Journalistic Ethics Series Article 4 of 11 – Fabrication and Manipulation
Journalistic Ethics Series Article 5 of 11 – Attribution and Plagiarism
Journalistic Ethics Series Article 6 of 11 – Self-Censorship
Journalistic Ethics Series Article 7 of 11 – Data and Information Sources
Journalistic Ethics Series Article 8 of 11 – Use of First Person
Journalistic Ethics Series Article 9 of 11 – Favors, Gifts and Financial Gain