The Ethics of Information Sharing: A Growing Dialogue

By Kayeromi Gomez, CIME President

Kayeromi Gomez

Recently, I heard in the news that a reporter was jailed in a country for "revealing critical details" on the health of the country's president. It reminded me of my childhood, when my mother would call me into her room and tell me "your dad is sick but don't tell anyone." Little did I know at that time that I would grow up and make the ethics of information sharing a mission of my professional life.

I was talking to a prominent media professional who visited our office here in Chicago and he told me that it would be wrong to discuss ethics as it relates to one geographical setting and expect that discussion to fit in another country. I linked this to what I heard two years ago from a different colleague, that "ethics varies with time and space." What is morally acceptable in Japan might be a public disgrace in Kumasi, and what is ethical in Paris might not be in Zimbabwe or Cotonou.

The issue of ethics in the media is reaching the forefront of discussions in many parts of the world. Media personnel are becoming more and more aware that ethical journalism is indispensable to the objective of creating a free society.

This tendency toward furthering ethics in the media is demonstrated by the increasing number of speaking requests we have received here at CIME in the past few months, invitations to come and share our expertise in the field with academics and practicing journalists all over the world. This exciting fact is encouraging to the existence of our annual CIME Forum, where journalists with similar and divergent values come together to discuss ethics in order to find a common ground they can all agree on when it comes to ethical reporting.

This discussion needs to continue and we all need to get involved so that our ethical views can make an impact on the industry.