On Moral Responsibility Of Journalists

Abstract:In today's era of "pseudo-environment"which shaped by media evolves into" real environment" increasingly, in an age of people in a mediated survival state, we believe that no one would deny the power?influence and role of the mass media. When people increasingly rely on the media, they often angry for the responsibility anomie of the media, especially those influenced by the media reports, such as " Be dead " celebrities, the interview subjects in sorrow and trouble but c an not protect their privacy and so on. So, responsibility anomie has become the outstanding problem of current media, shaping Journalists with a spirit of the moral responsibility has become an important task of journalism ethics construction.Media responsibility research should study from the angle of Journalists'individual moral responsibility, and from the comprehensive perspective of such three dimensions as virtue, rule and norm, to define moral responsibility of Journalists. Only in this way can we eliminate ambiguity and reach a consensus. Moral responsibility of Journalists has two dimensions:standard dimension and virtue dimension, only two dimensions'moral responsibility supplement each other can we shape Journalists who is with a spirit of responsibility.Moral responsibility of journalists roots in such triple basis as identity theory, contract theory and naturalism. Responsibility is endowed with identity, the responsibility of people is from his status in the system of social division of labor. The identity expectation of the public to journalists is as the "mouthpiece" of public interest, the "supervisor" of the power, the "lookout" of the circumstance and the "information communicator", and the corresponding responsibility is to supervise social surroundings, drum and shout for the public interests. Responsibility is the result of contract, mass media relies on a series of contract to maintain relations with various interest groups, so contract is an important source of responsibility. Moral responsibility of journalists is derived from the freedom of choice and rational commitment of the communication subjects in the process of the macro social contract concluded, and from all kinds of media rights which is from the public. Each people are endowed with natural responsibility corresponding to his natural rights, such as personality respect, love and mutual help, show reverence for life, etc.The necessity of the research on the moral responsibility of journalists is embodied in two aspects:on the one hand, responsibility anomie phenomena emerge in endlessly, which result in bad social influence; On the other hand, journalists often face such responsibility conflicts as role conflicts?power conflicts and interest conflicts in the communication activities, and land themselves in predicaments. To resolve responsibility conflict, journalists need to master responsibility judgment principle and balance principle, familiar with ethical choice model, form the ethical wisdom. Only in this way can journalists make responsible communication activities.Building a responsibility system which is based on such four elements as journalists?audience?media organizations and government, and providing a good environment of moral responsibility spirit cultivation for journalists, is an effective way to realize responsible communication.The purpose of this study lies in the cultivation of moral sense of responsibility of journalists, shaping their spirit of the responsibility undertaking. And points out that the deep implication of constructing the moral responsibility system is to develop "forward-looking responsibility", rather than "investigating and affixing responsibility" later. communication responsibility research also must pay attention to the orientation from "abstract thought" to "action", and the construction of moral responsibility system should be rational and practical. Only combining standard dimensions responsibility and virtue dimension of responsibility perfectly can journalists truly achieve health communication, responsible communication, become social positive energy communicators, and try to realize China's dream.