A Writer's Responsibility.

Responsible and Ethical Decisions
Keith Engel ©

I love being a writer for it is the joy that sings to my being. This joy of being a writer stems from the preference of choice. The writer has choice in every aspect of his work. The most important choice is the one of subject material. It is making this decision of subject material that is of such a great joy. The writer is not bound by anything except his imagination and his grasp of source material when it comes to what to write about on a given subject. Yet, as stated being a writer is about choice, the second most important choice for the writer is if there is a subject to make into a piece of writing, should you actually write about that subject?

The answer to this subject is determined by the sense of responsibility and the ethical fortitude of the writer. It is the understanding that whatever you put to paper will affect others beyond yourself. This consideration of the affects a piece will have on others isn’t the superficial individual’s response to your piece. No it is a deeper sense of responsibility and ethical consideration that goes into the writing or presentation of a subject. It is an understanding that taking any type of action will eventually lead to an effect. Another way of putting this is, that despite ones good intentions the greatest harm can result from these intentions. I use this as a guide and scope in my own writing and the subjects I choose to write about or material I should present. It is the classic example of knowing a secret of a friend, and being faced with the choice of sharing that secret.

Unfortunately, it seems that not every writer has this understanding of ethical and responsible behavior when it comes to writing. I remember in my journalism courses how instructors stressed to use certain words for certain circumstances, such as suspect when describing a criminal. There is in fact a book that covers all of these words and issues created by the Associated Press. The reason for the books existence is to make the writer aware of how to avoid legal matters, liability, when writing a story. There is an entire section in the book dedicated to the legal matters and copyright issues in writing. Yet, after recent events and the type of reporting being done by recent big name publications, perhaps the AP should consider adding a section about responsible decision-making and ethical repercussions of subject material in stories being written.