A Suspect “Confession”
John Mark Karr was recently arrested in Bangkok, Thailand for the murder of JonBenet Ramsey. He was arrested after journalism professor Michael Tracey drew information from the emails he had sent him over the past four years was reported to the police. He was tested for DNA and cleared but still had charges toward him for child pornography in California
The Question: Do you break a confidence with your source if you think it can solve a murder — or protect children half a world away?
I think that he should be put to jail for what he's done because its a punishment that needs to be served. If he doesn't get punished he could use go back to what he was doing before and hurt other people. If he is put away in jail then he can't hurt anyone else and the children in Thailand won't be harmed.
Aaargh! Pirates! (and the Press)
Music was leaked and illegally downloaded from The Ting Ting's new album which caused them to loose a lot of money in sales. Media outlets like The Rolling Stone and Billboard collect songs and are leaked online, also including putting links in their stories to the music that was leaked. Media can be spread very quickly but every fan has the choice whether or not to download the music, but social media is meant to spread news and information.
Question: Yet, from an ethical standpoint, if Billboard and Rolling Stone are essentially pointing readers in the right direction, to the leaked music, are they not aiding in helping the Internet community find the material and consume it?
Although they are leaking the music further, they are not forcing their readers to download it. They came up with a compromise which is a website that consumers can come to and listen to music without illegally downloading it. But a bright side to it is that the music can be spread faster and possibly become more popular and have more people listen to it.
I think that downloading the music has a good side and a bad side because for the consumer you can get the music for free and the song can spread and get more popular, but on the other hand it can be bad for the people producing the music and the artists who created the music because they are loosing money by people just downloading the music instead of actually paying for it.

The Media's Foul Ball

In 2003 The Chicago Cubs were 5 outs from advancing to the World Series but a fan prevented the outfielder from catching the ball and causing them to loose the game. He was threatened and insulted by angry fans and escorted from the stadium. Although his identity is unknown he has been portrayed though the media with a baby face and glasses and has been blamed for the Cubs loosing the World Series.
Question: Given the potential danger to the man, should his identity be revealed by the media?
Some people didn't think that his identity should be revealed but others thought that it would bring no harm and that it was necessary. His name was revealed to the public by the Chicago Tribune and was thought to be "an act of irresponsible journalism" and that this was something the public needed to know. I don't really think it was completely necessary of them to release his name but it was not an unethical decision.