An ethics case study: Trial by fire

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4 word format

document in English

journalism

presentation

published 10/07/2008

review : Completed

level : General public

requested 0 times

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Summary

In March of 1988, a young man named Joey Philion suffered burns over 90 percent of his body. The U.S. and Canadian media reported that Joey, fifteen at the time, had run back into his fire engulfed home to save the life of his younger brother. The story showed Joey as a hero and soon money and other donations came in to help with Joey’s future. A problem arose when a local reporter found that Joey had been burned leaving the house himself, not saving his brother, which left the station with the decision of breaking the truth or allowing the family to keep benefiting from the mistake. The mistake was found by CBLT-TV in Toronto, Canada, when a reporter talking to a neighbor found that the younger brother had in fact came to her house to inform her that Joey was still trapped in the house. When she arrived at the house, she found Joey had escaped and was badly burned. The reporter confirmed the story by talking to other neighbor witnesses and the fire marshal in charge of the investigation.