BUS 401: Research Paper Proposal

Prepared for

Dilara Afroz Khan (DAK) Faculty

School of Business

Prepared by

Name ID # Section #

M Mostafa Al Mahmud 081 312 030 2

North South University

November 16, 2011

BUS401 Research Paper Proposal

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To: Dilara Afroz Khan (DAK)

From: M Mostafa Al Mahmud,

ID# 081 312 030, BUS 401, Sec: 2

Date: November 14, 2011

Subject: Proposal to do a research paper on ethical dilemma in journalism.

Preface:

The basic function of journalism ethics is to help journalists in dealing with many ethical

dilemmas that they may encounter in their daily function. From extremely complex matters to

ordinary inquiries, a journalist obligates to assess different ethical issues such as the public's

right to know versus potential pressures, revenges and threats of different types, personal

honesty, conflicts between editors, reporters and publishers or management, and many more. In

recent days, Julian Paul Assange , an Australian journalist, editor in chief of WikiLeaks,

a whistleblower website and conduit for worldwide news leaks, with the stated purpose of

creating open governments is pointing to speak about freedom of the press, censorship, and

investigative journalism. This directs to certain additional and new ethical dilemmas in

journalism.

Ethical Dilemmas

The objectives of journalism sometimes conflict with journalistic ethics. In such cases, the

individual journalist or organization must decide which should be prioritized. Since the goal of

journalism is to distribute information, the ethical considerations of privacy and confidentiality

restrict the distribution of certain information, and many ethical issues in journalism center on

the tension between privacy and disclosure.

Objective of the study:

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The focus of this study is to find out the common ethical problems in the journalism and possible

solutions in such scenarios-

Conflict of interest: Examples include interviewing friends; only interviewing one grade or

those with a specific point of view; "getting even" with those who might have wronged the

inquiry; doing anything that might compromise objectivity in the reporting of the truth.

Plagiarism:  Claiming others' work as one's own work is essentially stealing from them.

Journalists must credit other people's materials and ideas, including those published in

newspapers, magazines and books. This includes "borrowing" or downloading visuals from

the Internet to use without permission with stories.

Anonymous sources: Although many reporters use anonymous sources, there are rules about

when to use them. A reporter has to determine the information's value, besides he or she also

has to determine whether the source should be protected from harm from being an identified

source.

Offending or distasteful content: Although it is impossible to run any story without

offending, insulting or displeasing someone, journalists must strive to keep the press open

and accessible to a wide range of views without stooping to gratuitous offense. While some

use of "dirty" language might be necessary, journalists have to decide if there is another way

to present the information or if the presentation will be so offensive, it will impede readers

from getting the information.

Invasion of privacy: While this is often a legal issue, it is also an ethical one. Journalist as

professional reporters must consider the consequences of publishing the outstanding news

value photo or naming someone in an article.

Bias: Human beings cannot be purely objective. The mere selection of one story over other

raises the issue of value judgments. Those who create content must attempt to be as fair and

impartial as is possible. Every issue has more than one side, and all sides should be

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represented as much as possible. Journalists trying to be objective should not avoid

exploration, experimentation and variety in the press.

Commitment to accuracy: Little undermines integrity and, therefore, effectiveness of the

media more than carelessness leading to inaccuracy in the press. Not publishing information

is usually better than publishing inaccurate information.

Significance of the study:

From this study, stakeholders as well as the society will get an idea about the conflict faced by a

journalist regarding ethical dilemma. Here the conflict between disclosure and secrecy will

presented with the help of different scenarios. There is always confusion that information

regarding national security or secrecy should be revealed or not. Here another factor is that in a

democratic country, every person has the right to know all the information but not all the

information can be exposed. Therefore, by this study will aid to indicate that confusion regarding

ethical dilemma. In addition, the personal problems of a journalist are a key factor in disclosing

any information. The personal assumption and thinking affects the presentation of any

information. Consequently, by reading this research paper everyone will get an idea about the

ethical dilemma of journalism.

Hypothesis or Expected findings:

In journalism ethical dilemma is a common phenomenon that includes conflict of interest,

plagiarism, anonymous sources, offending or distasteful content, invasion of privacy, biased

reporting and commitment to accuracy. This often misleads general people and deceives the real

scenario. Besides, presentation of violence in a crude way makes an impolite effect in the

society. Most prominently, journalists are the conscience of the society and if they undergo in

ethical dilemmas, society is also highly probable to suffer in ethical dilemmas.

Methodology:

a. Sources of data and Data collection method:

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I. Primary source: For my primary research, I will perform a survey of a representative

sampling of the public and interview people concerning the ethical dilemma in

journalism. In the procedure, I will design a questionnaire to get a series of valuable

information that will help me to answer my research queries.

II. Secondary Source: For my secondary research, I specify to use the resources of the

library and go through newspaper articles, magazines, journals, and books about

horoscope. I will also browse the internet to find out the scenarios about ethical dilemma

in journalism.

b. Sampling techniques and sample size: For the sampling of primary data collection, I will

use random sampling method and my sample size will be 50 at minimum.

c. Data analysis and presentation techniques: To analyze and present data I will frequently

practice graphical exhibition, percentage and different statistical analysis procedures.

Limitation:

The major constraint will be the time constraint. A span of one and half of a month is never

adequate to conduct a research on a topic as vast and diverse as this is. As a result, I could not

make the sample size large enough, could not go to people whose opinions would have been

more valuable and could not compare data in a more substantial manner. In addition, required

data is not straightforwardly accessible available.

Budget for the study:

a. Financial Budget

Finical requirement to conduct this study will be very low, as the only expenses will be made

to conduct the investigation via questionnaire.

b. Time Budget

Task Time Date

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1. Preparation of Project Proposal Two weeks November 14,2011

2. Preparation of Questionnaire Two days November 16,2011

3. Collection of Data One Week November 21,2011

4. Analysis of Data One Week November 28,2011

5. Preparation of a Draft Report One Week December 05,2011

6. Preparation of Final Report One Week December 14,2011

Request for Approval:

I hereby request your approval of my research proposal. Your suggestion, if any regarding the

proposal will be highly appreciated. With your supervision, I believe, my research paper will

identify a new perspective of ethical dilemma in journalism, which will aid our people and make

us aware of relevant consequences of ethical dilemma in journalism.

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