Discussion

In this section, we offer suggestions for discussing journalists’ responsibilities towards the people they write about, based on Beth Macy’s article “‘I Am Going to Die if I Keep Living the Way I Am.’ She Was Right.” and the short video “Opioid addict: ‘I know I’m going to die’” from CNN.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Journalistic distance versus personal involvement

Beth Macy seems to have an unusually close personal connection to the family she writes about. We would of course expect a journalist to get close to her sources in some ways, but it is unusual that a journalist directly steps in to offer them help or influence their stories. Macy even makes this observation herself at one point: “As a reporter, I’m not supposed to try to change the outcome of a story” (l. 63). 

This quotation may be a good starting point for your discussion, as it could be interesting to reflect on whether or not journalists should try to change the outcomes of the stories they cover, and what the potential advantages and disadvantages of becoming personally involved might be.

Here are some of the arguments that might be interesting to bring up during the discussion (it is probably better to focus on a few of them, rather than trying to cover eve...