The Reflection On Ethical Dilemmas Of The Covert Coverage

The covert coverage developed in the early 1990s, and from then, many news media agencies begin to use this special news-gathering method. When we see the effective function in public supervisory and the meeting of the right to know the truth out of the covert coverage, we also find that the covert coverage is a method of interview which has conflicts for principles with the one which are accepted by public, it always cause the things such as an infringement of privacy and the decline on the morality of media, so the covert coverage is fell into an ethical dilemma. The paper is pointed out that we can not abandon the covert coverage because of the ethical dilemma, which also have a reasonable aspect. In fact, the way to get out of the ethical dilemma is a question about ethical choice. If the journalists promote the development of the moral culture and the law, analyze the dilemmas in a reasonable framework and mode, which can make a right and good choice.The text is mainly divided into three parts, the first part introduces the development course of covert coverage in China and West on the basis of basic concepts, and then elaborates the definitions and both the positive and the negative functions of covert coverage. The second part discusses the definition and classification of moral dilemma at first, then introduces three ethical dilemmas of covert coverage, which are the one between public interests and interests of few people, the one between the legitimacy of purpose and means, the one between professional ethics and social responsibility. On the basis of these three ethical dilemmas, this part also discusses and analyzes the dilemmas with the knowledge of philosophical theories. The last part probes into the question which is how to get out of the ethical dilemmas. In this part, the author introduces the basic methods of moral choice firstly, and then analyzes three basic frameworks of resolving moral dilemmas, which are The Blog Mode, The Potter Box and The Onion Model, and discusses the effect on getting out of the ethical dilemmas with sound laws and regulations and the promotion of moral cultivation. Finally, according to the basic methods and framework of moral choice, the writer put forward the feasible plan for solving three ethical dilemmas in the covert coverage.