Staged, Staging, and Stages Blog By: Lindsey Weygandt

I believe Dave Wertheimer was dead on in his article "Staged, Staging, and Stages." It is unethical to make your story subjects recreate an experience, sound, or action for any news story. Staging is an issue of ethics because as journalists delivering the truth is of top priority. If we are making our sources recreate something to better our story, it is a misrepresentation and is not the complete truth. Oftentimes, the staged version would be nothing like the original action because people act differently when they are being filmed or interviewed. By telling your sources to perform a specific action you are basically telling them to act and convey false emotion. Ethics is a key component of journalism because it is how the public views the media. Journalists must practice good ethics and consistent credibility in order to truthfully serve the public.