Moral dilemmas are seen everywhere in citizen journalism. The psychological experiments made in the past; (the Holocaust can be an example) are the best situation to introduce the stand.
A dilemma is a difficult circumstance or a problem where you can not choose an alternative choice. A moral dilemma is a situation where a solution may be morally wrong, but it is the preferable one. A guy explained moral dilemmas like this: “The essence of a moral dilemma is choosing between two or more competing values or beliefs.”
In everyday life, nearly all the time we find our selves in situations where we can not choose one of the ways. For example, in high school there is a critical problem every girl would have. Here it is.
Sarah and Samantha are best friends. Both of them are 15 and recently joined the school. They are so close that they share every problem with each other and take care of each other. After a few days, a new boy, named Jack, joins their high school. Jack is very cute and all the girls adore him. Samantha too has a crush on him. Samantha is a little more talkative and so, no sooner she becomes friends with Jack. One day, Sarah notices that, Jack is flirting with other girls. She wants to tell this to Samantha but what if she doesn’t believe her? Samantha is so involved with Jack that she is in no mood to listen to anything against him. Sarah thinks if she says anything about Jack, she will loose her friendship, and if she keeps quiet, it won’t be any good for her friend’s future.
In some cases, moral dilemmas involve only one value. The Nazis were the best example for this. Let’s say I am instructed by a guard in a Nazi concentration camp to decide which of my two children will be killed, and if I do not decide, both will be killed.
There are moral dilemmas in citizen journalism too.
From the past to now, the percentage of citizen journalism is increasing. People are uploading what they see to Youtube in the exact time. It is not only done by Youtube. Twitter, blogs, Facebook… Nearly all the internet sites now have place to upload videos.
By these citizens who upload their videos and have important news in them, the professional journalists can learn news behind the scenes. The Twin Towers is an example for this. The bombing of the Twin Towers was learned by a normal citizen just like you and me. When that citizen uploaded that video to Youtube, the journalists learned.
With all these aspects in everyday life moral dilemmas or moral dilemmas in citizen journalism, we know how complex and subjective values are. But effectively solving moral dilemmas certainly brings happiness. As George Washington rightly said, “happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected”.