On Oct. 13, 2010, the Los Angeles Times published an opinion piece about Jillian Micheals, the celebrity trainer from the Biggest Loser. In the article professional trainer James Fell criticized Jillian for improper techniques in kettle bell excercises. He said that her excercises could likely cause someone to be injured and further criticized her by saying, "Michaels is not actually a real fitness trainer; she's an actress playing the role of fitness trainer on TV and in a line of popular DVDs.” (examiner.com) His comments were confirmed by another professional trainer who is “an expert in kettle bell excercises.” Fell went even further in saying that Micheals was unqualified to be a professional trainer, as her certifications were 17 years old.
Micheals responded by saying that she has two current certifications, on which is in free weights, and that she intends to sue Fell for defamation of character. She claims that he intentionally lied and did not check the facts.
I think this is in an interesting case of ethics because it is right to inform people of unsafe fitness practices, and yet it is also right to not to defame one’s character. I think Fell was justified in critiquing her techniques with the kettle bells as this was something he was an expert in and he got expert advise from a second trainer. I think he was wrong in attacking Micheals credentials, as from the article, he had only checked her website boigraphy for information. He did not do his research and in effect gave misinformed information to the public.
On Nov. 1, 2010 the Los Angeles Times printed a correction statement, confirming Micheals’ credentials. Now you tell me who the Biggest Loser is?
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Journalists have an ethical obligation to check and double check for accuracy. It's one of the principle tenants of the profession. Fell's lack of research, fact checking or verification doesn't leave any room for the benefit of the doubt.
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