The feverish pace of developments in Murdoch-gate stirs emotional calls for a change in how journalists do their work, and in how society restrains unethical journalists. In the days ahead politicians and others will surely …
Media Morals
Why Murdoch is “responsible” for phone-hacking scandal
Rupert Murdoch’s weak appearance before a British parliamentary committee yesterday was littered with vague talk of “responsibility” and flat denials of responsibility. Murdoch made the unpersuasive and very large claim that he is in no …
Phone-hacking and media consumers: Why is the public off the hook?
Read the analysis of the Murdoch phone-hacking scandal, as it deepens and broadens, and you will search in vain for one salient factor: the British public’s strong support for tabloid journalism and its dubious ethical …
News of the World and the poverty of journalism ethics
The controversy swirling around the closing of Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World shows, once again, the dreary truth that journalism is often a poor place to look for serious and honest ethical discussion. Whenever …
Stop the Press! Partisan misleads public with Schiller tape!
Given my recent blog about nasty partisan-fueled journalism, I am not surprised to learn that the secret taping of NPR’s chief fund raiser, Ron Schiller, was not edited with a close eye to journalism ethics. …
Get ready for nasty gonzo journalism — by partisans
The prank calls to the governors of Wisconsin and Massachusetts in recent weeks are only the tip of a journalistic iceberg coming our way. A new era of journalism dirty tricks is fast approaching based …
Amid Madison protests, provide in-depth analysis
Whenever civic life become divisive, news media have a special responsibility to stay cool-headed, to stand back from the fray and political posturing. News media should give citizens what they desperately need: an accessible and …
Social media — tool of revolution or repression?
An engaging article by Scott Shane in Sunday’s New York Times adds context to a flurry of articles on how social media (seemingly alone) is undermining authoritarian Arab leaders. I applaud the democratic movements and …
Don’t base free press arguments on Assange
As I have been warning, we need to separate our support for publishing the cable secrets from our support for one person, Julian Assange. This doesn’t mean that we support government attempts to bring him …
Assange and professionalism journalism will unravel
David Carr, columnist for the New York Times, repeats a warning I have sounded — that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has a strong activist agenda combined with a lack of concern for the consequences of publishing secrets …