[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]We asked several media experts to weigh in on some of the ethical dilemmas facing journalists as they report on the Trump administration. From dealing with dishonest sources to using the term “lie” to describe falsehoods, …
Reporting
Rolling Stone journalist and Koch Industries exchange barbs over fairness
A Rolling Stone’s contributing editor and Koch Industries recently got into a battle of conflicting reports regarding Koch Industries’ practices and history, raising questions of subjectivity and objectivity. Tim Dickinson, a contributing editor for Rolling …
Campaign season raises ethical issues of press access, plagiarism and fairness
As candidates enter the last month of campaigning in this election season, seemingly perennial ethical issues between journalists and candidates as well as between candidates themselves are once again presenting themselves around the country. One …
Is “democratic media” a quaint memory? Let’s talk
When I asked my colleagues what the topic should be for the ethics center’s conference in April, I received an unambiguous reply: media and electoral politics.
The feeling was unambiguous not only because we are in the middle of a presidential campaign. There was another reason. Many citizens are concerned that the idea of fair and free elections, built upon tough but informative campaigns, and analyzed by fair-minded journalists, was not just an idea under pressure. It was an idea in jeopardy.
Emotion in reporting: use and abuse
Reporters are not automatons, but emotion in journalism can be manipulated, writes Stephen J.A. Ward. When is expression of emotions self-promotion or self-congratulation and when is it true compassion?