[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Truth, Trust and the Future of Journalism brought together more than 200 journalists, scholars, advocates and community members to discuss how we have gotten to historically low levels of trust in news media and how we …
journalism ethics
The Role of Today’s Journalists: Q&A with Al Tompkins
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Al Tompkins is a senior faculty member at the Poynter Institute and author of “Aim for the Heart: A Guide for TV Producers and Reporters.” We talked to Tompkins about the role of journalists in today’s non-stop, fast-paced media …
Religion, politics and Trump’s inauguration
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In exploring the political fractures of the United States at the moment of Donald Trump’s inauguration, one of the challenges for journalists is to understand the religious fractures that are part of today’s divisions. Understanding …
Three duties in a time of Trump
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]In the turmoil of a Trump election victory, and the dawn of a robust right-wing American government, it is time to do journalism ethics with utmost seriousness. Journalism ethics is not a set of formal …
How to teach the ethics of using eyewitness video
When journalism students visit our offices at WITNESS to learn about video and human rights advocacy, the most common questions we hear are on the ethics of using eyewitness footage: How do you verify a …
Ethics in the News Oct. 6
The deadly campus shooting Thursday at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, that left 10 dead and others injured conjured up familiar ethics debates about reporting in post-tragedy environments. Notably, conversation circulated around the naming …
The search for sensitive coverage of the tragedy of suicide: An Australian story
One of the toughest situations a journalist can face is reporting on tragic events, especially the delicate matter of suicide. In this article, professor and longtime Australian journalist Leo Bowman tells the story of one newspaper’s unique campaign to start an open conversation about the complex issue of mental health.
Of Vultures and Watchdogs
Nelson Mandela is a national treasure for South Africans. Our government recently issued new banknotes with Mandela’s face on it, a daily reminder of the social, cultural and political capital that the country’s first democratic president created. Mandela is also globally admired. So it’s understandable
Brand Journalism
In this article, journalist Ira Basen asks a pointed question: Is the growing trend of ‘brand journalism’ — corporations producing ‘content’ to promote their brands – good or bad for journalism and the public sphere? Is it ‘really’ journalism, and how do we define journalism anyway? If skilled journalists produce accurate articles for corporation web sites and magazines, who cares if it is not produced by the mainstream news media?