If you publish mugshots and other arrest news, then you should follow up
It was a Gannett-owned newspaper that received near-universal condemnation in December 2012 when it built an online map that made it easy to find the addresses of people who had gun permits. The complaints came from all sides — gun owners and others worried about privacy, lawmakers who closed loopholes in New York and elsewhere, […]
In case no one told you, some things are so wrong they’re not worth spending much time on in an ethics discussion
The third paragraph in Doing Ethics in Media: Theories and Practical Applications explains why the book runs 442 pages: If ethical decision making were simply a matter of choosing between right or wrong, good or bad, this would be a very short book. However, such choices are not always black or white; they’re much more […]
What I learned from working on the Society of Professional Journalists’ new Code of Ethics
This month’s biggest personal and professional success may not make it on my tombstone, but it is a thrill to note that words I wrote are included in the Society of Professional Journalists’ new code of ethics. Delegates of the nation’s largest journalism association approved the code on Sept. 6, 2014, nearly 18 years after […]
How the updated SPJ code of ethics helps justify one newspaper’s stand against naming a sex-crime suspect
Making a decision about ethics sometimes means doing your own thing while everyone else is doing something else — in public. One news organization did this in reporting the arrest of a 49-year-old man charged with possession of child pornography in Calhoun County, Ala. Multiple news organizations reported information provided by the Alabama Bureau of […]
Re/code shows the power of solid journalism, transparency
I’ve been a fan of Walt Mossberg and Karen Swisher for nearly two decades, since The Birmingham News publisher was smart enough to buy Mossberg’s weekly “Personal Technology” column from The Wall Street Journal to publish in the “My.Tech” section that I created for The News back when AOL and Windows 95 were a thing. […]
Facebook news feed emotion experiment was a failure of journalism ethics, too
News that Facebook manipulated content of nearly 700,000 users continues to make waves, and now a Democratic senator has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether the company and researchers properly notified and/or debriefed users that they were being used as experimental subjects. The 2012 experiment tested whether users posted higher levels of positive […]
A student-run newspaper misuses SPJ code of ethics to defend a decision
It’s been a difficult week at the University of California Santa Barbara, where six students died before the killer turned the gun on himself. Tragedy often brings out the best in journalists, who work difficult hours, ask difficult questions, and sometimes stifle their own pain to cover the story. It can be particularly difficult for […]
On the ethics of doing public relations for the Russian Federation
A Bloomberg story reminds us why transparency is an imperative for ethical communication–but sometimes a bad thing for public relations companies who might rather not tell us that they are working for governments that would not allow them to exercise the same freedoms they have in the United States. The reporters searched federally required disclosure […]
Chrysler: If you can find a journalist for sale, buy him
You might recall the 1980s Chrysler ads where then-chairman Lee Iacocca challenged buyers: “If you can find a better car, buy it!” A post from Jalopnik site suggests Fiat-Chrysler has a new line: “If you can find a journalist for sale, buy him.” Automotive News journalist Nick Bunkley noted that the company, at a media […]