The ethics of food journalism
By: Kasey Hullett Entering into the world of food criticism and review is more precarious than I thought. Recently, there has been an outbreak of lawsuits from bad reviews on not only Yelp but blogs as well. In California, a groundbreaking law was set forth to protect Yelpers from defamation charges. You would think that […]
NFL’s Greg Hardy photos require journalistic responsibility when advocating
By Kevin Connell For many, the images were the final straw. Eighteen months after Greg Hardy was arrested – and later convicted – on domestic violence charges, the photos showing the injuries he allegedly inflicted on former girlfriend Nicole Holder came to light. In the 47 photos released by Deadspin in November 2015, 45 show […]
Does Charlie Hebdo’s Syrian satire go too far?
By Leila Beem Núñez Charlie Hebdo is no stranger to controversy. In 2006, the French satirical magazine enraged many in the Muslim world when it republished cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. In 2011, its offices were firebombed and damaged after publishing content of a similar nature. In January of this year, the consequences for its […]
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 […]
Is there an ethical difference in reporting the ‘chemical-related’ deaths of Philip Seymour Hoffman and another person?
Had it not been Super Bowl Sunday, the world might have taken even more notice about the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman, found dead on Feb. 2 wit h a needle in his arm and 70 bags of heroin in his apartment. A quick Google News search this morning showed more than 5,300 articles about […]
Bad journalism, bad ethics, or both? Poynter’s list of biggest news mistakes and Gallup’s “ethics in professions” poll may or may not be related
Two disparate pieces of annual news–Poynter’s list of the year’s media errors, and Gallup’s “honesty in professions” report–come together this week for a journalism ethics lesson, on a Poynter page with links to both stories but no connection. Poynter’s Craig Silverman released his yearly list of funny, scary, awful and goofy media errors for 2013, […]
Knoxville News correctly balanced loyalties, matters of taste in coverage of deadly bus crash
By Anna Ramia Overview On October 2, 2013, a church bus traveling near Knoxville, Tenn. collided with an SUV and a tractor-trailer, killing eight people and injuring 14. The bus’s front-left tire blew out, sending the bus across the median, clipping a car before T-boning the semi-truck. The bus flipped over, and the semi caught […]
Protecting innocence or seeking truth: CNN, other media decide how much to show of Miriam Carey’s child in White House car case
By Sophia Jones The death of Miriam Carey and the Oct. 3, 2013, car chase she led capitol police on that resulted in her death, was newsworthy. The fact that Carey led the car chase, not with a weapon or any other illegal substances, but with a 14-month-old child in the backseat of her car, […]
Spongebob Squarepants episode teaches journalism ethics, sort of
Some say the journalism business is so bad that reporters have to work a fast-food job to make ends meet. It’s just the opposite for Spongebob Squarepants, the fry cook turned reporter in “Krabby Kronicle,” a 2008 episode that raises a semi-serious ethical dilemma. (Jim Romenesko highlighted the episode after seeing a Tweet from Hollywood […]