All posts by ethicsadviceline

Offensive Halloween Photo

Offensive Halloween photo: Recalling a controversial 2014 photo of an effigy scene in a homeowner’s yard near Clarksville, Tenn.

A website news director uses the photo, then calls the Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists when the homeowner objects to the photo. Keep the photo up or take it down? From the archives.

Janet Cooke’s World

Janet Cooke’s world: Every student journalist should know about Cooke, the only reporter ever forced to return a Pulitzer Prize because her story about an eight-year-old heroin addict was a hoax.

Bill Green, the Washington Post’s ombudsman, wrote a blistering report on the Post’s editorial lapses that is a model of journalism accountability. It set the standard for ombudsmen. From the Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists archives.