Ethics of purging archives: An editor once asked the Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists if there are any ethical requirements to honor requests to delete stories.
An AdviceLine ethicist decided a newspaper should not help people remove information from the historical record. And it’s expensive to do that.
Ethical media election coverage: “The ethics question at the heart of election coverage is this: What approaches best serve the public interest?” writes Isaac Alter.
Covering it like a horse race trivializes elections, he says. Write about the candidates themselves; don’t overplay opinion polls.
Media climate coverage deemed lacking: Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope charge media with ignoring it.
“This journalistic failure has given rise to a calamitous public ignorance, which in turn has enabled politicians and corporations to avoid action,” they write.
They call for “Paul Revere” responsibilities to awaken, inform and rouse the people to action.
Wall Street Journal tames online commentary: Select articles will be open for audience posts, writes Louise Story, to encourage “thoughtful discourse.”
Aims to focus on “original comments,” not on boisterous “repliers” who don’t read the articles.
Newsweek seeks ethics advice: The historic news magazine retains the Poynter Institute to review its standards, ethics and processes, causing an uptick in calls from journalists and newsrooms seeking help with ethics issues.
Student reporters covering shootings: The threat of an active shooter on campus confronts student journalists with a perfect storm, writes Maitreyi Anantharaman. There isn’t time to be scared.
The erosion of local newsrooms forces college publications to step in as papers of record, she writes.
Tips for resisting fake news: “The way our memory works means it might be impossible to resist fake news completely,” writes Julian Matthews.
Think like a scientist: Ask what type of content it is, where it is published and who benefits.
Key demographic trends: Hispanics are expected to be the largest racial or ethnic minority in the next election, write Anthony Cilluffo and D’Vera Cohn, according to the Pew Research Center.
This was one of six demographic trends that included findings on American adult generations, unmarried parents, immigration and household income.
Journalists engaged in communities preferred: The Pew Research Center finds urban and rural residents want news from journalists personally engaged in their communities, writes Elizabeth Grieco.
Urban resident say journalists are more likely to cover their areas, and see certain local news topics as important for daily life. They also rely on online sources for local news. Rural dwellers less satisfied.
NYT Privacy Project: The Times launches an investigation into the erosion of digital privacy, including its own practices.
“Though we know we must participate in this messy and rapidly changing ecosystem — one with plenty of bad actors — we are also working to ensure our own data practices live up to our values,” writes Publisher A.G. Sulzberger.
Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists 