The media “reckoning:” Margaret Sullivan agrees there should be a “reckoning” over media coverage of President Trump.
“I reckon that American citizens would have been far worse off if skilled reporters hand’t dug into the connections between Trump’s associates — up to and including his son Don Jr. — and Russians. That reporting has not been invalidated,” she writes.
Public thinks local news thrives: Few pay for it, it’s free and TV is top source, writes Laura Hazard Owen, city Pew research.
Seventy-one percent of those surveyed believe their local news outlets are doing very or somewhat well financially, in part because TV is doing better than hard-hit newspapers.
Scholars ponder media transparency: They often do not explain what it means in practice, write Michael Palanski and Andrea Hickerson.
“Media organizations may believe they are acting transparently, but incomplete attempts at transparency may damage credibility and thus do more harm than good,” they write.
Struggling with ethical dilemmas and difficult choices: Resist the temptation to classify every ethical issue as a dilemma, writes Nancy Matchett in an article appearing in the Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists archives.
“When facing a genuine dilemma you are forced, by the circumstances, to do something unethical,” she writes.
Canada ponders ethics of funding media: Canada’s government proposes to give $595 million to struggling news media, write Heather Rollwagen and Ivor Shapiro.
If Canadian news organizations take government money, do journalists become government servants? they ask, but conclude some financial security will help journalists “remain independent monitors of power.”
Correcting errors in the digital age: “One essential element of transparency is doing corrections right,” writes Dan Gillmor.
In the digital age, “we can fix the error right in the news article (or video or audio) and append an explanation, thereby limiting the damage, because people new to the article will get the correct information,” he writes.
Media restraint praised: Almost every major news organization decided not to publish video of the mass shooting at two New Zealand mosques, write Erik Ortiz, Farnoush Amiri and Claire Atkinson.
“Media and journalism ethics experts who follow mass shooting and terrorist attack coverage told NBC News that it had been encouraging to see outlets recognize when they have crossed a line,” they write.
Robot journalism ethical checklist: As more media organizations deploy artificial intelligence, writes Tom Kent, “we need to keep a focus on the ethics and quality of robot news writing.”
Kent’s checklist touches on the accuracy of underlying data, automation producing thousands of erroneous stories and pitfalls, like defending a robot-written story.
Shaping word usage: National Association of Black Journalists asked the Associated Press to revise its stylebook on using the word “boy.”
“This wasn’t the first time Stylebook editors had acted on recommendations from marginalized groups,” writes Natalie Yahr.
Engaging with readers: Mark Jacob explores forgotten ways to build relationships with readers and putting the users first.
“For local media companies, it’s about re-learning something that they used to do before they changed their model when they went to digital,” like serving their community and building relationships with readers and businesses in their community, says an online news consultant.
Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists 