The problem with native advertising: It’s paid advertising that looks like legitimate staff-written content and deceptive, writes Joshua Carroll.
“The commotion over the sponsored pieces raises questions not just about the ethics of native advertising, but about news providers’ broader relationship with governments.” It’s also called advertorials and used in digital marketing.
Covering deadly cold weather: Midwest reporters face a daunting challenge when temperatures drop to 30 below with wind chills at 55 below.
“So how do you cover a story about how dangerous it is to be outside when it’s too dangerous to be outside?” asks Tom Jones.
Rethinking celebrity journalism: Covering the foibles of celebrities is like pandering to lurid curiosity, says a story in the Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists archives.
Instead, look for entertaining stories about men and women in business, commerce and industry who take themselves so seriously.
Media jumping to conclusions: The story about an encounter between Covington Catholic students and a Native American elder went global, and many in the media got it wrong.
“What responsible journalists do in such instances is exactly what they did here,” writes Kelly Hawes. “They keep reporting. They keep asking questions. They keep searching for the truth. When they’re wrong, they admit it. And they set the record straight.”
Justifying photos of death: New York Times photos of a terror attack on a Nairobi hotel, leaving 21 dead, were called distasteful, writes Eyder Peralta.
The Times responds that “it is important to give our readers a clear picture of the horror of an attack like this,” adding that the pictures were not sensationalized but give a real sense of the situation.
Editors acting unethically: A web editor tells the Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists that her boss is pressuring her to mention an advertiser in a story. She is thinking of quitting.
From a story in AdviceLine archives by David Craig.
Dubious polling: Poll results last year on presidential approval, the Mueller investigation, elections, politics and other issues were suspect, writes David W. Moore.
“Getting the news organizations to change their copious coverage of polls would be as difficult as…well, rolling a boulder up a mountain,” he writes.
Reporting data with integrity: When inspecting raw data and statistics, writes Stephen Rynkiewicz, these are questions to ask:
Is it accurate? Is it timely? Is it relevant? Is it complete? Is it trustworthy?
From the Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists archives.
Using Twitter ethically: Twitter evolved from an oddity to a key tool for gathering and reporting news, writes David Craig.
Ethical pressure points: Handling unverified information, navigating between personal and professional boundaries and providing context and narrative structure. From the Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists archives.
The hazards of fact-checking: Three media and law groups join to form the Fact-Checkers Legal Support Initiative to fend off attacks on fact-checkers.
“Many are being threatened with lawsuits and often do not have the resources to defend themselves,” says FLSI.
Threats include online harassment and physical violence by those exposed in the public arena for misinformation.
Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists 