Category Archives: Compassion

Journalism of a Plague Year

April 22, 2020Accountability, Compassion, Fairness, Media, Minimizing Harm, Television newsEthics, HIV/AIDS, Journalism, Ocasio-Cortes, pandemic, philosophy, Randy Shiltscbukro

Plague in Phrygia. Art Institute

Journalism of a Plague Year

By Hugh Miller

Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists

On April 3^rd, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for the 14^thCongressional district of New York, wrote in a tweet: “COVID deaths are disproportionately spiking in Black + Brown communities. Why? Because the chronic toll of redlining, environmental racism, wealth gap, etc. ARE underlying health conditions. Inequality is a comorbidity.”

The following Tuesday, April 7^th, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, stood at a podium at the White House and praised the “incredible courage and dignity and strength and activism” of the gay community’s response to the AIDS crisis. Fauci, much of whose career has been dedicated to battling HIV/AIDS, then drew a connection between the “extraordinary stigma” which then attached to the gay community, and a similar stigma and marginalization which, he argued, today was increasing the burden and death toll imposed on African-American COVID-19 sufferers, who make up a disproportionately high number of fatalities of the latter-day plague.

As a philosopher and ethicist, I’ve been reflecting on the role of my discipline in coming to grips with this new and sudden event since it first burst into the headlines in early March. As the novel virus grew from an outbreak to an epidemic and then to pandemic dimensions, and the gravity of the illness associated with it, COVID-19, became clearer, the ethical approach to it became less so, to me.

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Jim Lehrer’s Rules

January 31, 2020Accountability, Accuracy, Broadcast news, Compassion, Media, Minimizing Harm, Television newsEthics Alarms, Jim Lehrer, LTD, ProEthicscbukro

Jim Lehrer’s rules: Ethicist Jack Marshall tells the 16 rules of journalism espoused by TV host Jim Lehrer, who died recently.

“It’s an excellent, excellent list, reflecting an experienced and ethically astute professional’s keen understanding of what his profession is supposed to do for our society, and the best way to do it,” writes Marshall. Lehrer moderated eleven presidential debates.

Speaking Ill of the Dead

January 29, 2020Accountability, Compassion, Independence, Media, Minimizing Harm, newspapers, Online News, Weighing Benefits and HarmKobe Bryant, rape, Washington Postcbukro

Speaking ill of the dead: A backlash against Washington Post reporter Felicia Sonmez for mentioning the Kobe Bryant rape case “steams from the ancient wisdom that urged folks not to speak ill of the dead,” writes Erik Wemple.

“A fine rule for everyone except for historians and journalists….,” he writes.

Kobe Coverage Chaotic

January 27, 2020Accuracy, Broadcast news, Compassion, Media, Minimizing Harm, Online News, Television newserrors, Kobe Bryant, major breaking news, Washington Postcbukro

Kobe coverage chaotic: The rush to get news first forced errors, reports Margaret Sullivan.

“In any major breaking news event, whether a hurricane or a school shooting, you can assume that some of the early coverage will be wrong,” she writes. “The Kobe Bryant story was an especially bad example of that truism.”

Covering Tragedy Delicately

January 13, 2020Accountability, Accuracy, Compassion, Media, Minimizing Harm, Online Newsadvice, covering tragedy, Pulitzer Prize, The Christian Chronicleethicsadviceline

Covering tragedy delicately: Four Pulitzer Prize recipients give advice on approaching victims and survivors, writes Bobby Ross Jr.

You need to ask victims or family members for permission to intrude in their most vulnerable moments.

Moving And Inspiring Journalism

December 20, 2019Compassion, Media, Minimizing HarmColumbia Journalism Review, inspiring journalism, Journalismethicsadviceline

Moving and inspiring journalism: Columbia Journalism Review offers 20 best of the decade stories that “have risen above the noise, and even suggested a path forward….”

Woman In Journalism

October 1, 2019Accountability, Compassion, Media, Minimizing Harm, Weighing Benefits and HarmDart Center for Journalism and Trauma, Sexual harassment, violence, Women journalistsethicsadviceline

Women in journalism: Women journalists in particular contend with unwanted presumptions, sexual harassment and the threat of gender-based violence, reports the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma.

“Listen to your internal radar.”

From the Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists archives.

The Perils of Identification

July 17, 2019Accountability, Accuracy, Compassion, Media, Minimizing Harm, Online News, Photos, Privacy, Weighing Benefits and HarmColumbia Journalism Review, credibility, identificationethicsadviceline

The perils of identification: Obtaining permission is not the same as informed consent, writes Megan Frye.

A New York Times story about gang violence in Honduras including real names and photos is criticized for failing to recognize dangers.

A Welcome Shift In News Ethics

June 17, 2019Accountability, Compassion, Media, Minimizing Harm, Weighing Benefits and Harmjournalism ethics, Mass shootings, Poynter Institute, standards and practices, Virginia Beachethicsadviceline

A welcome shift in news ethics: Kelly McBride notes a vast majority of media covering the Virginia Beach murders refrained from naming the shooter unless absolutely necessary.

“It demonstrates that newsrooms can alter their standards and practices in a fairly dramatic way over a relatively short period of time….,” she wrote, to avoid glorifying a criminal and inspiring future mass murders.