Vanishing media ombudsmen: The Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists laments the loss of sharp-eyed ombudsmen and media writers like Margaret Sullivan.
“You’d think an ombudsman would be most useful in a time of change, especially in a time of budget-cutting and layoffs — just to be sure the public interest is served, and the quality of journalism is strong,” says a story in AdviceLine’s archives.
Protecting sources: Best practices to minimize risks to whistle-blowers require new tactics, writes Joshua Benton, including a mix of digital and “human” practices.
He cites “The Perugia Principles for Journalists Working with Whistle-Blowers in the Digital Age.”
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 quiz: If a man tells media that he will jump off a bridge, are journalists obligated to stop him? Is that becoming part of the story?
From Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists archives. Media mistakes.
Reporting tragedy — the “death knock:”
“Each person a journalist contacts may react differently: slam a door in their face, break down in tears or welcome the chance to speak about a loved one,” writes Laura Hardy. “A journalist needs to be prepared for every possible scenario.”
Editorial cartoon ethics: iMediaEthics noticed a growing debate over cartoon ethics, and published 11 controversial cartoons of 2018.
Four of the cartoonists were fired. Publications apologized for some of them, and stood by others. The cartoons focused on politics, sports and tragedies.
The truth sandwich: Repeating a lie helps it to live on, writes Craig Newmark.
“I predict that, in 2019, news organizations will start to institute new reporting methods to avoid being complicit. Tactics may include adopting the ‘truth sandwich,’ which means covering a lie by presenting the truth first and then following that lie with a fact-check, as well as increasing newsroom capacity to check claims for accuracy in real time, prior to publishing a story.”
Regaining public trust in journalism: “News organizations and journalism educators should teach members of the public (and their own journalists) how to stop being used as pawns in the meta-game of online disinformation,” writes Marie Shanahan.
“One antidote to modern information gamesmanship is more ethics and professional reporting.”
Scalp headline an ethical lapse: Native American Journalists Association criticizes a newspaper for reference to genocidal practices.
“Referring to the act of scalping Indigenous people violates the dignity of men, women and children that were victims of the practice,” says the association.
“More importantly, such language downplays crimes now defined as genocide by human rights observers and glorifies such racially-motivated acts by ignoring context at the expense of Indigenous people.”
Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists 