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.
Fact-Checking Hits And Misses
Fact-checking hits and misses: Presidential fake news tweets found to spur greater interest to read more news.
Denise-Marie Ordway sums up 2019 research on fake news warnings.
Newspaper Corrections
Newspaper corrections: The Toronto Star’s public editor, Kathy English, surveys a decade of Star corrections.
Misspelled or mangled names account for about 30 percent.
“I have learned through these years that most every mistake the Star’s journalists make matters to someone for some reason,” she writes.
Top Words Of 2019
Top words of 2019: Merrill Perlman describes the rise of “they” as a gender-neutral pronoun, and “climate emergency” signals increasing urgency to view what is happening to earth as an “existential” threat.
Anonymous Sources
Anonymous sources: Most reporters know that stories are only as good as the reliability of identified sources who are quoted. From the Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists archives.
Media Ethics Issues of 2019
Media ethics issues of 2019: Sydney Smith summarizes noteworthy media ethics issues.
Misinformation, verification, racism, bad taste and damaging tweets from the past are among them.
Journalists Criticizing Journalists
Ethics Codes Overhaul
Ethics codes overhaul: Bill Grueskin writes that the digital age needs a new code of ethics.
2020 “ought to be the year that our ethics codes get an overhaul, as journalists face relentless business pressures, relinquish even more control over how our content is distributed and framed and deal with the consequences of anonymity, doxing and transparency. It’s more urgent than ever, as our country becomes increasingly polarized and as trust in the news media remains tepid.”
Reporting Tip Sheet
Reporting tip sheet: iMediaEthics offers a roundup of guidance in 2019 from media organizations on standards and reporting.
The Guardian issued climate reporting advice and The Orlando Sentinel updated its social media guidelines.
Revenge Porn And Privacy
Revenge porn and privacy: Deanna Paul writes the U.S. Supreme Court might decide on the difference between free speech and invasion of privacy in an Illinois revenge porn case.
