One of the leading thinkers on journalism ethics, Stephen Ward, laid out a six-point approach towards teaching journalism ethics at a time of media transition at the Journalism Interactive conference. Ward’s starting point is that in a mixed media environment, everyone has the potential to perform an act of journalism. As a consequence, he argued, ethics is for everyone. The responsible use of media tools needs to be taught across the
PDF The keynote speaker at the New Journalism, New Ethics? conference at UW Madison was Jon Sawyer, director of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. “As we create new financial and editorial models of journalism, we are also collectively creating the ethical ground rules for these forms of journalism,” he said Sawyer talked about how the Center had used the internet to amplify the journalist’s voice, to extend the reach of
The second session at the New Journalism, New Ethics? conference at UW Madison looked at the ethical issues in creating and operating non-profit investigative newsrooms. The session was based on a report, “Ethics for the New Investigative Newsroom” (PDF). The report looked at issues such as who is an acceptable donor and how to safeguard editorial independence. The director for Center for Journalism Ethics at UW-Madison, Stephen Ward, introduced the
Charles Lewis, founding executive editor of the Investigative Reporting Workshop, and founder of the Center for Public Integrity, kicked off the New Journalism, New Ethics? conference at UW Madison. Lewis started by going over the challenges facing journalism, such as declining circulation and newsroom staff, before going on to discuss non-profit journalism. Non-profits have a long history, but Lewis recognised the recent increase in non-profit journalism start-ups in the US,
Image via WikipediaThe UK’s newspaper watchdog, the PCC, has released the findings of its research into attitudes towards social networking. It found that 78% would change information they publish about themselves online if they thought the material would later be reproduced in the mainstream media. This is a new ethical issue for journalists, as Facebook and other social networking sites become sources for journalists. Social networking sites are used by
Some big changes are under way at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of British Columbia where I am on faculty. The director of the school, Stephen J.A. Ward, is leaving for the U.S. to be the first James E. Burgess Chair and Professor in Journalism Ethics, and director of a new Center for Journalism Ethics, at the the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The announcement from the Dean of
The new guidelines from the BBC on social media are now available online. There are two parts to this, the first dealing with how the BBC should approach social networking sites and the second on how the use by BBC staff of social networking sites. The guidelines on the use of social media by the BBC reflects concerns about protecting the brand. But they also recognises that the corporation should
The BBC News website has published an analysis I wrote on the tangled web of the Spitzer scandal, the prostitute and social media. It discusses how young adults such Ashley Alexandra Dupre make it easy for journalists and bloggers to find out intimate details about them by posting deeply personal information on social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook. The creator of the web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, summed up
The issue over the use of photos of Ashley Alexandra Dupre taken from social networking sites like MySpace has just taken another twist. Her court-appointed attorney, Kelley Drye’s Don D. Buchwald, has attacked the media for invading his client’s privacy. The press release (PDF) from the attorney says the alleged call girl was “thrust into the public glare at age 22 without her consent”. He goes on to accuse some
The newspaper watchdog in the UK, the Press Complaints Commission, is stepping into the debate over the use of material from social networking sites. The head of the body, Tim Toulmin, told the BBC that the organisation has commissioned research to find out if people are aware that material they upload could be used by journalists. It follows complaints to the PCC from people about material used by the press