Media Ethics: When True Isn't Fair Enough
The hard choices behind every story: accuracy, fairness, privacy, conflicts of interest, free expression, reputation and the power of images.
Try 3 questions
1. Why do ethics codes insist that corrections be prominent and clearly labeled?
- So rival outlets can cite the mistake
- So the reporter is disciplined in public
- So readers who saw the error learn the truth
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Answer: So readers who saw the error learn the truth
A correction hidden where nobody looks leaves the false impression in place, so codes stress visibility and clarity.
2. Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel argue that the essence of journalism is what?
- A commitment to entertain
- A discipline of verification
- A duty of perfect neutrality
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Answer: A discipline of verification
In 'The Elements of Journalism' they say verification, not neutrality, is what separates journalism from entertainment or propaganda.
3. Why did reporter Janet Cooke give back the Pulitzer Prize she won in 1981?
- The child in her story was invented
- She had copied a rival paper's story
- Her main sources had been paid
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Answer: The child in her story was invented
Her feature about an eight-year-old heroin user turned out to be fabricated, a landmark case about verifying vivid stories.
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