A brief overview of the AUT journalism Values Exchange. I recommend you also access the VX site as you check out the presentation http://autuni.values-exchange.co.nz/

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Values Exchanged
Learning journalism ethics online

2. +
Values Exchanged Presentation
 Follow these guidelines:
 Go to Values Exchange
– AUT Uni site
 Or to the VX main
homepage
 Watch the introductory
videos
 Complete a case study
 View your reports
Hi, this presentation will be more
meaningful if you also look at the
Values Exchange online and
explore what it can do.
When I give this presentation at
conferences, I usually talk
through a ‘live’ case and a
‘closed’ case to show what it can
do.
I am doing more work on the
evaluation too
Martin

3. The Mission
Our mission is to promote real democracy, based on the informed, collective
wisdom of whole populations. We believe everyone has the right to be part
of serious debate about the issues that matter most to us.
Thousands of people already use our Values Exchanges – there is no
technical reason why democracy cannot be real right now.

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Values Exchanged
 Ethical behaviour is tied to several elements
 Personal value systems (world view)
 Normative social values (audience)
 Social control in the newsroom (culture)
 Production pressures
 learning of ethical behavior is a core element of the
journalism curriculum
 there is no prescriptive method for learning ethics in a
journalistic context

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The issues
 what students learn in the classroom—by way of principles—is
soon forgotten when they enter the workforce
 teaching ‘philosophies’ of ethics on its own doesn’t work
 it is difficult for a young reporter, or intern, to challenge the
general culture that has entrenched itself in a particular
newsroom
 beyond getting students to memorize particular clauses, what is
its real value of ‘learning’ the code of ethics?
 WHAT COULD WE DO DIFFERENTLY TO ENSURE DEEPER
LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR STUDENTS?

6. http://autuni.values-exchange.co.nz/

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Instant feedback
for students

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Modifications to VX
 original case studies based on real events and
situations that have occurred recently
 Ring analysis and Grid adjusted to suit particular
needs of journalism curriculum
 more relevant to journalism values and also more
relevant to the case studies and the students
 assignment designed to assess students against
“change” criteria and their successes and
difficulties
We made some small
adjustments to VX tools
to make it journalism-
friendly

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Student responses
 All students found VX useful and valuable as a
learning tool
 All students found VX challenged them
 Long-held values and world views
 To consider more aspects of journalism ethics
 Some found it difficult to make decisions in Ring and
Grid analysis
 More discussion in class around each case study

11. Over the course of completing all four cases I
found that my thought patterns did change in
regards to how I looked at certain aspects of ‘what
is ethical’.
I think this was because I was forcing myself to
look at the cases less subjectively and learning to
look at the cases as a whole - taking in all the
possible angles, outcomes and consequences,
rather than making a decision based solely on
initial gut instinct.

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Our response
 Better instructions in use of Ring and Grid analysis
 Plan time in seminars for discussion of cases
 Consider some slight modification of Wedges and
Segments in Ring and Grid analysis
 Better reporting capability for students to generate
their own comparative analysis