A lecture on ethics for reporters from an online beginning journalism class at John Carroll University, Cleveland.

1. Reporter’s ethics
Dr. Richard D. Hendrickson
Journalism instructor
John Carroll University
Created 061805, updated 113011, 032012

2. What adults think of the press
 Press 28% 70
 Congress 22%* 60
 Presidency 44% 50
40
 Org religion 53%
30
 Police 63%
20
 HMOs 17%
10
Source: Gallup Poll *More recently, 0
9% Cong Press Bush Relig Police HMOs

3. What do you think of the press?

4. Student views: 2003
January 2003, before U.S. invasion of Iraq.
“The media should stop scaring everyone. They
are constantly talking about how we are
threatened. I think that if the media merely
updated us, we would not be worrying about
things so much.”
“I don’t know enough about the conflict, and
frankly feel no one in the class does. Bush and
his top advisers are the only ones who know
enough to make a decision. I support my
government (officials) in whatever decision
they make.”

5. Plagiarism and other behaviors
 Jayson Blair at
The New York
Times
 Stephen Glass
(New Republic,
1998) Stephen Glass
 Janet Cook
(Washington Post, Jayson Blair
1980)

6. Returning a Pulitzer
 Janet Cook wrote a compelling story of an 8-year-old boy
she named only “Jimmy” caught in a world of drug
abuse. Published in 1980, it won a Pulitzer Prize.
Concerned people wanted to find and “save” the child.
She eventually admitted she couldn’t prove he existed,
but had used composite of descriptions from a number of
cases. The Washington Post gave back the Pulitzer and
she was fired.
 She later claimed she was told about “Jimmy” from
street sources but was unable to locate him and just
created a story to satisfy editors who were pressuring
her to produce something.
 She dropped out of sight for a while, reappearing in
1986 for a GQ interview. The movie rights from that Janet Cook
interview were eventually sold for $1.5 million.

7. Dan Rather’s mistake
Rather Concedes Papers Are Suspect
CBS Anchor Urges Media to Focus On Bush Service
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer Washingtonpost.com
Thursday, September 16, 2004; Page A01
CBS anchor Dan Rather acknowledged for the first time yesterday that
there are serious questions about the authenticity of the documents he
used to question President Bush's National Guard record last week on "60
Minutes."
"If the documents are not what we were led to believe, I'd like to break
that story," Rather said in an interview last night. "Any time I'm wrong, I
want to be right out front and say, 'Folks, this is what went wrong and how
it went wrong.' "

8. Dan Rather
 Dan Rather at CBS:
too eager to accept
and air a letter critical
of Bush’s National
Guard record
 It may have been true,
but it wasn’t verified
 Was Rather biased or
did he just want to be
first?

9. Unidentified source starts trouble
 Newsweek quotes an unidentified source on
report of Quran desecration at Guantanamo Bay
prison, touching off a storm of controversy
 Others had reported it earlier and the riots attributed to
it had other roots, but the talk shows claim bias
 Brings new awareness on use of unnamed sources
 Good journalists know their sources and their reliability and grant
anonymity only in extreme circumstances, such as when it is
necessary to protect a whistleblower
 But government officials often insist on anonymity

10. Newsweek backs off Quran desecration story
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Newsweek magazine backed away
Sunday from a report that U.S. interrogators desecrated copies of
the Quran while questioning prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay
naval base -- an account blamed for sparking violent riots in
Afghanistan and elsewhere. …
In the story, the magazine cited sources as saying investigators
looking into abuses at the military prison found interrogators "had placed
Qurans on toilets, and in at least one case flushed a holy book down the
toilet.“
(Reporter Michael Isakoff) called a longtime reliable source, a senior
U.S. government official who was knowledgeable about the matter.
"The source told Isikoff that the [investigators'] report would include new
details that were not in the FBI e-mails, including mention of flushing the
Quran down a toilet."
(Editor Mark) Whitaker wrote that before publishing the account the
magazine approached two Pentagon officials for comment. One declined
and the other challenged a different aspect of the report, Whitaker wrote.

11. Karl Rove
“The press is less liberal than it
is oppositional.”

12. Why reporters get into trouble
 For Rather, it was the competition, the drive to get a
scoop
 For Blair and Glass, seeking esteem
 For Cook, esteem and, perhaps, a wish to publicize the
plight of children
 For many journalists, the problem is simply a lack of time
and resources to do the job.

13. What can we do about this?
 Hold line between reporting and advocacy
 A recent book by Jim Willis describes types of
journalists. First on his list is the “Joe Friday” approach,
“Just the facts, m’am.” Independent, no-nonsense,
loyalty is to accuracy (not truth)
 A danger of being ”stenographers,” blindly repeating
what everyone says. The case of Sen. Joseph
McCarthy. (Edward R. Morrow checked his claims and
found errors.)
 Follow a code of journalistic ethics

14. How do you decide your ethics?
 1. Consult my core beliefs (drawn from family
values, religion, philosophy, books I’ve read,
courses I’ve taken and other personal
experiences.)
 2. Ask people I know (friends, family members,
instructors, colleagues or coworkers, etc.)
 3. Ask the “experts” (teachers, authors, etc.)θ
4. Examine professional codes of ethics (SPJ,
NYT and others).

15. Three approaches to decisions
 Values, rules and advice (I will do right
because it’s right.)
 Risks (I’ll do right because others could
discover if I do wrong.)
 Consequences (I will do right to keep my
self-respect and avoid harm to others,
including my profession or organization.)

16. Models of ethics
 Family and faith
 Expressed as conscience (feelings)
 Rules of conduct and duty (Immanuel Kant)
 Consider effects, treat others as you would wish
to be treated (John Stuart Mill)
 The end justifies the means (Niccolo
Machiavelli)
 Q. Can you think of others?

17. Classic
approaches
to
ethics
1. NORMATIVE
(normal):
Pragmatic,
“what
works,”
utilitarian,
(Machiavelli:
end
justifies
means,
effects
not
important.
2. DEONTOLOGICAL
(duty):
Kant:
Rules
we
are
bound
to
follow.
For
example,
tell
the
truth,
absolutely.
A
duty
to
report
whatever
is
“news.”
3. TELEOLOGICAL
(total)
Mill:
Looking
at
the
bottom
line,
the
effects,
what’s
best
for
society
(or
the
media
organization).
4. SUBJECTIVE:
(soul)
Going
through
the
angsts
of
deciding
what
is
right,
conscience,
God,
intuition,
emotion,
instinct,
moral
sense
that
seeks
right
actions.

18. Ethical
news
values
Tenacity
 Serve
the
audience
 Know
where
to
go
and
work
hard
to
get
there
 Commit
enough
resources
 Put
readers
and
community
ahead
of
the
corporate
bottom
line
 Use
them
wisely
 Prefer
serious
news
for
gossip
and
fluff

19. Ethical
news
values
Dignity
and
reciprocity
 Respect
the
people
in
your
stories
 Leave
your
targets
with
as
much
self-­‐respect
as
possible
 Respect
co-­‐workers,
competitors
 Newsgathering
and
production
is
a
cooperative
effort
employing
the
talents
of
all
involved
 Treat
others
as
you
would
yourself
 Avoid
arrogance
and
benevolent
paternalism

20. Ethical
news
values
Sufficiency
and
equity
 Get
all
the
facts
and
perspectives
first
 Find
out
how
things
are
supposed
to
work,
look
at
the
documents,
and
listen
to
all
perspectives
before
you
decide
what
the
story
will
be
 Consider
all
points
of
view
 Giving
“equal
treatment
to
a
wise
man
and
a
fool”

21. Ethical
news
values
Community
and
diversity
 Value
social
cohesion
 Media
outlets
should
think
of
themselves
as
citizens
rather
than
merely
“profit
centers”
 Individuals
should
evaluate
stories
with
an
eye
first
to
social
good
 Cover
all
parts
of
the
audience
fairly
 News
organizations
should
look
like
the
society
they
cover
 Ethical
news
values
lecture
outline
inspired
by
Philip
Patterson,
and
Lee
Wilkins,
Media
Ethics
Issues
&
Cases,
4th
Edition.
Boston:
McGraw
Hill
Higher
Education,
2002,
31-­‐32.

22. Follow the SPJ code of ethics
 Follow the SPJ code of ethics
 Four principles: Seek truth and report it, Minimize
harm, Act independently and Be accountable.
 Educate journalists of today and tomorrow
 Journalists should study Ethics & the Media
 Poynter Institute sponsors research and
education for professional journalists
 Who will guide the “bloggers?” Perhaps SPJ
 And what about “citizen journalists?”

23. The SPJ Code of Ethics
 Seek Truth and Report It  Minimize Harm
 Journalists should be  Ethical journalists treat
honest, fair and sources, subjects and
courageous in colleagues as human
gathering, reporting and beings deserving of
interpreting information respect.

24. SPJ Code of Ethics (continued)
 Act Independently  Be Accountable
 Journalists should be  Journalists are
free of obligation to any accountable to their
interest other than the readers, listeners,
public's right to know. viewers and each other.

25. Wall Street rules the media
 The media is a business
 More and more news organizations are owned by
Wall Street investors who seek short-term profit
 It’s ok to expect financial success, as long as its goal is
to assure independence (Jim Lonergan, Lorain Journal GM)
 The drive for market share means more celebrity
gossip, sensationalism and sex, or a lot more
fluff, instead of serious reporting on politics and
economics

26. What of the future?
 Back to the “stenography” of the
McCarthy era? If reporters don’t
ask hard questions, who will, the
partisan screamers on TV?
 Reporters as the eyes and ears of
citizens, when citizens can’t be
there, but the press must be
educated and accurate or lose
credibility.

27. One commentator’s assessment
 The “lazy, timid, intimidated, favor- and status-
currying media is not doing its basic job:
covering news and providing the context for
people to make up their minds.”
 Denis Horgan, a travel editor’s personal weblog

28. Still a lot solid reporting
 Every day journalists somewhere educate
readers and make a difference. Two
examples:
 The New York Times ran a series in 2005 about
people who represent changing classes in
America (see list of articles below)
 A three-year investigation by the Spokesman
Review exposed allegations of child-molestation
by Spokane, WA, mayor (the response of some,
sadly, was ”He has been an effective mayor.”

29. 
ABOUT THE SERIES
This series explores how class
influences destiny in America.
• Day 1: Overview
• Day 2: Health
• Day 3: Marriage
• Day 4: Religion
• Day 5: Education
• Day 6: Immigration Angela Whitiker with her youngest
• Day 7: New Status Markers child, Christopher, 10, in Chicago
• Day 8: The 'Relo' Class earlier this spring
• Day 9: The Hyper-Rich
• Day 10: Class and Culture Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times
• Day 11: Up From the Projects

30. Four recent cases
 “The Runaway General”
 The NPR “sting”
 British phone hacking
 Wikileaks

31. The Runaway General
 Michael Hastings, a reporter on assignment for Rolling Stone, spent time
with Gen. Stanley McChrystal and his staff in Europe, then wrote a story
that quoted them as saying “impolitic” things about President Obama.
 After “The Runaway General” appeared in the July 8-22, 2010, edition of the
magazine, McChrystal was relieved of his command of the U.S. forces in
Afghanistan.
 Five months later, Army Times offered a critique that said “almost all” of
the remarks were made by the general’s junior staff, who had no reason
to believe their comments would end up in print, or were made in “off the
record” settings.
 Army Times also quoted “sources familiar with the trip,” including McChrystal’s
spokesperson, as saying the magazine publicly misrepresented its
communications with McChrystal’s headquarters after the story was reported
but before it went to print.

32. The NPR “sting”
 James O’Keefe, a Conservative political operator, used a
hidden camera to record his conversations with an NPR
fundraising executive, then edited it to highlight questionable
statements out-of-context.
 The NPR guy thought he was meeting Muslim donors. He made
anti-Republican and anti-Tea Party statements
 O’Keefe called it “investigative journalism.” Critics pointed out
that he used false identities and misleading editing.
 He had earlier used such techniques to expose troubling
responses from staffers of ACORN, a non-profit voter registration
group, and Planned Parenthood.

33. British phone hacking
 A private investigator hired by the British weekly “News
of the World” hacked into the cell phones of celebrities
and crime victims, and the paper published stories about
what they revealed.
 In one case, the paper listened to the voice mail messages left
on the cell phone of a missing teen, deleting some of them to
make room for more to give them fresh material for stories.
The deletions gave the girl’s parents false hope that she was
still alive, while she had already been murdered.
 The scandal led owner Rupert Murdoch to shut down the 168-
year-old Sunday tabloid and the indictment of its top editors.

34. WikiLeaks wins an award
 WikiLeaks was handed stolen U.S. diplomatic
cables and posted them on the Web.
 Was that “journalism?”
 Apparently the Australian organization that gives out
that country’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize thought
so. It gave WikiLeaks its 2011 Walkley Award for
“most outstanding contribution to journalism.”
 Newt Gingrich called Julian Assange, head of WikiLeaks,
an “enemy combatant” and said his media scoops
amounted to “information terrorism.”

35. Discussion
 Taking these four incidents, McChrystal, NPR, the
British hacking and Wikileaks, consider the following
questions.
 Did “the end justified the means” in each case?
 Would you sanction the behavior (or accept the information)
and publish the stories?
 Do provisions of the SPJ Code of Ethics apply in each
case?
 Were any of these legitimate examples of “investigative
reporting? Why or why not?
 Are these strictly ethical problems or do they have First
Amendment (or free speech) dimensions?