Turning the page: saying farewell and hello to changing ethics editors

After more than four years overseeing the Ethics section of J-Source, Ivor Shapiro is stepping down. We welcome Romayne Smith Fullerton with her first column today.

Ivor's roots in J-Source are deep: he founded this very website in 2007 then a few years later, took over the Ethics section from Stephen Ward, who continues as a columnist. 

Operating with integrity in the digital age seems to be increasingly challenging, yet you won't find Ivor walking around with a Code of Conduct in hand. Throughout the Ethics section, you can read  stories that offered best practices and lively commentary. Ivor's approach is to offer guidelines, not rules for our profession. As chair of the CAJ Ethics Committee, which published its updated  ethical guidelines last year, Ivor pointed out they were at best, a set of principles: "Norms express, in a general way, what seems to be a general agreement on rights and wrongs. They don’t tell anyone what to do; in fact, in some situations, the right thing to do can be unprecedented and unpopular – which is to say, abnormal!"  He also penned J-Source's first - and only, to date - 'sonnet'  (here, in part)

" Truth is the buoy of each reporting tack
'Spite squalls of scruple, hearts that ache." 

So farewell, Ivor, and thank you for your guidance and wisdom in the day-to-day examination of ethics.

However, he remains chair of the committee that manages J-Source and ProjetJ, as well as his day (and night) job as chair of Ryerson University's School of Journalism.