Category / Work

Media ethicist Stephen J.A. Ward takes stock of the two most common ways of rewriting ethic codes—DIY ethics and a depersonalized approach—and finds them both wanting. 

A new report from the Canadian Association of Journalists’ ethics committee looks at when a relationship with a source is so close that it's apt to affect a journalist’s news judgment.

How close is too close?” is a timeless and somewhat insidious question for journalists, and the answers are as inevitably murky as are human relationships themselves.

Canadian media ethicist Stephen Ward has launched a new website, Media Morals, that will explore journalism ethics in global media world. 

Considering the unique vantages drone journalism can provide, losing this technology due to a lack of professionalism would be a serious blow to our industry, writes College of the North Atlantic journalism instructor Jeff Ducharme.

It’s not good enough anymore simply to say, “a source said,” “sources say,” “on background” or the many variations of the same. Editors should demand more disclosure from their reporters, and reporters need to push their sources harder for details on disclosure, writes the Spec’s managing editor Jim Poling.

Whisper, an app that allows anonymous users to post content to the app, could provide journalists with valuable information. But when and how should media outlets make use of the app?

Most news outlets publishing robot-made content are so far choosing not to inform readers about their use of the software, a decision that contradicts one of journalism’s most valuable ethical principles: transparency.

How exactly would an editor rationalize a decision to unpublish? What alternatives are available? The Canadian Association of Journalists ethics committee took an actual unpublishing request made to a major Canadian news organization and analyzed it according to the guidelines we authored in 2010. 

Should journalists inform sources of potential risks of sharing information through the media? Do people understand what’s at stake in talking to journalists?