I love reading what other journalists have to say about their work and sharing their insights here, but sometimes I find myself in a bit of a quandary. What to make of this comment? “You’re in the wrong job if…
Should journalists be sneaky?
Tag: Ethics
Are your online ethics different?
The Washington Post has now put its digital publishing guidelines online. Section titles include: Social Media, Taste and Tone and Third-Party Content. The Post’s ombudsman says that some people aren’t going to like the fact that the guidelines allow reporters…
Digital verification tools
Information travels so fast these days that it’s hard to keep track of where it came from. Technology makes plagiarism and deception a snap. Online text can be copied and pasted in seconds, photos can be manipulated and no one…
Local officials versus the news media
The mayor of Seattle is telling local TV stations to back off. In Georgia, the governor’s office went so far as to ban an Atlanta station from a public event. What’s going on here? Elected officials often don’t like the…
10 things journalists need to know
If you’re just starting out in the news business or even thinking about a career in journalism, you may feel a little overwhelmed by everything you think you need to know. Don’t be. Every good journalist learns on the job.…
Free multimedia resources
You’ve written a story for the Web or a post for a blog and you need to add an image or a related video. If you didn’t take a photo or shoot footage yourself, what are your options? The Internet…
Do journalists need a new ethics pledge?
Transparency, accountability and openness are among the core values of journalism. They’re embodied in the SPJ ethics code, after all, which thousands of journalists and news organizations subscribe to. So what would be the point of a pledge to support those…
Primary sourcing knocks down rumors
Exclusive! the headline screamed: “U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts considering stepping down.” The story was posted around mid-day last Thursday on the gossip site Radar Online, owned by the National Enquirer. It said Roberts might step aside for…
Audio editing ethics
Reporting with sound isn’t just a technical challenge–it can raise ethical issues as well. How do you gather sound in the field and how do you use it? How much editing is okay? Guidelines like the RTDNA ethics code, which…
Social media ethics for journalists
In case you haven’t seen them, here’s a link to the Radio Television Digital News Association ethical guidelines for the use of social media in gathering and disseminating news. The Poynter’s Al Tompkins was one of the architects. We wanted to…