Assistant Director, Journalism & Media Ethics; Social Sector Ethics
408-551-3578
avarma2@scu.edu
Anita Varma is the assistant director for Journalism & Media Ethics as well as Social Sector Ethics. She focuses on the design and implementation of applied ethics projects, conducts research, and facilitates public engagement for both program areas. From 2018-2019, Varma was a program manager at the Markkula Center.
Prior to joining the Markkula Center, Varma was a doctoral candidate at Stanford University in the Department of Communication, where she focused on journalism ethics and received her PhD in 2018. Her dissertation (Solidarity in Action: A Case Study of Journalistic Humanizing Techniques in the San Francisco Homeless Project) analyzed the role of solidarity in American journalism using a case study of how and why Bay Area journalists humanize homeless people.
Before Stanford, Varma was an online advertising strategist at Google for three years. Varma received her BA in Media Studies with honors from Vassar College, where she was the editor-in-chief of the only student-run campus newspaper, and interned at The New Yorker magazine as well as the Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press.
Articles by Anita Varma
Ethical News Coverage of Climate Change Needs to Prioritize Efficacy
Journalists can begin to help people not only understand climate change, but also understand the paths forward by leading with how we can still make a difference.
Is American News Coverage “Too Sympathetic to Immigrants”?
Prioritizing dignity over detachment in ethical journalism practice.
Disputing the False Promise of Redemption through News Photography
Angie Valeria and her father deserve more than empathy fatigue.
