Journalism and Media Ethics
The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics explores ethical issues in journalism and media.
What is Journalism and Media Ethics?
by Subramaniam Vincent, director of Journalism and Media Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.
We are dedicated to helping media producers, journalists, product designers, members of the public, and critics develop ways to address pressing -- and persistent -- ethical dilemmas that continue to have wide-reaching consequences for us all. The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics is uniquely well-positioned to provide ethical frameworks to help stakeholders proactively identify and analyze normative questions from the early stages to later in delivery cycles, while at the same time enriching the ongoing debates in these spheres.
Sourcing, Media Ethics, and AI
The Markkula Center’s Journalism and Media Ethics program has a focus on journalistic and information sourcing as it studies and advises diverse stakeholders.
Whether you are a media studies academic, or an industry product or policy manager (news, trust and safety, etc.), or a student interested in the latest intersections of ethics, news, and technology, this list of projects and outputs might interest you.
Recent Journalism and Media Ethics Commentary
This benchmark provides news feed product designers, journalism researchers, news organizations, and AI model developers with performance metrics for evaluating LLM capabilities in analyzing sourcing of news stories at scale.
When might a newsroom not “report” the stories of people and instead let them have the microphone? One answer to this came from Greg Eskridge of KALW’s award-winning podcast Uncuffed.
How might students systematically record the use of sourcing and attribution present in everyday news stories? Use this standalone guide to annotating sourcing. It comes with all the crucial definitions and media ethics context you'll need, examples, instructions, and template spreadsheet.
A creative and ethical inquiry into what it means to be a designer, or any kind of creator, in an AI-saturated world.
Subbu Vincent on Ethics and Broadcast News
This episode features a conversation with Subbu Vincent, Director of Media and Journalism Ethics at the Markkula Center. Why did Fox News fire Tucker Carlson? And why did CNN fire Don Lemon? Do broadcast news networks follow any code of ethics?
Ethical Considerations for Student Reporters, Editors, and News Consumers
Student journalists, student editors, and student news consumers often plunge into the news ecosystem without much guidance or formal training. What foundational knowledge might help budding news consumers as well as student journalists and editors?
Ethics and Misinformation
Joan Donovan, Ph.D., Research Director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, Director of the Technology and Social Change project (TaSC), and Author of Meme Wars., spoke about the connection between ethics and misinformation and the philosophical frameworks for how to research, report on, and understand this moment in internet history and American politics.
Journalism and Media Articles
Articles on journalism and media ethics including trust, accuracy, engagement, data journalism, and inclusiveness.
Journalism and Media Case Studies
Case studies pertaining to ethical issues in journalism and media ethics.
Journalism and Media Resources
More resources for journalists and others in the media field including videos, ethics codes, and student examples.
Journalism and Media Ethics Council
As ethical issues in the media are increasingly relevant to today’s climate this team of professionals from public, private, and academic sectors collaborates with the Ethics Center to identify and prioritize complex issues.
Media Commentary
Subbu Vincent, director, journalism and media ethics, quoted by The Associated Press.
Subbu Vincent, director of journalism and media ethics, quoted by VOA News.
Subbu Vincent, director, media and journalism ethics, quoted by Fresnoland.
Subbu Vincent, director, media and journalism ethics, interviewed by The Ethical Technologist.
Solidarity and Ethical Journalism: Aligning Journalism with Accuracy, not Neutrality
With solidarity techniques, journalists do what the most celebrated journalism has always done in this country: insist on representing truthful narratives, amplify sources who have the most insight into an issue, and leverage public means of communication in the service of conveying outrage at people’s dignity being stripped away.
