Misinformation, disinformation, and extremism online have intensified, and the public, news industry, and technology sector continue to grapple with how to resolve these problems. The Journalism and Media Ethics program is developing a range of initiatives that advance the following three aims:
- Giving journalists the crucial background and framework needed for ethical journalism.
- Giving the public a voice in shaping and understanding journalism.
- Using ethical principles to frame the design and delivery of news, social media, and search products.
The Latest from Journalism & Media Ethics
How Should Journalists Report a Scientific Study?
A three-step process and a framework of questions to make ethical reporting decisions, with recent convalescent plasma reporting as an example.
Heading into Election 2020, Let's Ask Ourselves: “What Makes This Newsworthy?”
Not repeating the follies of 2016 requires a refocused approach to media discourse.
How Newsweek Missed the Circular Reasoning in ‘Kamala Harris Eligibility’ Op-ed
An opinion article that ran in Newsweek included ethically questionable assumptions by the author about Kamala Harris’ citizenship.
Ethics Center Offers Insights on Media Literacy, Solidarity Journalism, and Teaching Ethics in Pandemic at AEJMC
Center contributes to first virtual Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication conference.
Solidarity Journalism Initiative Expands as Journalists Confront Systemic Issues in News Industry
Solidarity journalism initiative helps US journalists confront problematic practices within news organizations.
About the Journalism and Media Ethics program
The end of traditional "gatekeeping" has signaled a seismic shift in how narratives are framed, developed, distributed, socialized, and discussed. For some communities, this is troubling because it threatens a longstanding social order. For others, particularly those who have been ignored or sidelined by traditional gatekeepers, this is a tremendous moment of opportunity for greater inclusion. At the same time, journalism's financial sustainability continues to be in doubt.
Too often, the hardest and interdisciplinary problems with ethical implications are being identified only after editorial, business, and technology decisions have been incorporated into products and narratives. 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.
We are excited to supply a more comprehensive approach to applied journalism and media 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.
