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
Covering Domestic Terrorism in Solidarity with People Subjected to It
Ethical representation centers people impacted, not just the perpetrators.
Ethics Center to Build Toolkit to Support Newsroom Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
In January 2021, the Journalism and Media Ethics Program at the Ethics Center is set launch a new and timely prototype project with funding from the Google News Initiative (GNI).
NewsQ Releases Opinion Journalism Recommendations with Ethics Center Input
Addressing the challenge to navigate opinion journalism on digital platforms, this paper addresses aspects of social media platforms that publishers and aggregators face when distributing it online. Co-authored by Subramaniam Vincent, Director of Journalism and Media Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, and Patricia Lopez, Editorial Writer for Opinion at the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Reconciliation … Between Whom and About What?
Before reconciliation can be achieved in our country, we need to understand the actual problem, including who needs to be brought together and on what they’re divided.
Solidarity (not reconciliation) Offers a Path for Public Discourse in a Fractured Society
Solidarity starts with people whose basic needs go unmet.
Rather than seeking reconciliation, or heeding calls to depoliticize politics, we should strive for solidarity in public discourse.
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.
