Poynter. » Everyday Ethics

ESPN should find ways to cover the Trayvon Martin story rather than become part of it

Kelly McBride — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 10:01:19 +0000

ESPN.com‘s Jemele Hill did a very nice, tight column this week explaining how the lives of professional athletes are connected to the life and death of Trayvon Martin.

Contrast that to ESPN’s bouncing back and forth on whether its… Read more

How ESPN published “Chink in the Armor” Jeremy Lin headline & what’s happened since

Jason Fry — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:06:45 +0000

The rise of Jeremy Lin, the New York Knicks’ Asian-American star, has been one of 2012’s feel-good sports stories. But it’s come with an unwelcome undercurrent: racial references by fans, columnists and TV personalities that have ranged from innocent-but-cringe-worthy to… Read more

Yale Daily News, New York Times both make wrong call on Patrick Witt sexual assault complaint coverage

Kelly McBride — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:42:15 +0000

As the story of Yale University quarterback Patrick Witt (and his Rhodes scholarship that wasn’t) got more convoluted last week, both The New York Times and the Yale Daily News came under significant criticism — The Times, for… Read more

Why did journalists act as a pack in withholding names of Herman Cain’s accusers?

Kelly McBride — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:15:40 +0000

Until today, media covering allegations of sexual harassment leveled against Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain have universally withheld the identities of the women, who did not voluntarily come forward.

Then today, The Daily, Rupert Murdoch’s iPad publication, revealed the… Read more

Feldman’s ESPN non-suspension follows bad decision-making

Kelly McBride — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 23:25:12 +0000

The recent flap over Bruce Feldman’s non-suspension for writing a book on behalf of a guy now suing ESPN for libel has been characterized as (a) a Twitter revolution, (b) an ESPN house of cards, (c) Twitterati gone wild.

In… Read more

Peter Perl: ‘I haven’t been fired or suspended or fined’ for keeping Vargas secret

Kelly McBride — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 11:14:15 +0000

The Washington Post will reassign some of Peter Perl’s duties, but won’t demote or suspend the assistant managing editor, who knew that Jose Vargas was an undocumented immigrant, but kept it a secret for seven years.

I talked with… Read more

Roundup of plagiarism & fabrication cases

Mallary Jean Tenore — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 12:26:00 +0000

When it comes to deciding how to handle a plagiarism or fabrication case, there are a variety of factors that news organizations might consider.

We don’t have enough data to identify trends in sanctions, but a look at some plagiarism/fabrication… Read more

Washington Post plagiarism case challenges educators who tell students not to break the rules

Steve Fox — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:50:03 +0000

“We’ll deal with it on a case-by-case basis.”

For many of us that approach was the guiding force on how to handle breaking news in the early years of Web journalism at The Washington Post. It was one way of… Read more

NPR not the only news org in need of modern, realistic ethics guidelines for its journalists

Kelly McBride — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 09:53:47 +0000

Ellen Weiss’ resignation wasn’t about Juan Williams and it wasn’t about NPR. It was about a news organization trying to keep a star in orbit by bending its standards. And there are plenty of other professional news outlets in similar… Read more

5 Takeaways From ‘Next Ethics?’ Workshop at Kent State

Jeremy Gilbert — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 14:41:27 +0000

By Jeremy Gilbert and Jan Leach

Journalism values are no doubt changing, but it’s not professionals who are driving these changes.

Last week’s “Next Ethics?” workshop, hosted by Kent State University and The Poynter Institute, explored questions… Read more