Green Light Ethics

Practice hard-hitting journalism with confidence.

The Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership takes a practical approach to the ever-changing pressures on journalism and democracy. We are an authoritative voice for journalists, citizens and everyone interested in elevating discourse and fact-based expression while battling disinformation and bias.

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What we do:

Through the work of the Center, journalism can evolve its values and the public will better understand how those values impact their everyday lives, building practices of mutual trust and transparency. We:

Provide custom advice and training to professional newsrooms on stories and policies.
Advance the ethical standards that guide professional news organizations.
Work with citizens and journalists to identify issues where journalism can better serve its audience.
Host gatherings where journalists and experts can exchange ideas.
Sponsor research into building trust in news and the democratic process.

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Meet our team:

Do you want to interview one of our experts? Please email Poynter’s director of marketing Tina Dyakon for all media requests.

Neil Brown
President
The Poynter Institute

Kelly McBride
Poynter Senior Vice President and
Chair of Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership

Cheryl Carpenter
Leadership Faculty
The Poynter Institute

Rick Edmonds
Media Business Analyst & Leader of News Transformation
The Poynter Institute

Shannon Kellenberger
Administrative Assistant, Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership

Samantha Ragland
Faculty Member
The Poynter Institute

Al Tompkins, Senior Faculty, Broadcast and Online

Al Tompkins
Senior Faculty and Group Leader for Broadcast Media
The Poynter Institute

Doris Truong
Director of Training and Diversity
The Poynter Institute

Ethics articles:

People walk past nespaper front pages displayed outside the Newseum, now permanently closed, in Washington, Monday, June 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

US ranks last among 46 countries in trust in media, Reuters Institute report finds

Just 29% of people surveyed in the U.S. said they trust the news, compared to 45% in Canada and 54% in Brazil.

Police blotters from the St. Petersburg Times, clockwise from top left: Jan. 1, 1983; March 4, 1976; Oct. 4, 1983.

It’s time for journalism to break the cycle of crime reporting

The public good — rather than the public’s interest — should be a prevailing factor.

The New York Times building in New York (AP Photo/Richard Drew, FIle)

Departing NYT columnist Frank Bruni: ‘I should say I’m sorry’

Bruni looked back at his 10 years as a columnist and painted a picture of regret, saying he too often “swam with the snide tide.”

"NYC - LES - Former Jewish Daily Forward Building" by wallyg is licensed with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/

The dangers and privileges of being a white Jewish journalist

Jewish journalists are reporting on rising antisemitic attacks and threats while also grappling with dangers that their own communities face.

A view of the P4 lab and the Wuhan Institute of Virology is seen after a visit by the World Health Organization team in Wuhan in China's Hubei province on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

What we can learn from the media’s dismissal of the Wuhan lab theory

The newfound credibility of the lab-leak theory has sparked widespread criticism of media coverage and soul-searching among journalists.

A protester holds a "Latinx 4 BLM" sign during the "March of Silence," a demonstration in support of Black Lives Matter, on June 12, 2020, in Seattle, Wash. (VDB Photos/Shutterstock)

Latinx, POC and BIPOC are words trying to solve a bigger problem in journalism

How can journalists report on whole groups that are splintered by how they identify? There will never be a consensus. But specificity will always win.

In this Tuesday, June 2, 2020 file photo, demonstrators chant, at Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, during a protest over the death of George Floyd. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

How local news in Philadelphia covered the George Floyd protests

An analysis of a week of coverage reveals imbalances in voices and a shortage of reporting on protester demands.

John Carroll, left, then executive vice president and editor of the Los Angeles Times, gestures while taking part in a panel discussion with editors of some California newspapers over challenges of covering the war in Iraq, Saturday, May 17, 2003, at the state's Associated Press News Executives Council's Annual Meeting in Santa Rosa, Calif. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

Recalling a great newspaper editor and what he represented

He pushed back against growing challenges that threatened the health of newspapers, the partisan attacks on journalism and the rise of misinformation.

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In addition to our work through the Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership, Poynter trains journalists to be strong practitioners and supports newsroom transformation and accountability journalism. We are the home of three major initiatives that are battling misinformation: PolitiFact, the International Fact-Checking Network and the news literacy program for teenagers and first-time voters, MediaWise. There are many ways that you can contribute to this important work:

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The Craig Newmark Center for Ethics and Leadership at Poynter was made possible by a generous grant from Craig Newmark Philanthropies.