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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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:

It’s time to hold editors accountable for harassed news workers

If you are an editor, publisher or general manager, what, if anything, do you do when employees, especially women, are harassed online?

Magazines with Black cover models from the past few months. (Courtesy: Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi’s School of Journalism)

Is the increase in Black representation in magazines hypocrisy or a genuine change?

And why do some magazine editors and public relations directors not want to talk about the sea change that has taken place in the industry?

Crews separate a pole with a crane in Grand Isle, Lousiana, a barrier island community south of New Orleans that was one of the hardest-hit areas.
Hurricane Zeta, a category 2 storm, knocked out power to over 2.6 million households across the southeast of the United States on Oct. 28. Many election polling places went without power for about two days in New Orleans, restricting access to early voting in predominantly minority communities. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)

Journalism can help communities with these five pillars of ethical disaster reporting

News stories about disasters should frame the impacts of environmental phenomena in meaningful ways

President-elect Joe Biden is shown on a television monitor in the White House briefing room, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Unfinished business from reporting on 2020’s presidential results — there’s lots of it

At fault: Off-the-mark polling, a voting population that defies prediction and transparency around vote calling rendered opaque by wonkiness.

(Screenshot, Poynter's The Weirdest Election Night Ever event)

Why does everyone trust the Associated Press for calling races?

TL;DR more than a century of history

Kathryn Weisser, right, of Phoenix, listens to the concession speech of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., at an election night rally Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

The art of the concession speech

The most important part isn't if the candidate accepts defeat, one historian found, but if his or her followers do

An election worker stamps a vote-by-mail ballot dropped off by a voter before placing it in an official ballot drop box before at the Miami-Dade County Board of Elections, Monday, Oct. 26, 2020, in Doral, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

What went wrong with the 2020 election polls and what’s next for political polling?

Polling is a tool that assists in the nation’s democratic checks and balances. If it doesn’t work or it isn’t trusted, democracy itself is weaker.

CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell on the network’s Election Day set. (Courtesy: CBS News)

Election Day is here. What can we expect from the news coverage?

Caution, for one thing. With results likely coming in later due to increased mail-in voting, news outlets need to take it slower ... and explain why.

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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.