Ethics AdviceLine

One story, 15 corrections: The Washington Post is embarrassed by widespread errors in a freelance article about two African-American families, writes Sydney Smith. Errors included misspellings, family details, omissions of key details and statements, descriptions of incidents, context and allegations.   Visit the Ethics AdviceLine blog for more.

Reporting on special needs people: A complaint about a headline referring to a “wheelchair-bound man” caused a Canadian newspaper to caution its staff when reporting on people with disabilities, reported iMediaEthics. The term is “antiquated and ableist” ruled Canada’s National News Media Council. Say “person who uses a wheelchair.”   […]

News bums people out: “Basically, we are bumming — and burning — people out,” writes Christine Schmidt about a worldwide Reuters Digital News report. People avoid it. Solutions journalism points the way to solving depressing problems, like details putting solutions into action. Visit the Ethics AdviceLine blog for more.

Sharing content without thinking: “A complex web of societal shifts is making people more susceptible to misinformation and conspiracy,” writes Claire Wardle. “Most of this content is designed not to persuade people in any particular direction but to cause confusion, to overwhelm and to undermine trust in democratic institutions from […]

Detecting deepfake videos: Fake videos pose a grave threat to the 2020 elections, writes Olivia Beavers, unless media adopt policies to tell real videos from forgeries. “In the internet age, newsrooms have scrutinized images and videos to determine whether they are authentic or fake,” she writes. “But deepfakes will be […]

Collaborative data journalism: ProPublica launches a guidebook on allowing hundreds of people to access and work with a shared pool of data, writes Rachel Glickhouse. It includes how to start newsroom collaborations, ways to collaborate and managing workflows. Taking on enormous projects with hundreds of journalists.   Visit the […]

Reporting hate speech, violence and terrorism: The Public Media Alliance of journalists in South East Asia adopts guidelines for covering hate speech, violence and terrorism. An action plan workshop developed policies beginning with definitions leading to “how journalists and media professionals should respond to such situations.”   Visit the […]

Why journalism matters: “Why journalism matters should be one of the most important questions of our age, writes Glynn Greensmith. It’s the path to becoming informed. “When journalists are targeted, arrested, beaten and murdered all over the world, it’s because the people doing it know how important journalism is,” Greensmith […]

Mass shootings spawn misinformation: Fact-checking the El Paso and Dayton shootings revealed three findings, write Daniel Funke, Susan Benkelman and Cristina Tardaguila. Conspiracy mongering, rumors via messaging apps and hoaxes abound.   Visit the Ethics AdviceLine blog for more.

Newsroom diversity failing: We must put the responsibility on the cultural institution we call journalism, not just its individuals or organizations, writes Kathleen McElroy. “Like all white patriarchal institutions in America, journalism has seen itself outside of and superior to race — and also by extension, gender, sexuality, nationality, religion […]