A class activity to learn
both law AND ethics
by Candace Bowen
“The first lesson she asked me to teach is lawnethics,” the excited student teacher said, adding more slowly, “But now I’m not exactly sure what that is….”
Sadly, she wasn’t alone in a class of education majors who would soon be licensed to teach journalism in a large Midwestern state. In fact, ask some teachers already in the classroom, ask their principals, and, while they would know it’s not all one word, they might be hard pressed to explain the difference between LAW and ETHICS.
But not knowing the difference makes it difficult to teach these two concepts effectively. They are separate fields, though they do overlap in theory and practice, and plenty of journalistic situations require us to assess both legal and ethical components.
So let’s look at them carefully. The simplistic definition says, “Law tells us what we COULD do, and ethics helps us decide what we SHOULD do.” Other definitions point out laws are passed by governing bodies of a town, state or country and breaking a law has specified consequences. In other words, you can be punished for not following the rules.
Ethics, on the other hand, is more about an individual or team process to arrive at the best way to act for the situation. According to the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin, “Ethical questions arise most typically in cases where there is genuine puzzlement about what should be done in various types of situations. There is usually some practical importance or urgency to such questions. Is it ethical for journalists to reveal their sources to the courts, despite their promises of confidentiality? Is it ethical of journalists to invade the privacy of politicians to investigate allegations of unethical conduct?”
It’s impossible to spell out all the ethical options because situations constantly change, and what works in one situation may be wrong in another that’s somewhat similar. Journalists need guidelines to help them make ethical decisions, but hard and fast rules won’t always work.
That’s why so many organizations have ethical guidelines that are flexible. Read the SPJ Code of Ethics: Seek Truth and Report It, Minimize Harm, Act Independently and Be Accountable and Transparent. It says nothing about firing a journalist for using an unnamed source or setting up an undercover sting, but the bullet points under each of these main tenets give the media some guidelines.
The Principals Guide to Scholastic Journalism also helps explain the difference between law and ethics and includes an extensive list of links to valuable resources.
Experienced journalism educators usually find it more effective to teach legal issues first, then ethical, because that’s the approach journalists take in the real world. What COULD we do? Would we be libeling someone if we printed that? If it’s illegal, go no further. But legal situations may have ethical implications. SHOULD we use the victim’s name? What about the accused? Both names? Neither name?
JEA’s law and ethics curriculum follows that same organization (for JEA members only). Even the three-week module handles the First Amendment, court cases, unprotected speech (libel, copyright, invasion of privacy), reporter’s privilege, FERPA, FOIA, before “Just Because You Can, Doesn’t Mean You Should” and additional ethics approaches.
Copy shot provided by the artist
Hypotheticals are a one good way to get students to look at a situation’s legal and ethical issues, like this one about a piece of art and how the student newspaper could and should report it:
As an art class project, the teacher told her students to create a scratchboard drawing, either from imagination or using a photo as its basis. Tammy used a picture in a school board-approved book, The Family of Man, that depicted a woman balancing a basket on her head. The art teacher thought her finished product was wonderful and wanted to put it in a display case at the end of the art hallway, but she wasn’t sure she could — the woman was nude from the waist up. When the teacher asked the principal’s opinion, he said, no, don’t hang it in the hall. Tammy was furious and so were some of the newspaper staff when they heard the story. Would you cover this incident? How? As an editorial? A news story? Whom would you interview? Would you consider running a copy shot of the photo? What would the principal likely say? First, think about the legal issues — is it obscene? Is it a copyright violation? Any other possible laws you might break? If nothing is legally wrong, what about the ethics? What is your reason for running it? (Download the picture here)
Read More
SPRC adds six new ethics-staff manual models
JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Committee added six new ethical-staff manual statements July 7 in connection with its Adviser Institute in Las Vegas. The model guidelines range from understanding ‘no publication’ guidelines to producing video dubs.
All seven are part of the SPRC’s Foundations package, designed to coordinate student media editorial policies with ethical guidelines and staff manual application.
Links to the package are:
• Foundations package
• Sitemap of all models
Links to the new statements are:
• Recording interviews
• Creating “Put Up” guidelines
• Producing video dubs
• Handling user-generated content
• Recognizing public spaces
• Understanding “no publication” guidelines
CJE test-takers need not fear law & ethics questions
“But the law and ethics questions worry me,” said a slightly frazzled journalism teacher as she slid into the last row of seats for one of the Denver convention’s Getting Certified sessions. She was going to take the test later that day in hopes of becoming a Certified Journalism Educator, and she knew she HAD to pass that part of the test.
Read MoreCrossing the line: student challenges public media ethics
When a television reporter crossed the line to get a story about a local high school’s security system that led to a school lockdown, a student journalist challenged the media’s ethics.
Kirkwood High School’s (Mo.) Ian Madden knew from journalism class that truth is the most important tool in journalistic ethics. When a reporter from the St. Louis television station KSDK (Channel 5) went under cover to gather information about the the flaws in Kirkwood High School building security, Madden knew he had to challenge the television reporter’s ethics. In addition to surreptitiously gaining entrance into the school, the professional reporter misconstrued and left out crucial information that set off Madden. He was not the only one who noticed. Media from across the country picked up Madden’s challenge, which ultimately let to an apology to the public from the television station.
According to Madden’s adviser, Mitch Eden, “everybody noticed. Local media, social media and, of course, the Kirkwood H.S. media. Ian Madden, Kirkwood Call opinions writer, was so upset he started writing at midnight and posted to TheKirkwoodCall.com the next morning. It connected with the audience receiving more than 30,000 hits in a three-day span. Ian was a spokesperson for his peers and community. He was questioning journalism ethics by the professional media. His piece was picked up and mentioned in several local media outlets and he was a guest on a KMOX radio show. The event itself eventually reached the New York Times, Poynter, SPJ and more. But it was Ian who modeled professional standards, quality journalism and even better passion and judgment first.”
Click this link to read Madden’s challenge to the professional media.
http://www.thekirkwoodcall.com/_stories_/opinion/2014/01/17/where-ksdk-went-wrong-2/
The following links document the impact of one student’s mission to challenge public media’s for engaging in unethical reporting practices.
*The Call’s breaking news piece of the event for background: http://www.thekirkwoodcall.com/top-stories/2014/01/16/khs-goes-on-lockdown-2/
*Check out these links of professional media covering the event and subsequently covering the journalistic ethics in question:
KHS/KSDK Security “Test”
The Call – Opinions (Ian Madden)
http://www.thekirkwoodcall.com/top-stories/2014/01/17/where-ksdk-went-wrong-2/
The Call – Breaking News (Antonia Akrap and Jane Manwarring)
http://www.thekirkwoodcall.com/top-stories/2014/01/16/khs-goes-on-lockdown-2/
KSDK
http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/local/2014/01/16/newschannel-5-statement-school-safety/4531859/
Poynter
SNO Summary
KMOX Radio Show with Ian Madden
Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stacey-newman/tv-media-stunt-school-shootings_b_4647641.html
STL PD
Fox
http://fox2now.com/2014/01/16/kirkwood-high-school-locked-down-while-police-search-for-man/
KMOV
RFT:
http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2014/01/ksdk_kirkwood_lockdown.php
McClellan:
WKT:
Opposing Views:
Gateway Journalism Review:
The Apology
http://www.ksdk.com/videos/news/2014/01/19/4653995/
St. Louis Today
SPJ Ethical Code: Avoid undercover methods of gathering info except when traditional open methods won’t yield info vital to public.
http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp:
Donnybrook:
http://video.ketc.org/video/2365158824/
New York Times
Read MoreThe rules of the journalistic road
start with law and ethics
by Stan Zoller, MJE
Once a week I find myself at the local police station.
It’s a routine I have gotten into as part of the coverage I do for my local blog. Every week I check the police reports to see what sort of dastardly things local residents have called the police for.
It runs the gamut from attempted break-ins to settling a dispute over wedding photos.
Yes, there may be eight million stories in the naked city, but they’re not all riveting.
What is riveting in its own way to me is the number of reports where the responding officer notes that the offender was “not aware of the ordinance.” Some of the ordinances are mundane – like the hours you can put your garbage out, while others stipulate what constitutes a dangerous dog
It’s the heavy-weight stuff that rocks suburbia.
However, it seems to be commonplace for some folks to go about their daily business seemingly oblivious to rules and laws that are there for their own protection.
Can you imagine teaching and advising a scholastic journalism program without putting the rules of the road first?
While students are infatuated and seemingly obsessed with online and social media, the essential fundamentals of journalism – including laws and ethics – need to, as “boring” as they may be, need to a dominant part of any education curriculum.
This isn’t breaking news; nor is it to open to debate.
Teaching press laws and ethics is a no-brainer. If you are stuck on how to teach it, you need to go no further than JEA.ORG where you’ll find curricula for a variety of topics including, to no surprise, Law and Ethics. There are extensive three- five- and nine week instructional plans. There’s no stone left unturned.
Where a debate may emerge, however, is not which module to use, but when.
I know some teachers who start their J class with it while others do it later in the first quarter, other teachers who wait until later in the first semester and yes, some who wait until second semester.
The reasons run the gamut. But let’s face it, laws and ethics just don’t have the sex appeal as doing a great spread in the yearbook, posting videos on a web site or sending out tweets.
I have always equated teaching press law and ethics to teaching, of all things, driver’s education. You don’t get behind the wheel until you know the rules of the road.
I know. Boring.
[pullquote]I’d rather have students know press law and ethics at the start of the year so they know the expectations of ethical reporting within the parameters of the law, than start installing the smoke alarm after the fire has started.[/pullquote]
But I’d rather have students know press law and ethics at the start of the year so they know the expectations of ethical reporting within the parameters of the law, than start installing the smoke alarm after the fire has started.
The Scholastic Press Law Center and JEA’s Scholastic Press Rights Commission offer a plethora of resources for educators and students to augment JEA’s curriculum. These include not only blogs, but Scholastic Press Rights minutes – one-minute audio tips about press law and ethics – but also sample policies, tips on public access and freedom of information to name a few.
Start your trip at JEASPRC.org and you’ll find the road will be a lot smoother.
And if you should find yourself in a bind, it won’t be because you “were not aware of the ordinance.”
Read More