1 | www.mediaethicsinitiative.org
How Deep Does the Virtual Rabbit Hole Go?
“Deepfakes” and the Ethics of Faked Video Content
Photo: Geralt / CC0
The Internet has a way of both refining techniques and technologies by pushing them to their
limits—and of bending them toward less-altruistic uses. For instance, artificial intelligence
is increasingly being used to push the boundaries of what appears to be reality in faked
videos. The premise of the phenomenon is straightforward: use artificial intelligence to
seamlessly crop the faces of other people (usually celebrities or public figures) from an
authentic video into other pre-existing videos. While some uses of this technology can be
beneficial or harmless, the potential for real damage is also present. This recent
phenomenon, often called “Deepfakes,” has gained media attention due to early adopters and
programmers using it to place the face of female celebrities onto the bodies of actresses in
unrelated adult film videos. A celebrity therefore appears to be participating in a
pornographic video even though, in reality, they have not done so. The actress Emma Watson
was one of the first targets of this technology, finding her face cropped onto an explicit porn
video without her consent. She is currently embroiled in a lawsuit filed against the producer
of the faked video. While the Emma Watson case is still in progress, the difficulty of getting
videos like these taken down cannot be understated. Law professor Eric Goldman points out
the difficulty of pursuing such cases. He notes that while defamation and slander laws may
apply to Deepfake videos, there is no straightforward or clear legal path for getting videos
like these taken down, especially given their ability to re-appear once uploaded to the
internet. While pornography is protected as a form of expression or art of some producer,
Deepfake technology creates the possibility of creating adult films without the consent of
those “acting” in it. Making matters more complex is the increasing ease with which this
technology is available: forums exist with users offering advice on making faked videos and
a phone app is available for download that can be employed by basically anyone to make a
Deepfake video using little more than a few celebrity images.
Part of the challenge presented by Deepfakes concerns a conflict between aesthetic values
and issues of consent. Celebrities or targets of faked videos did not consent to be portrayed
in this manner, a fact which has led prominent voices in the adult film industry to condemn
http://www.mediaethicsinitiative.org/
https://pixabay.com/en/binary-code-woman-face-view-1327501/
https://pixabay.com/en/service/terms/#usage
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Deepfakes. One adult film company executive characterized the problem with Deepfakes in
a Variety article: “it’s f[**]ed up. Everything we do … is built around the word consent.
Deepfakes by defini ...
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1 www.mediaethicsinitiative.org How Deep Does the .docx
1. 1 | www.mediaethicsinitiative.org
How Deep Does the Virtual Rabbit Hole Go?
“Deepfakes” and the Ethics of Faked Video Content
Photo: Geralt / CC0
The Internet has a way of both refining techniques and
technologies by pushing them to their
limits—and of bending them toward less-altruistic uses. For
instance, artificial intelligence
is increasingly being used to push the boundaries of what
appears to be reality in faked
videos. The premise of the phenomenon is straightforward: use
artificial intelligence to
seamlessly crop the faces of other people (usually celebrities or
public figures) from an
authentic video into other pre-existing videos. While some uses
of this technology can be
beneficial or harmless, the potential for real damage is also
present. This recent
phenomenon, often called “Deepfakes,” has gained media
attention due to early adopters and
programmers using it to place the face of female celebrities
onto the bodies of actresses in
unrelated adult film videos. A celebrity therefore appears to be
participating in a
pornographic video even though, in reality, they have not done
2. so. The actress Emma Watson
was one of the first targets of this technology, finding her face
cropped onto an explicit porn
video without her consent. She is currently embroiled in a
lawsuit filed against the producer
of the faked video. While the Emma Watson case is still in
progress, the difficulty of getting
videos like these taken down cannot be understated. Law
professor Eric Goldman points out
the difficulty of pursuing such cases. He notes that while
defamation and slander laws may
apply to Deepfake videos, there is no straightforward or clear
legal path for getting videos
like these taken down, especially given their ability to re-appear
once uploaded to the
internet. While pornography is protected as a form of
expression or art of some producer,
Deepfake technology creates the possibility of creating adult
films without the consent of
those “acting” in it. Making matters more complex is the
increasing ease with which this
technology is available: forums exist with users offering advice
on making faked videos and
a phone app is available for download that can be employed by
basically anyone to make a
Deepfake video using little more than a few celebrity images.
Part of the challenge presented by Deepfakes concerns a
conflict between aesthetic values
and issues of consent. Celebrities or targets of faked videos did
not consent to be portrayed
in this manner, a fact which has led prominent voices in the
adult film industry to condemn
http://www.mediaethicsinitiative.org/
https://pixabay.com/en/binary-code-woman-face-view-1327501/
3. https://pixabay.com/en/service/terms/#usage
2 | www.mediaethicsinitiative.org
Deepfakes. One adult film company executive characterized the
problem with Deepfakes in
a Variety article: “it’s f[**]ed up. Everything we do … is built
around the word consent.
Deepfakes by definition runs contrary to consent.” It is
unwanted and potentially
embarrassing to be placed in a realistic porn video in which one
didn’t actually participate.
These concerns over consent are important, but Deepfakes
muddies the waters by involving
fictional creations and situations. Pornography, including
fantasy satires based upon real-
life figures such as the disgraced politician Anthony Weiner, is
protected under the First
Amendment as a type of expressive activity, regardless of
whether those depicted or
satirized approve of its ideas and activities. Nudity and fantasy
situations play a range of
roles in expressive activity, some with private contexts and
some with public contexts. For
instance, 2016 saw the installation of several unauthorized—and
nude—statues of then-
candidate Donald Trump across the United States. Whether or
not we judge the message or
use of these statues to be laudatory, they do seem to evoke the
aesthetic values of creativity
and expression that conflicts with a focus on consent to be
depicted in a created (and possibly
critical) artifact. Might Deepfakes, especially those of
4. celebrities or public figures, ever be a
legitimate form of aesthetic expression of their creators, in a
similar way that a deeply
offensive pornographic video is still a form of expression of its
creators? Furthermore, not
all Deepfakes are publically exhibited and used in connection
with their target’s name,
thereby removing most, if not all, of the public harm that would
be created by their
exhibition. When does private fantasy become a public
problem?
Beyond their employment in fictional, but realistic, adult
videos, the Deepfakes phenomena
raises a more politically-concerning issue. Many are worried
that Deepfakes have the
potential to damage the world’s political climate through the
spread of realistic faked video
news. If seeing is believing, might our concerns about
misinformation, propaganda, and fake
news gain a new depth if all or part of the “news” item in
question is a realistic video clip
serving as evidence for some fictional claim? Law professors
Robert Chesney and Danielle
Citron consider a range of scenarios in which Deepfakes
technology could prove disastrous
when utilized in fake news: “false audio might convincingly
depict U.S. officials privately
‘admitting’ a plan to commit this or that outrage overseas,
exquisitely timed to disrupt an
important diplomatic initiative,” or “a fake video might depict
emergency officials
‘announcing’ an impending missile strike on Los Angeles or an
emergent pandemic in New
York, provoking panic and worse.” Such uses of faked video
could create compelling, and
5. potentially harmful, viral stories with the capacity to travel
quickly across social media. Yet
in a similar fashion to the licentious employments in forged
adult footage, one can see the
potential aesthetic values of Deepfakes as a form of expression,
trolling, or satire in some
political employments. The fairly crude “bad lip reading”
videos of the recent past that placed
new audio into real videos for humorous effect will soon give
way to more realistic
Deepfakes involving political and celebrity figures saying
humorous, satirical, false, or
frightening things. Given AI’s advances and Deepfake
technology’s supercharging of how we
can reimagine and realistically depict the world, how do we
legally and ethically renegotiate
the balance among the values of creative expression, the
concerns over the consent of others,
and our pursuit of truthful content?
http://www.mediaethicsinitiative.org/
3 | www.mediaethicsinitiative.org
Discussion Questions:
1. Beyond the legal worries, what is the ethical problem with
Deepfake videos? Does this
problem change if the targeted individual is a public or private
figure?
6. 2. Do your concerns about the ethics of Deepfakes videos
depend upon them being made
public, and not being kept private by their creator?
3. Do the ethical and legal concerns raised concerning
Deepfakes matter for more
traditional forms of art that use nude and non-nude depictions
of public figures? Why or
why not?
4. How might artists use Deepfakes as part of their art? Can you
envision ways that
politicians and celebrities could be legitimately criticized
through the creation of biting
but fake videos?
5. How would you balance the need to protect artists (and
others’) interest in expressing
their views with the public’s need for truthful information? In
other words, how can we
control the spread of video-based fake news without unduly
infringing on art, satire, or
even trolling?
Further Information:
Chesney, R., & Citron, D. (2018, February 26). Deep Fakes: A
Looming Crisis for
National Security, Democracy and Privacy? Retrieved March
7. 17, 2018, from
https://www.lawfareblog.com/deep-fakes-looming-crisis-
national-security-
democracy-and-privacy
Farokhmanesh, M. (2018, January 30). Is it legal to swap
someone's face into porn
without consent? Retrieved March 18, 2018, from
https://www.theverge.com/
2018/1/30/16945494/deepfakes-porn-face-swap-legal
Felton, J. (2018, March 13). 'Deep Fake' Videos Could Be Used
To Influence Future
Global Politics, Experts Warn. Retrieved March 17, 2018, from
http://www.iflscience.com/technology/deep-fake-videos-could-
be-used-to-
influence-future-global-politics-experts-warn/
Roettgers, J. (2018, February 21). Porn Producers Offer to Help
Hollywood Take
Down Deepfake Videos. Retrieved March 18, 2018, from
http://variety.com/2018/digital/news/deepfakes-porn-adult-
industry-
1202705749/
http://www.mediaethicsinitiative.org/
https://www.lawfareblog.com/deep-fakes-looming-crisis-
national-security-democracy-and-privacy
https://www.lawfareblog.com/deep-fakes-looming-crisis-
9. J. Organiz. Behav. 27, 967–982 (2006)
Published online in Wiley InterScience
(www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/job.417
* Correspondence to: A
Hall, Room 476, 1841
Copyright # 2006
Leadership development in healthcare:
A qualitative study
ANN SCHECK McALEARNEY*
Division of Health Services Management and Policy, School of
Public Health, The Ohio State
University, Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A.
Summary Challenges associated with leading a $1.7 trillion
industry have created a need for strong
leaders at all levels in healthcare organizations. However,
despite growing support for the
importance of leadership development practices across
industries, little is known about
leadership development in healthcare organizations. An
extensive qualitative study comprised
of 35 expert interviews and 55 organizational case studies
included 160 in-depth, semi-
structured interviews and explored this issue. Across interviews,
several themes emerged
around leadership development challenges that were particularly
salient to healthcare organ-
izations. Informants described how the relative newness of
leadership development practices
in a majority of healthcare organizations contributes to an
overall perception of haphazard
practices throughout the industry. In addition, respondents
noted challenges associated with
10. developing leaders who would be representative of the patient
community served, and
commented on the pressure to segregate different professional
groups for leadership devel-
opment. Framed by these challenges, I propose a conceptual
model of commitment to
leadership development in healthcare organizations as
influenced by three factors—strategy,
culture, and structure. These, in turn, influence program design
decisions and can impact
organizational effectiveness. In the context of inherently
complex healthcare organizations
where leaders must respond to multiple stakeholders and meet
performance goals across
multiple dimensions of effectiveness, addressing these reported
challenges and consider-
ing the importance of organizational commitment to leadership
development can help
ensure that programs are effectively designed, delivered, and
sustained. Copyright # 2006
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Introduction
A sense of crisis is building about how healthcare organizations
will meet their leadership needs in the
future (Institute for the Future, 2000; Mecklenburg, 2001;
Schneller, 1997). Yet few healthcare
organizations have made substantial investments in developing
their leaders. Although bombarded by
constant and rapid change within the $1.7 trillion industry
(Smith, Cowan, Sensenig, Catlin, & Health
Accounts Team, 2005), healthcare organizations are frequently
slow to adopt best practices from other
11. industries. Instead, the industry struggles to respond to crucial
needs including reducing unnecessary
medical errors (Kohn, Corrigan, & Donaldson, 1999), increasing
investments in information
nn S. McAlearney, Division of Health Services Management and
Policy, The Ohio State University, Cunz
Millikin Road, Columbus, OH 43210-1229, U.S.A. E-mail:
[email protected]
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Received 30 January 2005
Revised 30 January 2006
Accepted 29 June 2006
968 A. S. McALEARNEY
technologies (Benchmarks, 2002), and addressing the glaring
inequities and disparities in both access
to care and medical treatment (Kerr, McGlynn, Adams, Keesey,
& Asch, 2004; McGlynn et al., 2003;
Smedley, Institute of Medicine, Stith, & Nelson, 2002). This
article addresses the gaps in leadership
development within healthcare organizations and contextual
factors that hamper closing these gaps.
Certain features of healthcare organizations are clearly unique
to the industry (Ramanujam &
Rousseau, 2004). Although physicians play a central role in the
12. delivery of healthcare services, they are
rarely employed by provider organizations, and are thus
typically outside the purview of traditional
human resources practices and leadership development
initiatives. In addition, the professional norms
and practice standards expected of physicians and other medical
professionals create demands for
continued clinical education and development that the
organization must facilitate, but that are rarely
linked to the education and development priorities of the
healthcare organization itself. Further, the
multiple constituencies of healthcare organizations including
patients, families, insurers, and
regulators that compete to influence healthcare have varied
perspectives about care delivery and its
dynamics, and these divergent views contribute to considerable
complexity around definitions of
organizational effectiveness and impact for healthcare leaders to
interpret.
Challenges for leadership in the healthcare industry
Complexity in the healthcare industry undoubtedly creates
special challenges for leadership and
leadership development, stemming from a combination of both
environmental and organizational
13. factors. Environmentally, healthcare organizations are faced
with a myriad of regulatory influences
largely out of their control. For example, most hospitals receive
a majority of their reimbursement from
public sources, including the Federally-sponsored Medicare
program and the co-sponsored Federal and
State-funded Medicaid program. Yet these provider
organizations rarely have much power or influence
over reimbursement rates, and reimbursement for both hospital
and physician services may be below
the actual cost of providing care. As a result, hospitals are
challenged to manage fragile budgets and
often shifting reimbursement rates, while needing to deliver
high-quality care regardless of payment
source or adequacy.
Organizationally, healthcare organizations are notorious for
seemingly chaotic internal
coordination. Multiple hierarchies of professionals, on both the
clinical and administrative sides
of the organization, generate special challenges for directing the
organization and coordination of
work in healthcare. Often noted is the cultural chasm between
administrators and clinicians (e.g.,
14. Friedson, 1972; McAlearney, Fisher, Heiser, Robbins, &
Kelleher, 2005; Shortell, 1992). Even
within clinical ranks, divisions exist associated with
professional distinctions such as between
physicians and nurses, pharmacists and physicians, and so forth.
Such differences create
considerable challenges for leadership as organizations struggle
to manage their varied employed
and contracted worker populations.
Competing organizational priorities create constant challenges
for healthcare leaders charged to
direct and appropriately utilize financial and human resources
to best serve patients, communities, and
other stakeholders and constituents. The needs of multiple
internal and external stakeholders often
conflict. An oft-repeated phrase is the notion of ‘‘no mission,
no margin,’’ reflecting the fundamental
importance of maintaining the healthcare organization’s
financial viability in order to serve the needs of
patients and the community. Though goals may be clearer in
for-profit hospitals or healthcare systems
in which shareholder demands mandate a focus on financials,
such settings still require professional
commitments and face ethical concerns.
15. Managerial and organizational learning receive relatively little
attention in health care
organizations. Management mistakes in healthcare are rarely
acknowledged or examined as useful
sources of organizational learning (Hofmann, 2005; Hofmann &
Perry, 2005; Jones, 2005; Kovner
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Organiz. Behav.
27, 967–982 (2006)
DOI: 10.1002/job
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN HEALTHCARE 969
& Rundall, 2006; Russell & Greenspan, 2005). For example, the
failed merger between Stanford
and UCSF Medical Center could have been predicted by a
review of both general and healthcare-
specific management literature, yet several years and millions
of dollars later, the two systems
separated to become independent systems once again (Russell,
2000). In healthcare settings, there
is often little attention given to how to improve management
practice, increasing the likelihood that
previous mistakes will be repeated.
Conceptual Background
Healthcare leadership needs
16. Clinical and organizational challenges combined increase the
need for strong leadership at all levels of
healthcare organizations. Considerable evidence supports the
notion that leaders and their actions
affect organizational results (Fuller, Paterson, Hester, &
Stringer, 1996; Lowe, Kroeck, &
Sivasubramaniam, 1996; Sashkin & Rosenbach, 2001; Smith,
Carson, & Alexander, 1984). In
healthcare organizations, the impact of leaders extends to the
lives and well-being of patients and their
communities. Features of healthcare delivery make these effects
distinct. For example, in contrast to
other customers and consumers, the vulnerability of patients and
the problem of asymmetric
information in healthcare delivery choices are frequently
mentioned as contributors to patients’
position as a unique category of customers (Newhouse, 2002).
The typically dual role of physicians as
both consumers of healthcare resources and controllers of
organizational revenues in their ability to
direct patients and prescribe care, makes leader relationships
with physicians fairly atypical in
comparison with key stakeholder relationships in other
industries.
17. Further, researchers and authors have recently emphasized that
great leadership must be
transformational, requiring leaders to be able to empower and
motivate their workforce, define and
articulate a vision, build and foster trust and relationships,
adhere to accepted values and standards, and
inspire their followers to accept change and meet organizational
goals on multiple levels (Bass, 1985;
Bennis, 1989; Bono & Judge, 2003; Burns, 1978; Gardner,
1990; House, 1977; House & Shamir, 1993;
Kouzes & Posner, 1993, 1995). Yet a sense of how to best
develop these great, transformational leaders
is far from established, especially in healthcare organizations.
Leadership development practices
Leadership development practices are defined as educational
processes designed to improve the
leadership capabilities of individuals. These practices are rooted
in the traditions of management training
programs designed to improve both individual managerial skills
and job performance (Burke & Day,
1986), and can have important effects on both organizational
climate (Moxnes & Eilertsen, 1991) and
organizational culture (Schein, 1985). Practices in leadership
18. development are a variant of management
development practices which are defined as interventions that
are intended to enhance effectiveness or
improve organizational culture by facilitating managers’
learning (Gray & Snell, 1985).
Conger and Benjamin (1999) outline four general approaches to
leadership development that include
developing the individual leader, socializing company vision
and values, strategic leadership
initiatives, and action learning (Conger & Benjamin, 1999).
Within organizations, leadership
development practices commonly include activities such as 360-
degree feedback, skill-based training,
job assignments, developmental relationships (e.g., mentoring,
coaching), and action learning (McCall,
Lombardo, & Morrison, 1998; McCauley, Moxley, &
VanVelson, 1998; Revans, 1980). Although
considerable variability exists across organizations and
industries with respect to the balance and
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Organiz. Behav.
27, 967–982 (2006)
DOI: 10.1002/job
970 A. S. McALEARNEY
19. content of leadership development programs, program designs
are generally consistent with the four
basic frameworks outlined above. This consistency presents
opportunities to explore program
development challenges and decisions in a particular set of
organizations, such as healthcare
organizations, rather than focus on program features and details.
Leadership development in healthcare
Anecdotal evidence suggests the healthcare industry lags behind
other industries with respect to
leadership development practices and other human resources
functions, but these issues have not been
systematically investigated. This exploratory study is designed
to improve our understanding of
leadership development practices in healthcare organizations by
asking experts and organizational
representatives to describe their views of leadership
development in healthcare, and to propose future
directions for healthcare leadership development.
Organizational Context
External Environment
The $1.7 trillion U.S. healthcare industry is both extensive and
competitive, with nearly 5,000 hospitals
20. and 700,000 physicians nationwide. Most markets are
dominated by not-for-profit hospitals and health
systems, yet these healthcare organizations are subject to strong
pressure to adhere to rigorous business
principles in order to remain viable and realize their
organizational missions.
Industry Factors
Several features of the healthcare industry are clearly unique.
For instance, while physicians are rarely
employed by hospitals or health systems, they play a central
role in directing and utilizing
organizational resources, creating challenges for organizational
leaders. Similarly, external influences
from third parties including insurance companies, employers,
and government payers drive strategic
organizational priorities around issues such as cost containment
and quality improvement.
Organizational Factors
Inside healthcare organizations, internal coordination is often
reportedly poor, leading to avoidable,
expensive, and often devastating medical and managerial
mistakes. The cultural chasm between
administrators and clinicians contributes to a sense of chaos,
with workers often identifying more
21. with their professional peers than with the organization.
Further, human resources functions in
healthcare organizations have historically been limited in scope,
and rarely valued for any strategic
role in contributing to organizational success.
Current Problems Faced
Enhanced focus on strategic priorities in healthcare has
increased organizations’ attention to the
need to develop and improve their human resources capabilities.
Yet, despite evidence from other
industries about the roles and opportunities for leadership
development in organizations, our
understanding of leadership development practices in healthcare
organizations was limited.
Time
This study was conducted in 2003 and 2004, during a period of
rapid change in the healthcare
industry. Intensifying demands for new information
technologies in clinical practice, error
reduction in medicine, and new capabilities among healthcare
knowledge workers increased
pressure to better prepare leaders at all levels in healthcare
organizations.
22. Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Organiz. Behav.
27, 967–982 (2006)
DOI: 10.1002/job
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN HEALTHCARE 971
Methods
Study design
I conducted 35 key informant interviews with individuals
considered experts in healthcare leadership
on the basis of their national reputation, and studied 55
organizations reported to provide healthcare
leadership development training either in-house or as a vendor
to healthcare provider organizations.
The combination of expert interviews and organizational case
studies included a total of 160 interviews
conducted between September 2003 and December 2004. Table
1 shows the characteristics of study
participants across expert interviews and case studies.
I used standard, semi-structured interview guides including
open-ended questions to both frame the
interviews and permit probing for additional information (Miles
& Huberman, 1994) in the expert
interviews and case studies. The original interview guides were
pilot tested with healthcare leaders and
23. provider organizations in the local area.
This qualitative design (Maxwell, 1996) enabled me to meet the
objectives of my research,
permitting exploration of the different issues that emerged
around the topic of leadership development
in healthcare. A qualitative approach was appropriate for this
study because of the exploratory nature
of my research, and because I suspected that experts’ and
organizations’ perspectives about leadership
development were multidimensional, making them difficult to
examine quantitatively (Miles &
Huberman, 1994). In addition, my use of qualitative methods
enabled me to explore both experiences
and predictions of experts and organizational representatives,
and provided rich information about the
multiple facets of leadership development challenges in
healthcare (Crabtree & Miller, 1999; Miles &
Huberman, 1994). No potential informant contacted refused to
participate in the study. All participants
were assured that their voluntary participation would remain
anonymous.
Expert interviews
Expert key informants were purposely selected based on their
24. reputation in the healthcare industry
using a snowball sampling technique. The original sample of
key informants was generated by the
industry and academic members of the national Center for
Health Management Research (Seattle,
WA), and the sample was extended by study informants who
were asked to suggest additional experts
Table 1. Study participants
Description Number (%)
Experts interviewed Association leaders 15 (43%)
University faculty 12 (34%)
Industry consultants 8 (23%)
Total 35
Organizational case studies Healthcare provider organizations
43 (78%)
Leadership development program vendors 12 (22%)
Total 55
Organizational case study Executive-level Informant 39 (31%)
informants Director-level Informant 51 (41%)
Manager-level Informant 23 (18%)
Program participant 12 (10%)
Total 125
Total key informants 160
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Organiz. Behav.
27, 967–982 (2006)
25. DOI: 10.1002/job
972 A. S. McALEARNEY
for the study interviews. Experts had a variety of current and
former affiliations, including with
healthcare industry associations, universities, consulting
organizations, and provider organizations.
Data saturation was judged to be reached when informants’
suggestions about key informants were
repetitive, and when no new insights were emerging from the
ongoing data analysis (Morse, 2000).
Interviews were conducted both in-person and telephonically,
using rigorous ethnographic interview
techniques (Spradley, 1979). Interviews lasted 45–90 minutes,
with an average duration of 1 hour,
consistent with the methods suggested for in-depth interviews
(McCracken, 1988). Experts were asked to
describe their own healthcare leadership and leadership
development experiences, and to comment on both
the current status of and program development opportunities for
leadership development in healthcare.
Organizational case studies
Similar to expert informants, organizations were purposely
sampled based on their reported experience
26. and reputation with leadership development in healthcare. The
original sample was again produced by
the members of the Center for Health Management Research,
and extended based upon conversations
with experts and other organizational informants. Fifty-five
organizations were studied between
September 2003 and December 2004. Five organizations were
studied in person in order to efficiently
complete multiple key informant interviews, while the
remaining organizations were studied using
numerous telephone interviews. One hundred twenty-five
interviews were held as part of the
organizational case studies. These case studies (Yin, 1984)
consisted of interviews with key informants,
in addition to collection and study of documents associated with
the leadership development programs,
and a review of publicly available program information
accessible through formal publication or the
Internet. Interviews lasted 30–90 minutes, with an average of 45
minutes for each interview.
Organizations studied included both healthcare provider
organizations with internal leadership
development activities and external organizations which provide
leadership development programs to
27. individuals and institutions in the health services industry.
Internal case study organizations consisted
of 43 healthcare systems and individual hospitals which had
reportedly designed and implemented
healthcare leadership development programs, and respondents
included executives, directors,
managers, and program participants. Twelve external case study
organizations included both
healthcare associations and other vendors of healthcare
leadership development programs, with
respondents including individuals leading the organizations and
those developing and delivering
healthcare leadership development programs.
Questions addressed the structure and format of leadership
development program activities,
including approaches to identifying and targeting individuals
and groups for leadership development
opportunities. Similar to the expert interviews, an open-ended
list of questions was used, including
questions probing for more information.
Analyses
A majority of the interviews were audiotaped and professionally
transcribed, with extensive field notes
28. used in the small number of cases (3) where taping was
infeasible. This process yielded 160 transcripts
and over 1,000 single-spaced pages for analysis.
My analyses used the constant comparative method of
qualitative data analysis (Glaser & Strauss, 1967),
and common techniques to code the data (Constas, 1992; Miles
& Huberman, 1994). Using a grounded
theory approach (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss & Corbin,
1998), I read transcripts and discussed findings
with my research associates and professional colleagues as the
study progressed. This iterative process
enabled me to explore new themes that emerged in subsequent
interviews and case studies.
Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. J. Organiz. Behav.
27, 967–982 (2006)
DOI: 10.1002/job
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN HEALTHCARE 973
I applied a combination of deductive and inductive methods in
my analyses. Prior to coding the data,
I produced ideas about the themes I expected to find, and then
closely read the transcripts to inductively
advance code development. This coding process permitted me to
organize the data into categories of
29. findings, and allowed me to identify broad themes that emerged
from the data (Miles & Huberman,
1994). I use the term ‘‘theme’’ to identify a cohesive category
of responses, found across experts and/or
across organizations, that aggregates patterns observed in the
data. In addition, throughout the study,
periodic discussions with professional colleagues and my
research associates and an ongoing review of
the literature helped me to validate, compare, and extend my
findings, where appropriate (Glaser &
Strauss, 1967). I used the qualitative data analysis software
Atlas.ti (version 4.2) (Scientific Software
Development, 1998) to support these analyses.
Results
First, six distinct themes emerged from the data concerning the
specific leadership development
challenges for healthcare organizations. Each of the themes was
discussed across informants,
supporting the validity of these findings. A summary of these
leadership development challenges is
presented in Table 2, and below I discuss each theme in greater
detail. Second, I propose a conceptual
model for organizational commitment to leadership development
in healthcare organizations. I present
this model and three propositions in the following pages.
30. Verbatim quotations have been selected that
are representative of the data.
Table 2. Challenge themes in healthcare leadership development
Challenge Representative comments
Theme 1: Industry lag: The healthcare
industry is very behind
‘‘We’re 15 years behind’’
‘‘I don’t think we are doing very well at all.’’
Theme 2: Representativeness: Need to
make organization
representative of community
and patient population
‘‘Hospital leadership should be a reflection
of the demographics of the community that
the hospital serves.’’
Theme 3: Professional conflicts:
Pressure to segregate different
professional groups for
leadership development
‘‘I do think it divides the organization and
so I don’t know that that’s a good thing to
have your managers divided.’’
Theme 4: Time constraints: Challenge of
freeing time for
program participation
‘‘That’s an hour or two. . .that’s being spent
31. away from patient care in
a learning environment.’’
Theme 5: Technical hurdles:
Challenges of the
organization’s technical
capabilities
‘‘If I don’t have a sound card then what’s the
use of getting a teleconference or a
videoconference? Because then
I can’t even hear it.’’
Theme 6: Financial constraints:
Challenges associated with
budgets, organization type
‘‘It’s something that’s the first thing that
people cut in a tight budget situation.’’
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974 A. S. McALEARNEY
Challenges of leadership development in healthcare
Theme 1: Industry Lag—The healthcare industry is very behind.
Across informants, many respondents noted that ‘‘healthcare
organizations are 10–15 years behind
other industries in the area of leadership development.’’ This
32. characterization of the industry as a whole
was consistent, and perhaps reflective of the trouble and delays
healthcare organizations have had
translating other industry practices (e.g., quality improvement
techniques) into their own
environments. As one respondent explained:
‘‘I think they’re learning what industry learned 15 years ago.
You’ve got to develop your own people
and you’ve got to fully pursue it. You’ve got to invest to do it
and you might as well make it a rational
decision that’s matched to the business strategies rather than
having these segmented areas where we
have OD [Organizational Development] doing some things here,
we have nursing development
rolling out God knows what over there. I think they’re really
learning what industry learned. You
know, it’s a classic curve. We’re 15 years behind in quality and
we’re about the same amount of time
behind in training.’’
In addition, there was a sense that commitments to leadership
development by healthcare organizations
were generally rare, and often insufficient. As one individual
reported, ‘‘I think a lot people who get into it
33. are just going through motions.’’ Another respondent similarly
noted, ‘‘I think that healthcare doesn’t
mandate enough leadership development from their managerial
ranks in general.’’ In contrast, the
importance of senior leadership commitment, the designation of
a highly visible and powerful program
director, and the need to align leadership development activities
with other organizational goals and
strategies may be standard in other industries which have a
longer history of incorporating leadership
development practices, but are only beginning to be recognized
in healthcare.
Theme 2: Representativeness—Need to make the organization
representative of the community and
the patient population.
A second theme that emerged involved the reported challenge of
healthcare organizations to develop
a diverse group of leaders that was representative of both the
patient population and the surrounding
community. As one informant explained, ‘‘As you develop your
management staff I think you have to
look for an opportunity to bring the kind of diversity that’s
necessary for your organization to be
responsive to the needs of the community that you serve.’’
34. Comments such as this were frequent across
respondents, and reflected the growing industry sensitivity to
the needs of diverse populations, and the
critical issue of disparate healthcare provision in U.S. hospitals
(Kerr, McGlynn, Adams, Keesey, &
Asch, 2004; McGlynn et al., 2003; Smedley, Institute of
Medicine, Stith, & Nelson, 2002).
Theme 3: Professional Conflicts—Pressure to segregate
different professional groups for leadership
development.
Another theme emerged around the issue of bridging the gap
that exists between administrative and
clinical leadership in healthcare organizations. Across the
internal programs I studied, there was
considerable debate about the best way to develop clinician
leaders, with a number of the proposed
approaches having only recently been implemented. For
example, many organizations reported tension
around the issue of nursing leadership development.
Opportunities are growing for nurses to participate
in leadership development programs that are separate from both
organizational programs and other
clinical leadership programs (e.g., the Health Care Advisory
Board’s Nursing Leadership Academy),
35. yet not all respondents believe this approach is best for the
organization as a whole. As one respondent
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27, 967–982 (2006)
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LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN HEALTHCARE 975
explained, ‘‘there’s been some resistance in terms of sending
nursing managers because I think [nursing
leadership] feels they are responsible for the nursing
management development so why should they go
to the Leadership Institute when [nursing leadership] can give
them everything they need.’’
Specific concerns also emerged about the best way to develop
physician leaders. Consistent with the
oft-reported ‘‘culture clash’’ between physicians and
administrators, many informants commented on
the special challenge of physician leadership development. As
one respondent summarized,
‘‘Administrators are from Venus, physicians are from Mars,
because you’ve got a clash of cultures
and a clash of different perspectives. So I think leadership
development in this setting requires
more—because it’s a mix of different cultures—requires more
36. competency in what would be cross-
cultural communication. So I think it is a little bit different. I’m
sure there’s other settings where
those issues come up, but that strikes me because there’s clearly
two very different ways of looking
at the world.’’
Reported challenges of physician leadership development
ranged from basic issues such as getting
physicians to participate to philosophical issues surrounding
physicians’ different training and
orientation towards change, decision-making, and focus. Across
settings, organizations were as likely
to incorporate physicians in their leadership development
programs as not, and there appeared no clear
consensus about which approach would ultimately be best.
Theme 4: Time Constraints—Challenges of freeing time for
program participation.
A fourth theme that emerged across study participants was the
difficulty for organizations to free
people’s time to participate in leadership development
activities. Although this challenge was
admittedly not unique to healthcare organizations, the nature of
work being ‘‘missed’’ by program
37. participants was noted as ‘‘different.’’ As one organizational
informant explained, ‘‘If you have a class
of 20 people, all nursing staff, you know, that’s an hour or two
of their salary that’s being spent away
from patient care in a learning environment.’’ Where such
developmental activities were reportedly
more accepted organizationally, this challenge was less acute,
but respondents still noted issues
associated with participation. Several organizations recognized
these issues, but solutions or
suggestions to manage the problem were absent.
Paralleling organizational concerns, individuals also commented
about how hard it was to find time to
participate. Rarely were developmental experiences and
opportunities built into existing jobs. Most
respondents, instead, described leadership development
activities as something they had to make time for in
addition to their regular responsibilities. Many reported that, if
they participated in a program, short-term
disadvantages such as falling behind in work or learning things
that seemed minimally relevant overwhelmed
any long-term potential to be gained from development. Further,
non-hospital-employed physicians choosing
to attend a program typically lost revenue because they were not
38. using their time to see patients.
Theme 5: Technical Hurdles—Challenges of the organization’s
technical capabilities.
Additional challenges associated with leadership development
in healthcare organizations were
reported in the context of organizations’ technical capacities.
The ability to deliver web-based training
was typically limited by non-universal access of employees to
computers, much less the Internet. As an
informant pondered,
‘‘Do we need computer kiosks that are dedicated to this kind of
thing? How are we going to structure
it to bring the product closer to the staff so they don’t have to
leave the unit? Do we do something in a
break room? Do we have a mobile computer that we can move
around? We’re just not sure. And it all
looks different depending on the site. So part of our next year is
doing that kind of inventory so we
can have a handle on what kind of capital investment we might
need to make.’’
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27, 967–982 (2006)
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39. 976 A. S. McALEARNEY
Further, even in hospitals where there were sufficient numbers
of computers available, there were no
guarantees that the information systems capabilities were
sufficiently advanced to permit options such
as audio content delivery or video-conferences. Technical issues
appeared especially challenging for
some of the smaller, non-system-based hospitals, and this was
likely related to the financial challenges
reported by many organizations, and described next.
Theme 6: Financial Constraints—Challenges associated with
budgets, organization type.
A sixth theme emerged around the challenges associated with
tight budgets and financial constraints
in healthcare organizations. Although healthcare organizations
may not be the only type of
organization struggling with this issue, organizational
respondents frequently made comments such as,
‘‘You know we’re working on these paper-thin margins.’’ In the
context of leadership development,
these thin margins often put program activities at risk. One
informant explained how, ‘‘The money is
getting tighter and tighter and our workload is getting larger
and larger and so often education is one of
40. the ones that is cut back or even cut out.’’ Across organizations
studied, a majority of respondents
reported a sense that leadership development programs were
perpetually at risk, and noted that this
inability to count on the future of the programs contributed to
skepticism about the organizations’
commitments to development, as well as job insecurity for those
tasked with designing or delivering
leadership development programs. Finances appeared more
problematic in healthcare organizations
owned independently as opposed to system-owned. Hospitals
that were part of a healthcare system
were reportedly more likely to be able to build and sustain
leadership development capacities than their
free-standing counterparts, and often promoted leadership
development activities as part of the
corporate support function.
Conceptual Model of Organizational Commitment to
Leadership Development
Considering these data, I propose a conceptual model of
commitment to leadership development in
healthcare organizations as being influenced by three factors:
(1) organizational strategy; (2)
organizational culture; and (3) organizational structure (Figure
1). In turn, this commitment influences
41. the program design decision process, resulting in broader or
narrower leadership development
opportunities for individuals. Further, these program design
decisions correspondingly affect
organizational effectiveness, depending on program scope,
reach, and impact. Changes in any of the
three factors can shift organizational commitment to leadership
development, potentially influencing
both the design decision process and overall organizational
effectiveness.
In the following section, I discuss three aspects of the model in
greater depth: (A) the perceived value
of learning and growth; (B) the dynamic nature of the program
design decision process; and (C) how
leadership development may promote organizational
effectiveness.
A. Perceived value of learning and growth
Proposition A: The more the organization’s senior leaders value
learning and growth, both of
individual employees and of the organization, the more likely
leadership development is to be
supported and sustained within that organization.
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27, 967–982 (2006)
42. DOI: 10.1002/job
Figure 1. Conceptual model depicting influences on and impacts
of organizational commitment to leadership
development in healthcare organizations
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN HEALTHCARE 977
Organizational leaders who believe in the value of learning and
growth are likely to invest heavily in
leadership development activities and commit to sustaining the
program over time. For instance, one
executive describing a strong program declared, ‘‘we would
never shut this down.’’ Another respondent
summarized the importance of this perception: ‘‘The
organization has to value development in general.
Whether it’s developing their staff for clinical competence or
leaders for their leadership competencies,
you have to have an organization that values development. And
ongoing development. You can’t stop
and say, ‘‘okay, we’re there,’’ because you’re never there.’’ In
several health care organizations studied,
the hiring of a Chief Learning Officer provides evidence of this
organizational value, and demonstrates
commitment to leadership development within the organization.
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27, 967–982 (2006)
43. DOI: 10.1002/job
978 A. S. McALEARNEY
In contrast, leaders whose interests in learning and growth are
more reactionary are unlikely to invest
in long-term leadership development initiatives or senior hires.
Within these organizations, leadership
development activities are assigned to lower-status directors
within the larger human resources
function, and budgets are typically limited and at constant risk
of future cuts.
B. Dynamics of program design decision process
Proposition B: The nature and conceptualization of leadership
development programs will affect
how organizations support such programs because of how the
design decision process is viewed.
In several organizations with strong commitment to leadership
development programs, such
programs were well integrated within the organization, reflected
by comments associating leadership
development with strategy, culture, or structure. One
interviewee described leadership development as,
‘‘really a culture question. If you have a culture that has a
history of valuing these kinds of things, the
44. uphill battle is long gone.’’ In another organization, a
leadership development program director
described the need to ‘‘[make] sure that I’m aligned with the
strategic plan.’’ However, shifts in any of
the three factors, strategy, culture, or structure, may affect
program commitment. For example, a
change in leadership involving hiring a new CEO could affect
all three factors as the new leader makes
organizational decisions that have a corresponding impact on
commitment to leadership development.
Similarly, a strategic decision to invest more in information
technologies may restrict resources
available for development, thereby affecting program
commitment, design, and potential impact.
C. Leadership development affecting organizational
effectiveness
Proposition C: Organizational decisions to invest in leadership
development can affect the
organization’s overall effectiveness by improving employee
motivation, reducing turnover, and
building organizational resilience to change.
Organizations heavily committed to leadership development
tend not to differentiate between
leadership effectiveness and leadership development program
45. success. As one executive explained,
‘‘You’re investing in the people, the managers who make you
successful.’’ Instead of using metrics such
as program attendance, employee satisfaction with programs,
and credit hours accumulated, these
organizations measure success on the basis of organization-wide
metrics including employee
satisfaction, employee turnover, physician satisfaction,
financial performance, and so forth. The move
beyond program process evaluation to acceptance that
leadership affects the organization’s ability to
realize its strategic goals is reflective of a broader view of
leadership impact and underlying
assumptions. In several organizations, this was described as ‘‘a
development mindset,’’ where the
committed organization viewed leadership development as
critical for organizational success.
Discussion
This exploratory investigation finds evidence that healthcare
organizations experience major
challenges in designing and delivering leadership development
programs. Given the circumstances
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46. LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN HEALTHCARE 979
associated with a complex external environment and time-
pressured employees, it is perhaps not
surprising that developmental concerns and opportunities
seemed absent from the strategic priority list
of many healthcare organizations. Yet the challenges to improve
healthcare leadership development are
not insurmountable. Recent literature emphasizes the
importance of strong leadership development
practices (Conger & Benjamin, 1999; Day, Zaccaro, & Halpin,
2004; Fulmer & Goldsmith, 2001;
Giber, Carter, & Goldsmith, 2000; McAlearney, 2005;
McCauley, Moxley, & VanVelson, 1998; Tichy,
1999), and healthcare organizations can incorporate many
evidence-based practices such as using
developmental assignments, creating job rotations, and tying
development to performance evaluations
that have strengthened organizations’ leadership across
industries.
Although many individuals in healthcare continue to emphasize
the uniqueness of the industry, this
insular thinking has tended to limit healthcare organizations’
abilities to improve their management
47. capabilities. Looking outside healthcare can provide examples
of program design decisions and best
practices that can be adopted within healthcare organizations.
For instance, university settings provide
environments where faculty often have more clout than
administrators in determining strategy and
defining organizational mission, similar to the disproportionate
influence of many physicians on
hospital direction. Study of university leadership development
programs may provide insight that is
transferable to healthcare organizations. In addition, recruiting
individuals with relevant experience in
other industries into healthcare organizations may be an
effective way to improve leadership
development healthcare. Thus despite healthcare organizations’
reluctance to consider evidence-based
management in the same favorable light as evidence-based
medicine (Kovner & Rundall, 2006),
healthcare organizations can apply lessons learned about
leadership development to make important
strides to accelerate leadership development in healthcare, and
to better position themselves for the
future.
Limitations of this study
48. For this qualitative study, participation was very high, but the
use of a snowball sampling technique to
select interview targets limited my ability to focus on
organizations that might be considered to have
best practices in leadership development a priori. Further, since
the proliferation of leadership
development programs is relatively new in many healthcare
organizations, some of my interviews
focused more on plans for the future rather than evidence from
the past. Future research targeted to
study model healthcare leadership development programs and
their program design decisions would be
invaluable, as well as studies which incorporate data collection
to permit testing of my conceptual
model, and formal comparison of leadership development
programs across industries.
Conclusion
In healthcare organizations, as in other industries, the
leadership challenges are immense. Similar to
other organizational leaders, healthcare executives are expected
to lead their organizations and their
employees with integrity, honesty, energy, and enthusiasm.
However, healthcare leaders must also
respond to the distinct features of their industry as they attempt
to promote excellence in quality of
49. care, patient satisfaction, and relationships with physicians and
communities. Considering the nuances
of the different leadership development challenges and aspects
of organizational commitment to
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27, 967–982 (2006)
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980 A. S. McALEARNEY
leadership development described in this paper can help
healthcare organizations striving to develop
better leaders and attempting to maximize overall organizational
performance.
Acknowledgements
The study reported in this paper has been supported by a grant
from the Center for Health Management
Research. I greatly appreciate the help of all study participants,
as well as the research assistance
provided by Katrina Buchholtz, Sarah Hoshaw, Viktorya Pelts,
Mindy Marcum Slenn, Stacy Baker, and
Diana Lau, all affiliated with The Ohio State University during
the study. In addition, I am indebted to
both the editors of this journal special issue and to two
anonymous reviewers for their invaluable
suggestions to improve this manuscript.
Author biographies
50. Ann Scheck McAlearney is an Associate Professor in the
Division of Health Services Management
and Policy in the School of Public Health at the Ohio State
University. Her research focuses on
organizational change and development; health information
technology innovations; population health
management and improvement; and leadership in health care
organizations.
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DOI: 10.1002/job
1 | www.mediaethicsinitiative.org
Doxing and Digital Journalism:
The HuffPost Story on Amy Mekelburg
57. On May 31, 2018, HuffPost reporter Luke
O’Brien published a story revealing the
identity of the person behind an
infamous Twitter account with over
200,000 followers as 45-year-old Amy
Mekelburg. The in-depth profile was part
of HuffPost’s ongoing investigation into
the most influential anonymous Twitter
and Facebook users that, in the words of
HuffPost reporter Nick Baumann, “spread
hate.” The account, which O’Brien
correctly linked to Mekelburg, is a powerful proponent of far-
right political ideologies and
was active in spreading what many deem as Islamophobic
propaganda and factually untrue
claims. Averaging around 25 tweets a day, the account quickly
gained popularity on social
media, it was endorsed by President Donald Trump and
members of his administration,
making it well-known in conservative circles. O’Brien’s story
quickly became controversial
due to its use of “doxing” (or “doxxing”), the tactic of revealing
the identity and personal
details of the person behind an anonymous online account or
website. By connecting and
publicizing the online actions and words associated with a
specific named individual, online
activists can coordinate with others and use doxing in a
campaign to embarrass individuals,
ruin reputations, harm political ambitions, or to get an
individual’s employment terminated.
The practice is increasingly used by members across the
political spectrum, from the far left
to the far right, and has become an everyday weapon in the
58. battle of political ideologies.
Some think of it as a tactic that leverages the critical power of
free speech, whereas others
see it as a vigilante approach to online justice given that its
practitioners are often
anonymous, or at least unaccountable for the harms of doxing
individuals. The doxing of
Mekelburg is important as it merges tactics of investigative
journalism and online activism,
and raises many ethical concerns.
The crowdsourced nature of social media has made it possible
for everyday individuals to
gain celebrity status or to become known as public figures
through their online personas.
The malleable nature of online identity means that individuals
are able to remain anonymous
or control which parts of their identity are viewable to others,
often making it easier to share
controversial opinions or ideas. As such individuals gain more
social and political influence,
some argue that the public has a right to know who they are.
This is why HuffPost started
investigations into influential anonymous social media
accounts, such as that of Mekelburg,
that were spreading what many judge as false information and
hate speech. HuffPost
reporter Nick Baumann explains that while the First Amendment
gives individuals the right
to spread hate speech and discredited ideas anonymously, “the
identities of influential
anonymous people are inherently newsworthy” and should be
made know to those who wish
Screencapture: Twitter.com
59. http://www.mediaethicsinitiative.org/
2 | www.mediaethicsinitiative.org
to know them. Baumann and O’Brien argued that the story was
not a case of doxing at all,
since it presented newsworthy information to the public and
answered concerns about the
possibilities of Mekelburg’s account being an artificial bot or
Russian troll. In this manner,
they maintain that the story followed journalistic codes of
ethics, including reaching out to
Mekelburg’s family and her husband’s employer, World
Wrestling Entertainment, who
subsequently terminated his employment after news of the story
broke. The journalists
maintained that this was not the coordinated harassment of
many doxing campaigns, but
was instead the common journalistic practice of seeking
comments and reactions from those
affected by the story before its publication. O’Brien argued that
giving sources and affected
parties “a chance to respond to information” is “exactly how
ethical journalism works” and
defended the information included in his report as necessary to
the story. Emma Grey Ellis
points out that while doxing campaigns tend to be undertaken by
anonymous individuals
that cannot be criticized in return, cases such as this involve
named reporters who “have
bylines, and can therefore be held accountable” for the stories
they write and the information
they include. Because of this, she argued that reporters like
60. O’Brien “include only personal
information that is relevant to a story--facts the public has a
compelling interest in knowing.”
Many believe that the information in the story was necessary to
create a profile of Amy
Mekelburg and provided context for her often-bigoted posts.
Others consider the story to be
a case of justified doxing and as serving the public good. Many,
like Marla Wilson, believe
that doxing is “an effective way to make people think twice
about being so bold with their
racism” and that releasing the names of those behind racist
online accounts creates a sense
of accountability and encourages reflexivity by those who feel
inclined to create them. Some
argue that doxing forces those uttering unpopular opinions and
beliefs to face the public and
defend their ideologies rather than just placing them online.
Some believe that the Mekelburg story included information
that was not necessary, or that
was counterproductive for improving political discourse.
Conservative reporter Kevin Boyd
points out that by including background information that
revealed the identities of
Mekelburg’s family members and their businesses, the story
gave “the impression that they
either knew about or [agreed] with her tweets” and indicted
them as supporters of her
account and her beliefs. Because of such implications, many
consider the story to be nothing
more than an attempt to shame Mekelburg for her views and
hurt her family’s businesses,
ones that Mekelburg “has never been linked to or involved
with” according to her sister-in-
law Alicia Guevara. Damon McCoy points out that one of the
61. main reasons doxing is used is
to “expose those with whom [people] disagree with,” a position
held by those who suggest
that the report done by O’Brien and HuffPost was motivated by
bringing shame to those with
divergent political viewpoints. Some may argue that the
revealing the identities of those
behind reprehensible or unpopular speech is actually
counterproductive to serving the
public interest. Tony McAleer, a former white supremacist who
now runs a rehabilitation
program for neo-Nazis, argues that doxing is not effective in
ending hate speech and
changing peoples’ viewpoints. “If isolation and shame is the
driver for people joining [hate]
groups, doxxing certainly isn’t the answer” argues McAleer. It
actually “slows things down”
in his efforts to rehabilitate those who subscribe to hateful
ideologies given its employment
of isolation and shame.
http://www.mediaethicsinitiative.org/
3 | www.mediaethicsinitiative.org
The ethics of doxing must be discussed more as its practice
grows to include journalists and
targets on all sides of the partisan spectrum. Emma Gray Ellis
worries that “once you strip
away the intentions… both sides are sharing the same swampy
low ground” when doxing is
used as an attempt to punish individuals for their political or
62. personal beliefs. What are we
to think about the uses of intentional or unintentional doxing by
journalists working on
contentious but important stories that might shed light on the
political and social
controversies of the day?
Discussion Questions:
1. Was the HuffPost story on Mekelburg a case of doxing? Why
or why not?
2. Was the story written and researched in the right way,
regardless of whether we
label it as a case of doxing?
3. Can journalists “dox” individuals behind online accounts?
When and why can they
participate in this practice? What limits should constrain their
revelation of online
identities?
4. How does the practice of doxing differ in the context of
online journalism from that
of activists seeking social justice? Does the role of journalist
make any difference to
the ethical limits of the act of doxing? How does investigative
journalism differ from
doxing, either by journalists or members of the public?
Further Information:
Baumann, N. (2018, June 05). “A HuffPost Reporter Was
63. Bombarded With Threats.
Twitter Suspended Him.” HuffPost. Available at:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/luke-obrien-doxed-
threats-
amymek_us_5b16bb9de4b0734a9937f2ca
Bowles, N. (2017, August 30). “How 'Doxxing' Became a
Mainstream Tool in the
Culture Wars.” New York Times. Available at:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/30/technology/doxxing-
protests.html
Boyd, K. (2018, June 04). “The HuffPost Ruined An Entire
Family For One Person's
Tweets.” The Federalist. Available at:
https://thefederalist.com/2018/06/04/huffpost-ruined-entire-
family-one-persons-
tweets/
Ellis, E. G. (2017, August 17). “Don't Let the Alt-Right Fool
You: Journalism Isn't
Doxing.” Wired. Available at:
https://www.wired.com/story/journalism-isnt-
doxing-alt-right/
http://www.mediaethicsinitiative.org/
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/luke-obrien-doxed-
threats-amymek_us_5b16bb9de4b0734a9937f2ca
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/luke-obrien-doxed-
threats-amymek_us_5b16bb9de4b0734a9937f2ca
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/30/technology/doxxing-
protests.html
https://thefederalist.com/2018/06/04/huffpost-ruined-entire-
family-one-persons-tweets/
https://thefederalist.com/2018/06/04/huffpost-ruined-entire-
64. family-one-persons-tweets/
https://www.wired.com/story/journalism-isnt-doxing-alt-right/
https://www.wired.com/story/journalism-isnt-doxing-alt-right/
4 | www.mediaethicsinitiative.org
Ellis, E. G. (2017, August 18). Doxing Is a Perilous Form of
Justice-Even When It's
Outing Nazis. Wired. Available at:
https://www.wired.com/story/doxing-
charlottesville/
McCoy, D. (2018, May 01). When Studying Doxing Gets You
Doxed.” HuffPost.
Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-
mccoy-doxing-
study_us_5ae75ec7e4b02baed1bd06cc
O'Brien, L. (2018, May 31). “Trump's Loudest Anti-Muslim
Twitter Troll is a Shady
Vegan Wed to An Ex-WWE Exec.” HuffPost. Available at:
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/anti-muslim-twitter-troll-
amy-mek-
mekelburg_us_5b0d9e40e4b0802d69cf0264
Wilson, M. (2018, June 06). “An Online Agitator, a Social
Media Exposé and the
Fallout in Brooklyn.” New York Times. Available at:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/06/nyregion/amymek-
mekelburg-huffpost-
doxxing.html
65. Author:
Jason Head
Media Ethics Initiative
Center for Media Engagement
University of Texas at Austin
June 15, 2018
www.mediaethicsinitiative.org
http://www.mediaethicsinitiative.org/
https://www.wired.com/story/doxing-charlottesville/
https://www.wired.com/story/doxing-charlottesville/
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-mccoy-doxing-
study_us_5ae75ec7e4b02baed1bd06cc
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-mccoy-doxing-
study_us_5ae75ec7e4b02baed1bd06cc
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/anti-muslim-twitter-troll-
amy-mek-mekelburg_us_5b0d9e40e4b0802d69cf0264
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/anti-muslim-twitter-troll-
amy-mek-mekelburg_us_5b0d9e40e4b0802d69cf0264
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/06/nyregion/amymek-
mekelburg-huffpost-doxxing.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/06/nyregion/amymek-
mekelburg-huffpost-doxxing.html
http://www.mediaethicsinitiative.org/