This document summarizes the key topics and assignments from a journalism ethics class. It discusses reviewing ethics guidelines from the Center for Investigative Reporting on issues like anonymous sources, misrepresentation, and undercover work. It also covers a chapter on deception in reporting. Upcoming assignments include analyzing a journalist's Twitter use and presenting a summary of each student's final ethics paper.

1. JOURNALISM ETHICS & ISSUES
CLASS #23 | JRNL 4650 | FALL 2016
• Instructor: Bill Mitchell
• bmitch (at) gmail (dot) com
• 727-641-9407
• 29 November 2016 | Northeastern Univ.
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2. WHAT WE’LL DO TODAY
• Building on your personal ethics guides, where you go from here:
• Increased capacity to develop new approaches to new challenges
• More specific guidelines for more specific circumstances
• Increased competence as ethical media maker as well as consumer
• Discussion of Center for Investigative Reporting ethics guidelines
• Review of Foreman Chapter 16: Deception
• Meta on meta: Interrupted viewing of A Hidden Life, the Frontline
documentary about the mayor & the newspaper
• (Keep CIR guidelines & Deception chapter in mind)
• Upcoming assignments
• Time to work on/discuss your final papers
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3. ADVANCING THE STORY ASSIGNMENT
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4. EMERGING ETHICAL CHALLENGES
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• Allegation-based vs. Evidence-based journalism
• How to characterize the alt-right and other emerging
groups?

5. 5

6. 6

7. ALT-RIGHT LEADER RICHARD SPENCER OF
THE NATIONAL POLICY INSTITUTE
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8. NPR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT
DAVID FOLKENFLIK ON
BREITBART & ALT-RIGHT
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10. FROM CIR’S ETHICS GUIDELINES:
• Anonymous sources:
• “When dealing with sources, always question motives
before promising anonymity.”
• “Avoid using anonymous sources to express negative
opinions or make negative charges about an individual or
organization.”
• “A senior editor must be notified as to the identity of any
anonymous or confidential sources. Sources, meanwhile,
should be aware that their identity will be shared with a
senior editor, who will also protect their confidentiality.”
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11. ANONYMOUS SOURCES IN WASHPOST
COVERAGE OF ALT-RIGHT
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• https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/attendance-rises-at-annual-white-nationalist-conference-
in-dc-after-trump-victory/2016/11/19/cbe66884-ae88-11e6-977a-1030f822fc35_story.html
• Trump’s biggest contribution to white nationalism may have been prevailing
despite being associated with alt-right thinking, according to on NPI attendee, a
student at New Jersey’s Kean University who asked not to be identified so his
friends wouldn’t learn of his racial beliefs.
• “The media called him a bigot, a racist, all the leftist smears and he still won,”
said this student. “That means they are losing their moral grip on the narrative..”
• Like many at the conference, this student acknowledged that he would like to live
in a white enclave that mostly excluded minorities (although he applauded
Japan’s approach of letting a limited number of Filipino workers in as nurses and
laborers). When pressed to explain how that mass segregation could occur
without violence, he said many of those of details would have be worked out.

12. ANONYMOUS SOURCE MAKING POSITIVE AS
OPPOSED TO NEGATIVE COMMENTS: GIULIANI’S
TIES TO FOREIGN ENTITIES COULD BE A
COMPLICATION
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• https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/whitehouse/giulianis-foreign-work-complicates-candidacy-for-top-
post/2016/11/16/211de454-ac5d-11e6-8f19-21a1c65d2043_story.html
• A longtime associate defended Giuliani’s extensive international work
Wednesday, saying the former mayor currently has only one international
security contract. It is with the government of Colombia, said the associate,
who asked not to be identified because he wasn’t authorized to speak
officially for the former mayor. He said Giuliani would provide lengthy public
disclosure of his business interests, if nominated.

13. FROM CIR’S ETHICS GUIDELINES:
• Legal dimension of challenges to faces & fairness:
• “California law requires a response to a demand for
retraction within a specific period.”
• Law & practice in other states?
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14. 14
Under the California retraction statute:
• A plaintiff has twenty days after
discovering an allegedly libelous
statement to serve a request for
retraction;
• The request must be in writing and
must specify the statements claimed
to be libelous and demand that they
be corrected; and
• Once the publisher receives the
retraction request, it has three weeks
to publish a retraction in a manner
that is "substantially as conspicuous"
as the original published statements.

15. FROM CIR’S ETHICS GUIDELINES:
• Harm:
• “Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or
discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance.“
• “Recognize that private people have a greater right to control
information about themselves than do public officials and others who
seek power, influence or attention.”
• “Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone’s
privacy.”
• “Show good taste.”
• “Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.”
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16. FROM CIR’S ETHICS GUIDELINES:
• Naming suspects:
• “Be judicious about naming criminal suspects before the
formal filing of charges.”
• “Balance a criminal suspect’s fair trial rights with the
public’s right to be informed.”
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17. FROM CIR’S ETHICS GUIDELINES:
• Misrepresentation:
• “We identify ourselves upfront as journalists with CIR or
CIR brands.”
• “We do not use hidden cameras or microphones, go
undercover or engage in any other news-gathering tactic
that might be construed as misleading without first
discussing the ramifications and consequences with
editors.”
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18. FROM CIR’S ETHICS GUIDELINES:
• Misrepresentation, continued:
• “(Please remember that California law does not allow
conversations or interviews to be tape recorded -- video or
audio -- without the subject’s consent. The rule does not
apply in a public setting.)”
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19. FROM CIR’S ETHICS GUIDELINES:
• Social media:
• “Your public profiles should identify you as a journalist or
that you work for The Center for Investigative Reporting.”
• “When you interact with users on a social media platform
for a story or to gather sources, make sure that all parties
involved are aware of your identity and motives for
contacting them.”
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20. FROM CIR’S ETHICS GUIDELINES:
• Transparency:
• “We never overreach in our storytelling.”
• “When appropriate, we should not hesitate to disclose
what we don’t know about a specific story we’re reporting.”
• Potential here for a new story form or category:
• What We Don’t Know
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21. FROM CIR’S ETHICS GUIDELINES:
• Undercover work:
• “Avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of
gathering information, except when traditional open
methods will not yield information vital to the public.”
• “Use of such methods should be explained as part of the
story. A supervisor and our legal counsel must be
consulted and grant approval before engaging in any
undercover work.”
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22. FROM CIR’S ETHICS GUIDELINES:
• Undercover work, continued:
• “Reporters are responsible for confirming all facts and for
footnoting their stories.”
• (footnotes in this context refers to hyperlinks to
corroborating information, transcripts of interviews, etc.)
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23. FROM CIR’S ETHICS GUIDELINES:
• Visual editing:
• “Use of hidden cameras or microphones cannot happen
without senior staff and legal counsel review and approval.”
• “The standard for the decision must be made only at the
highest level of reporting in the public interest, when there is
no other way to document egregious behavior.”
• “A decision to film or record an "ambush" interview requires
prior approval to show that the producers have exhausted
other avenues of getting a subject to agree to an interview.”
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24. FOREMAN’S CHAPTER 16:
Deception, a Controversial
Reporting Tool
Following slides adapted from Wiley’s Instructor’s Resources

25. A COLLISION IN
VALUES
• A journalist lies …
• … to get the truth.
It is an ethical paradox.

26. THINK ABOUT IT
• Would a deontological (rule-
based) journalist practice
deception?
• Would a teleological (ends-based)
journalist?

27. A MORALLY CORRECT
CHOICE?
Consider these opposing viewpoints:
• A decision NOT to deceive requires
no moral justification.
• If deception is the only way to
reveal a vital truth, deception is the
only morally correct choice.

28. TWO UNACCEPTABLE
TARGETS
There is a consensus in journalism
that a journalist must NEVER
deceive which groups?
• The audience
• Colleagues.

29. UNDERCOVER
STANDARDS
Undercover reporting should be used
only where:
• The information is vital to the public
interest.
• There is no other way to get the
information.
• The deception is disclosed to the
audience.

30. UNDERCOVER
STANDARDS (CONTINUED)
• The deception does not put
innocent people in danger.
• Any harm caused by the deception
is outweighed by the benefits.
• The journalists deliberate carefully.

31. WITHHOLDING
IDENTITY
• Sometimes, reporters do not
identify themselves.
• Rationale: “We are not obligated to
wear a neon sign.”

32. EXAMPLE: WASHPOST’S
WALTER REED STORY
• To report on abuses at Walter Reed
Army Medical Center, Anne Hull and
Dana Priest did not identify themselves
as reporters.
• They worked “beneath the radar.” If
confronted, they say they would have
acknowledged their connection to The
Washington Post.

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34. FIFTH GRAF OF THE POST STORY:
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36. UCPOMING ASSIGNMENTS
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• Dec. 1 Class: Familiarize yourself with David Beard’s Twitter feed &
come to class w/ at least 1 question for him about how he uses the
tool & why
• Some early Beard clips (I’ll send you these via email):
http://journaltimes.com/news/haiti-plucks-the-eyes-that-
offend/article_38ad8d8d-403a-57ea-8b15-0635ba8521dc.html &
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/07/02/30-
drown-trying-to-flee-haiti/13d142e0-d6fa-4340-9340-c6e0f89fe904/
• By end of day Sunday Dec. 4: Send me an email with a working title
for your final paper and the gist of what you’ll do in your presentation
• Dec. 6 Class: Prepare a 3 minute summary of your final paper (due
end of day Dec. 12). This presentation will count toward your class
participation points. Details…

37. UCPOMING ASSIGNMENTS
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• Dec. 6 Class: Your 3 minute summary should include:
• At least one ethics-related question that you’ll
explore in your paper
• Your strategy for seeking answers to that
question(s); who will you interview?
• A description of the stakeholders in the case or
circumstance you’re addressing in your paper
• Any questions, feel free to ask me in advance

38. SOME WAYS TO ADVANCE A STORY
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• Correct something (include documentation of the
original error, your efforts to get it corrected – by email,
Twitter, etc. – and what, if anything resulted)
• Suggest a new angle or follow-up in a comment
attached to the article, phone conversation with the
reporter, etc. (include documentation or, in the case of
phone conversation, description of your interaction)

39. SOME WAYS TO ADVANCE A STORY,
CONTINUED
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• Use the original story as a peg or jumping off point
to write your own story or blog post
• Alert a policy-maker to a story you believe helps
make the case for or against a public policy you’d like
enacted or avoided
• Initiate a conversation on social media or elsewhere
about a story you regard as worthy of further
consideration