Media Ethics: Into the pot, already boiling...

Terminated with Extreme Prejudice

2011-09-25T12:52:00.000-06:00

For the past 15 years, I have provided pro bono technical support to the faculty and students of School of Journalism and Communication (JCOM) at Utah State University in Logan Utah. A week ago, the USU IT Security Team, spearheaded by Ken Andersen, unilaterally terminated that long-standing relationship in favor of a non-negotiable dictat in which they become the sole purveyors of computing

Detecting WikiCulture: Corruption and Borderline Sociopathic Incivility

2010-10-28T07:30:00.003-06:00

There is a terrific new mini-series on PBS Masterpiece Theater in which Benedict Cumberbatch renders a brilliant portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, updated to 21st Century London.Holmes is the Consulting Detective whom Inspector Lestrade is obliged to call upon because his own bumbling team of crime scene investigators are not quite up to the challenge of solving the perplexing mystery of the week.The

Cyber Harassment and the Law

2009-03-03T10:23:00.003-07:00

On Point: Cyber Harassment and the LawCyber bullies verbally savaged two Yale law students. The women fought back. Their case may change the rules on what you can say online.Cyber-bullying is too mild a term for some of what goes on in the rougher corners of the Internet.When anonymous online attackers went after two young women at Yale Law School, it had the feel of a gang beating. Maybe worse.

How Wikiversity Teaches 21st Century Youth to Adopt Antiquated Political Processes

2009-01-29T21:16:00.005-07:00

Liminal Social Drama is what occurs in a community when there is a Breach of Expectations. Here are portions of the Liminal Social Drama that erupted on Wikiversity when Custodian SB_Johnny departed from established policy to initiate an exercise known as a Parliamentary Bill of Attainder.Collegiality I kind of like "collegiality" since it has both an egalitarian sense and an academic sense.

Ethical Values and Quality Control in the Digital Era

2008-12-25T14:40:00.002-07:00

Bob Steele at Poynter sees a significant erosion of ethical standards. Blogs, Tweets, social networking, citizen-submitted content and multi-media storytelling offer great promise, he writes—but they also carry considerable peril.

Blogger Ethics

2008-12-12T16:55:00.003-07:00

If Bloggers Had No Ethics Blogging Would Have Failed, But it Didn't. So Let's Get a Clue."Those in journalism who want to bring ethics to blogging ought to start with why people trust (some) bloggers, not with an ethics template made for a prior platform operating as a closed system in a one-to-many world."-- from Jay Rosen's blog, Press think.

Wow - this just in

2008-12-12T15:22:00.004-07:00

Larry Lessig is leaving Stanford for Harvard to head up an ethics center whose focus is the collapse of trust -- see http://futureoftheinternet.org/lessig-news.(h/t Jay Rosen, NYU)

Wikiversity Follies

2008-09-23T07:53:00.014-06:00

The resident scholars of Wikiversity have declined to address these issues within their own community.ArbCom Review of FeloniousMonk The Wikipedia Administrator, FeloniousMonk, who relied on the unexamined testimony of Don Hopkins and Bela in his scathing indictment of Moulton, has been unanimously adjudged by the Wikipedia Arbitration Committee (ArbCom) as guilty of corruption and gross

The Fearsome Basilisque

2008-09-20T18:14:00.003-06:00

Moulton's blog If Moulton were of a mind to remove whatever content is hosted on his blog that is causing it to be unacceptable to link to it, what would he have do to accomplish this? —Random832 17:43, 8 August 2008 (UTC) I suggest you contact the enwikiversity community to discuss this. Cary Bass demandez 18:55, 8 August 2008 (UTC) It's a "foundation directive"; I don't see how the community is

The 9/11 Report

2008-09-11T11:39:00.004-06:00

Today is 9/11 the seventh anniversary of one of the most notorious terror attacks in recent memory.Today is 9/11, the first anniversary of one of the most notorious terror attacks in recent Wikipedian memory.Yes, it was exactly one year ago today that KillerChihuahua (Tracy Walker) executed an indefinite block of this writer on the English Language Wikipedia, on the grounds that I had "no

A Perplexing Ethical Conundrum

2008-08-14T07:36:00.014-06:00

Yesterday, I posted on MoultonLava an item involving Wikimedia Foundation Volunteer Coordinator, Cary Bass, who has long been Jimbo Wales' right-hand man.Bass had briefly stepped in to deal with an issue brought to his attention by a troubled Wikipedia Admin who goes by the avatar name of FeloniousMonk. When the issue became too hot for Cary Bass to deal with, he bailed from the brouhaha,

Taboo Or Not Taboo? That Is the Question.

2008-08-11T08:35:00.005-06:00

A few days ago, Cary Bass, Volunteer Coordinator, of the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) Office, issued a "foundation directive" to Wikiversity custodial admin, SB Johnny, to systematically remove from the pages of Wikiversity any and all links to Moulton's Blog.When questioned about this unprecedented departure from Section 230 aloofness, SB Johnny replied:Ask the guys on IRC [Internet Relay Chat]

Harden Not Your Heart

2008-08-10T03:09:00.003-06:00

Even those of us who do not read bible passages on a weekly basis are nonetheless familiar with many of them.There is a phrase that appears in both the Old and New Testament that has long arrested me. I first heard it in a passage from the Passover Haggadah, in connection to the story of the Ten Plagues. The Plagues were supposed to cause Pharaoh to relent, and allow Moses to lead his people

Durova's Blog, Part 2

2008-08-08T03:04:00.002-06:00

Durova is a Wikipedian who also writes a blog about Wikipedia.A week ago last Thursday, she made good on an offer to post remarks on my behalf during a brief interlude when I was unable to post on Wikipedia Review.After a few rounds of comments, Durova posted one final remark of hers, and then closed out the comments without posting my response to her last remark.Here is her last comment...Durova

Questions the press should ask

2008-06-29T17:30:00.002-06:00

The Watchdog Blog, specializing in "questions the press should ask," comes from the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.Why questions?Some may wonder about our emphasis on asking questions, since politicians and most of the rest of the world – even schoolchildren – are adept at sidestepping them. What's the point of asking good questions if the answers aren't forthcoming?

It's not MY fault, teacher!

2008-06-25T14:52:00.003-06:00

Wikipedia making students lazy

Durova's Blog

2008-06-23T07:51:00.001-06:00

Durova is a Wikipedian who also writes a blog about Wikipedia.Last Thursday, she posted an interesting blog entry entitled, The Lucifer Effect.Here is my comment, appended to other comments at her blog... Durova writes:"Some Wikipedians get sucked into the minutiae of personalities and diffs while others regard it as an ethical responsibility to avoid all drama."This is an interesting and

The Speed of Enlightenment of an Ethically Challenged Learning Organization

2008-06-21T21:36:00.004-06:00

Peter Senge has a concept that he calls the Learning Organization. Some organizations (especially highly successful ones) learn quickly and learn well. Other organizations don't learn as well, and gradually fall behind the curve.Just as the speed of light slows down in denser media, the Speed of Enlightenment of a Learning Organization similarly slows down with the density of the

Relevant Discussions

2008-06-17T06:52:00.006-06:00

The following page section, retrieved from Google cache, is currently not available on the English Wikipedia. It is temporarily reproduced here until an Admin on the English Wikipedia can restore it.Relevant Discussions Talk:Rosalind_Picard/archive1User_talk:Moulton/Archive 1Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment/MoultonWikipedia_talk:Requests_for_comment/MoultonWikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/

Moulton's Answers to Filll's 8 Questions

2008-06-17T06:12:00.014-06:00

The following subpage, retrieved from Google cache, is currently not available at the English Wikipedia. It is temporarily reproduced here until an Admin on the English Wikipedia can restore it.User talk:Moulton/Answers From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia < User talk:Moulton From the talk page of the RfC/ID, here is the section with Gnixon's

Haphazard Theory Construction

2008-06-15T17:30:00.004-06:00

There is now a new blocking notice up on the English Wikipedia for this writer. It looks like this:You are currently unable to edit pages on Wikipedia. You can still read pages, but cannot edit, change, or create them. Editing from Moulton (your account, IP address, or IP address range) has been disabled by Blueboy96 for the following reason(s): Personal attacks, outing other editors.

Ridiculous Fascination

2008-05-31T06:52:00.007-06:00

There is a fascinating discussion underway for the past two weeks on the Wikipedia Administrators' Notice Board. It concerns the status of this writer, who has been indefinitely blocked on the English Wikipedia since 9/11 of last year. The blocking notice currently reads as follows:Unauthorized You are currently unable to edit pages on Wikipedia. You can still read pages, but cannot edit,

The Quickening Pace of Progress

2008-05-22T20:30:00.003-06:00

The rate of progress in bringing the Wikipedia article on A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism up to standards (in terms of accuracy, excellence, and ethics in online media) appears to be picking up the pace. An anonymous editor identified only by an IP address has introduced a crucial improvement in the opening sentence: A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism (or Dissent From Darwinism) is the name

What Is the Rate of Progress?

2008-05-21T20:47:00.002-06:00

On Monday, I published an article here on the Media Ethics blog entitled, What Is the Name of This Problem? I also copied it, verbatim, to a discussion thread on Wikipedia Review. Today, I noticed on my watchlist that there had been some new activity on the article on A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism. Yesterday, it seems, a Wikipedian named WAS 4.250, boldly undertook to correct a

What Is the Name Of This Problem?

2008-05-19T10:10:00.007-06:00

Wikipedia has begun to recognize that it has a huge problem with biographies of living people.But that's not what I want to talk about in this post.What I want to talk about today is akin to a tiny pea under a pile of mattresses.But it's an annoying pea that illustrates the subtlety of reckoning ethics in online media.For the past ten months, I have sought, with notable lack of success, to raise

Google Has a Better Idea

2007-12-14T05:25:00.000-07:00

Google has just announced a new initiative called Knol, which will compete with Wikipedia.Unlike the anonymously written articles on Wikipedia, the articles in Knol will be signed by their credentialed authors and will rise in Google's PageRank like other web pages. Reader's will be able to rate the articles and provide comments to the author. Google will provide both the web hosting and the

Wikipedia Redux

2007-12-07T03:45:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week for Wikipedia watchers, with three in-depth articles in the UK Register and one in the UK Guardian reviewing and analyzing a tapestry of misadventures involving high-level figures in the Wikipedia power structure.The disclosures reveal both structural and ethical issues that have divided the participants and observers into rival camps espousing competing interpretations,

Boston Herald Photographer Assaults MIT Researcher

2007-11-05T08:35:00.000-07:00

The courtroom proceedings were routine today at Star Simpson's third courtroom appearance to date in Commonwealth vs. Star Simpson. Simpson's legal team submitted a motion for dismissal which will be heard on Monday December 3rd. If the case is not dismissed, there will probably be a bench trial that same day.Outside the courtroom, there was a bit more drama, when an abusive and disorderly

Blogs and Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Games

2007-10-11T10:53:00.000-06:00

Every few years, the Internet spawns a new technology that captures the imagination of the public.The World Wide Web has given rise to Web Forums, Blogs, and Wikis.Now we have Massive Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Games (MMPORGs) such as World of Warcraft and Second Life.What's interesting is that the social dynamics on these diverse systems all have a lot in common.On an MMPORG, one expects

Conflict Junkies

2007-09-28T02:35:00.000-06:00

True or False: Journalists are attracted to conflict like moths to a flame.Ben Stein is a freelance commentator who occasionally appears on CBS Sunday Morning. He narrates a new film, due out in January, entitled, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.”The film explores aspects of the conflict between science and religion arising from the controversies over Intelligent Design vs. Darwinian

Fake Bombs and Fake Art

2007-09-22T08:23:00.000-06:00

I'm not an artist. I only play one on the Internet.Which is to say that any art I produce is merely fake art of the lamest variety.Here is my latest attempt at art...You probably can't make out what this is, but it's a telephone punch-down block with a computer battery on the right, an electrolytic capacitor on the left, and a cluster of NE2 bulbs in the middle. It took me about 20 minutes to

Antisocial Darwinism: Diversity and Wikicide

2007-09-16T03:51:00.000-06:00

The popular CBS series, Survivor, illustrates the political drama of the elimination of one's rivals by voting them off the island.The term, Social Darwinism, reflects a more conventional version of that political practice, when it comes to extinguishing an unwanted socio-cultural lineage. In the worst case, Social Darwinism devolves into Ethnic Cleansing and even Genocide. On the other side,

Wikipedia and Ethics in Online Journalism

2007-08-28T05:32:00.000-06:00

Wikipedia is classified as a "tertiary source" for the purposes of finding information to support a student's investigative report on a subject. That is, a student cannot cite a Wikipedia article as a source for information in a student paper.Last week, I learned firsthand why the content of Wikipedia articles are considered unreliable.Elsewhere, I wrote an essay on my experience trying to

Western reporters in Africa struggle over when to help

2006-11-07T00:03:00.000-07:00

By Abraham McLaughlin | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor Daily journalism involves many dilemmas. But Western reporters covering developing countries often face unique conundrums: A little humanity - just the change in their pockets - can sometimes feed 10 or 20 people. Such giving can violate a basic tenet of journalism: Observe, don't engage. It's a cornerstone of the effort to

Senate OKs sex-offender registry

2006-07-21T23:31:00.000-06:00

Abuse: The national database bill, expected to become law Thursday, also would crack down on failures to registerWASHINGTON - The Senate voted Thursday to approve the creation of a national sex offender registry and establishment of tough new prison sentences for offenders that fail to keep their listing current. A child predator who kills a victim during commission of a sex crime could receive

Read this, please!

2006-06-27T21:49:00.000-06:00

Unclaimed Territory - by Glenn Greenwald: The Bush lynch mob against the nation's free press

Narcissism and the Journalist

2006-06-17T10:55:00.000-06:00

File this one alongside your mental notes on Shattered Glass and Jayson Blair. Reporter Joe Lauria's unwitting role in the Rove 'scoop'The May 13 story on the Web site Truthout.org was explosive: Presidential adviser Karl Rove had been indicted by Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald in connection with his role in leaking CIA officer Valerie Plame's name to the media, it blared. The report set

Update on Harvard student-author's plagiarism

2006-05-03T11:47:00.000-06:00

Publisher cancels young author`s book dealNEW YORK, NY, United States (UPI) -- Amid new allegations of plagiarism Little, Brown & Co. has canceled 19-year-old Kaavya Viswanathan`s two-book contract.Viswanathan acknowledged last month her popular novel, 'How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life,' contained near-identical prose to that found in a book by Megan McCafferty, which

Motives!

2006-05-02T13:49:00.000-06:00

This means you are doing things for the motive not because of what happens after you do it. If you saw someone that was hurt, would you stop and help them? Even if you could potentially get blamed for their injuries? I think that most people would stop and help, not because of the recognition that would come with it but because that is the right thing to do as a good citizen. I think that

Conflict...

2006-05-02T13:32:00.000-06:00

I think that the media lives for conflict. To me conflict is drama. I think that our nation and world are surrounded by conflict. So of course the media is going to report it. I think that it is very important that the media reports both sides of a story and that they seek out the most reputable source they can. I think that they should keep their opinions out of it and let the story be

Sex Offenders

2006-05-02T13:18:00.000-06:00

If I had children I would want to know if there were any sex offenders in my neighborhood. I think that this can be a very useful tool, however I do agree that it can be a very harmful also. I think that there are different levels of sex offenders and that they should be catorgorized. I think that it is stupid to have the "sex offenders" that were 18 and their girlfriends were 17 and the

Risking Lives?

2006-05-02T13:10:00.000-06:00

I think that it is very unfair of a journalist to ask someone to risk anything for a story. Why should someone be in danger or do something they do not want to do so a story can be printed. Maybe I feel this way because I am not a journalism major. Especially after watching the movie The Killing Fields I feel like this is absurd. I know that I would not risk anything for a story. I think it

Motives

2006-05-02T11:25:00.000-06:00

I tend to agree with what everyone has been saying about motive and consequence. I think a person's motives reflect what kind of a person they are ethically. It's what drives a person that shows who they really are.I've been wondering, however, where Mill's idea that the end justifies the means fits into this. I usually agree with Mill's idea of the greatest good for the greatest number, but

State Slogan...

2006-05-02T10:41:00.000-06:00

There was a blog awhile back about how Utah is getting a new state slogan. Well, it has arrived. Jon Huntsman, Jr. has picked "Life Elevated." Not bad. I actually kind of like it. It's a lot better than the "Where Great Ideas Connect" crap we've had since 2001. Our license plates will continue to have "The Greatest Snow On Earth" on them, but our state slogan is "Life Elevated." At first,

Motive or Consequence?

2006-05-02T10:38:00.000-06:00

People's opinions on what is an ethical decision can always be challenged and many times are. But good consequences always mean something good, right? Who can complain about that? Well, just like ethical decisions, what's good for one person may not be good for another. I think that no matter what, the motive behind an action always takes weight over the consequence. I'm sure people can

Ms. Magazine

2006-05-02T09:47:00.000-06:00

One of the macro issues in the Ms. Magazine case was whether or not a publication endorses a product by running an ad and if the publication should be held responsible for claime of an ad. I've been thinking a lot about this, and I've decided that as long as the line between advertising and stories is clear, the magazine shouldn't be held responsible.It drives me crazy when I pick up a magazine

Wikipedia and politics

2006-05-02T09:29:00.000-06:00

I saw an article about Wikipedia the other day, and I thought I'd find out more about what has been going on. Just a little background for anyone who hasn't read about it...Wikipedia is set up so anyone can change the entries. It is supposed to help the encyclopedia be more accurate because all readers can be editors and mistakes can be easily changed.Politicians are starting to use this as a

Motive

2006-05-02T09:12:00.000-06:00

Motive really is an interesting factor in any ethical decision. It describes the core of a person's ethical standpoint and the character of that individual. In seperating the motive from the act or decision, we really lose ethics altogether. Acts cannot really be judged when taken out of context. If a person was to shoot another in self defense, yet the motive was left out of the picture,

Conflict

2006-05-02T00:46:00.000-06:00

Conflict seems to me like a news value that is regularly seen in publications. Editors seem to love publishing information about arguments or stories with diverse views. This value, however, does seem to produce a little of conflict for reporters themselves. Which side of the story should be told, and who should be used as sources?My opinion is that journalists should do the same in conflict

Ms. Magazine

2006-05-02T00:34:00.000-06:00

Just in case my post isn't clear, I'm writing about the macro issue that asks, "Is a magazine ethically required to be an open forum for all advertisers who have the ability to pay? According to what standards?"I definitely don't think a magazine is required to publish all ads that can be paid for. A magazine is not a public forum- magazines have narrow audiences, and the ads within them are

Public Relations

2006-05-02T00:07:00.000-06:00

Between public relations practitioners and journalists, who defines news? Well, I'd say the journalists. PR practitioners may give the news to the journalists, mostly the good, but in the end, editors decide which news to publish. Usually, they tend to publish negative stories- a lot of the time these stories are more newsworthy. Let's be honest, who really wants to read a story that talks

Who owns the media?

2006-05-01T22:43:00.000-06:00

The problem with wealthy corporate media ownership is that they can spin the news in their own favor for their own personal gain. I hope that this doesn't happen frequently but I'll bet it does. For example... in order to get their favorite politician into office they might say or print over-the-top, wonderful news about him whether it's true or not and print negative news about the opponent.

motives...our inner drive

2006-05-01T21:50:00.000-06:00

Our motives lead us to what we will do and how we will do it. When I think of a motive I think of an inner part of us that drives us. Our motive give us the incentive to act. It is the impulse that forces us to move. So basically our motive defines the way we behave. If our motive is negative or underhanded or self-serving, then our actions will sometimes reflect those values. But not

Motives and Consequences

2006-05-01T21:09:00.000-06:00

"An important part of moral development is the recognition that motive, not consequence, is the critical factor in deciding whether an act is ethical." I think this quote goes along with the idea of acting with good intentions. Were your choices for a good reason and in the best interest of the person/people involved, or was the choice selfish and thoughtless? No matter what the actual outcome

There will always be conflict

2006-05-01T18:42:00.001-06:00

When I think of the word conflict I think of an issue that has at least two (sometimes many more) different opposing opinions surrounding that issue. I learned early on in this class that when elements in a moral system conflict certain ethical principles can help me make tough choices. My mind immediately goes to Sissela Bok's model. First consulting my own conscience and deciding how I feel

Just a reminder...

2006-05-01T18:30:00.000-06:00

Final class assignments are due tomorrow (Tuesday, May 2) at noon. You may place them in the wall box outside my office door (AnSci 306) or ask the person at the main office desk (AnSci 310) to place them in my JCOM department mailbox.The post quality here is improving all the time! I'll keep it going after you've all drifted away for the summer; remember, if you feel the impulse to talk about

Sex Offenders...Out of Luck!

2006-05-01T15:39:00.000-06:00

I'm sure it isn't much fun living under a microscope if you're a convicted sex offender. On the state sex offender Web site the personal information is there for all to see. All of their personal information is there for our protection. We, the innocent law-abiding citizens, deserve to know if there are predators in our midst. We need to know their faces and addresses and the cars they drive to

Ms.....a woman in charge

2006-05-01T14:36:00.000-06:00

A magazine should not be required to be an open forum for all advertisers...just because they can pay. A newspaper is expected to be the "voice" of the people who read it. It is to represent the ideas and values of it's readers. When a paper does not represent what the reader expects it should....then, watch out....the newspaper will hear about it! But a magazine, a corporation, should

Media Ownership and social justice

2006-05-01T13:17:00.000-06:00

The main concern journalists and consumers need to be worried about as media ownership becomes more concentrated is accurate representation. This is always been a problem for media. There is a difficultly in representing the world the way it is actually built. White men have a tendency to dominate ownership, and therefore white men dominate the news coverage. I think it's important to make sure

Identity of Sex Crime Victims

2006-05-01T00:17:00.000-06:00

Bitty’s blog on the unfolding Duke dilemma, as he called it, has been making me think. I thought I remembered seeing a case study in our book about another high profile rape case- the one involving Kobe Bryant. So I looked it up, and sure enough... The case study deals mostly about Kobe fans leaking the alleged victim’s name, and the follow-up coverage and exposure of the girl’s identity by

Motive, Not Consequence

2006-04-30T23:36:00.000-06:00

“An important part of moral development is the recognition that motive, not consequence, is the critical factor in deciding whether an act is ethical.” To me this is a very comforting statement. It says that to be an ethical person I must worry about having a good motive, not a good outcome. Which makes a lot of sense, really; we probably don’t have much control over most of the consequences

Privacy vs. Photographs

2006-04-30T23:34:00.000-06:00

I have been thinking a lot about the sex offender registry and the concerns about invasion of privacy that it brings up. I’ve been connecting it in my mind to the case studies we talked about in class quite a while ago- the case study about the photograph of the man falling from the world trade center and the the case study about the picture of the girls falling from the fire escape. Something

Consequences vs. motives

2006-04-29T10:49:00.000-06:00

I think the reason motive is used to decide whether an act is ethical is because of this:The consequences of an action can be the same whether or not the decision was ethical. For example, in the Eugene Register-Guard case we read about, Godbold said that he put the picture in there without really thinking. He knew it would cause a stir and that was about it. He said that when people called in

Motive is where ethics live but consequences must be considered

2006-04-28T15:43:00.000-06:00

Bad things happen to everyone, and often times other people cause those bad things to happen. People die in car crashes, rumors damage reputations, and so on. The only way we have to decide if actiona that cause these bad things are ethical is to look at a person's motive. I agree with this completely. Motive is always important. However, the motive alone is not cannot be the only factor we look

Duke's dilemma

2006-04-28T11:53:00.000-06:00

I was just sitting here reading NEWSWEEK about the story of the two lacrosse players indicted for rape. There seems to be two extremes in this case. Those that agree with the defense and are calling the questionable character of alleged victim into question. She is a black stripper claiming that two rich white college men raped her. She is after money, attention or whatnot. Why should she be

Ms. Magazine

2006-04-27T09:55:00.000-06:00

I don’t think magazines are ethically required to be open forums for advertisers. Magazines have a symbiotic relationship with advertising because they sell space and make a profit, and in return the ads are seen by the magazine’s readership, but this symbiotic relationship doesn’t require a magazine to accept every or any ad. Magazines have images to maintain. I’m sure Vogue doesn’t want ads

Media Ownership

2006-04-27T09:22:00.000-06:00

As media ownership becomes increasingly concentrated in fewer, wealthier corporations, there is an increased potential for the news to be manipulated by the interests of those who control the corporations. This is a potentially dangerous situation, because we are a democracy and rely on an educated public for our country to run as it should. The first amendment is crucial to the maintenance of

confliction addiction

2006-04-27T08:51:00.000-06:00

At first I couldn’t imagine why conflict is usually listed as a tradtitional news value. I was imagining journalists blowing issues up to create conflict, or reporting only shocking stories... What was it they said in Bowling for Columbine about making the front page? Then I realized that the value of conflict is not so much about selling news or shock value as it is about representing both

Kindness - could it be a minimalist value?

2006-04-26T23:49:00.000-06:00

Here's poet Naomi Shihab Nye's thoughts on kindness - a favorite poem of mine, and one I'd like to give you to think about before you leave for the summer:KindnessBefore you know what kindness really isyou must lose things,feel the future dissolve in a momentlike salt in a weakened broth.What you held in your hand,what you counted and carefully saved,all this must go so you knowhow desolate the

What to do next?

2006-04-25T21:30:00.000-06:00

"That the truly probing questions are being asked by bloggers rather than by national journalists is becoming increasingly commonplace," writes Glenn Greenwald, a noted blogger who has just published a book that attempts to answer the question, How Would a Patriot Act? Greenwald's blog bio says he spent the past 10 years as a litigator in NYC specializing in First Amendment challenges (including

Nazis and Ethics

2006-04-25T13:00:00.000-06:00

Last year I took a class on World War II. Most of the class focused on facets of the war that aren't studied as much such as events in the Pacific and military action in northern Africa. We did, however, spend some time on the Holocaust, and while watching Schindler's List, I remembered some of the things I had heard in that class.One of the most horrifying aspects for me was the fact that many

Plagiarize... let no one else's work evade your eyes...

2006-04-25T11:32:00.000-06:00

Lest I fall into the trap, let me attribute the title of this post where it belongs: it's a line from a song by Tom Lehrer. Here's the story: a hot new author, only 19 years old and a Harvard sophomore, is in hot water.Update 2: Young Author Admits Borrowing PassagesA Harvard University sophomore with a highly publicized first novel acknowledged Monday that she had borrowed material, accidentally

The value of conflict

2006-04-25T10:50:00.000-06:00

Conflict is very often seen as a negative thing, but it doesn't have to be. I agree that conflict is an important part of good reporting. Including conflict can be something as simple as getting both sides of a controversial issue. I think that conflict is actually what helps the media adhere to values such as accuracy and equity. Conflict forces them to get the whole picture, to get

Sex Offenders

2006-04-24T21:01:00.000-06:00

Goodness, this is some crazy stuff! I definitely think sex offenders give away their privacy when they choose to violate the law in such a way. Just like murderers and thieves are named in the newspaper, sex offenders are as well. And once their names are out, it's public information. And public information can't just all of a sudden be private again.With regards to the registry, I'm not

Schindler's List

2006-04-24T17:58:00.000-06:00

I can’t seem to get the movie out of my head. I have been thinking about the comparison between one person's horror and another's luxory. But mostly I keep thinking about Nancy’s question, “Why would I end the course with this movie?”I have my one answer. In the United States people have religious freedom. It is illegal to kill someone just because he or she is a Jew. However, it was legal

Offend THIS

2006-04-24T12:13:00.000-06:00

You know, I am a huge believer in a citizen’s right to privacy. It freaks me out how much information is available on the internet about us- have you ever googled yourself?? But I think that once you are convicted of a sexual crime, you forfeit your right to privacy concerning that conviction. I say this because I want to know if my neighbor rapes young women. I want to know because I would

Risk and the East

2006-04-24T11:43:00.000-06:00

How much do I think a journalist can ask others to risk in order to get a story? My first reaction would be not very damn much. I think if someone wants to take risks, that’s their own business, but I don’t want a bunch of pushy reporters trying to make their living off the risk of someone else. But I do think that there are instances when asking someone to take risks is justified. If someone

More on sex-offender registries

2006-04-21T17:06:00.000-06:00

I heard this story on NPR this afternoon while I was driving home. Thought you'd be interested -- here's a link, and then when you get to the NPR site, click on the "listen to this story" button. Many states -- including Utah -- list hard-core predators alongside people who may pose no risk to the public. There's a map at the NPR site that shows states' policies.Murders Put Focus on Sex-Offender

ethics in the workplace

2006-04-21T00:21:00.000-06:00

The other day I had a discussion with a fellow worker about ethics. He told me his scheme to collect money from customers by creating fake receipts and using the money to buy a new chair for the employees. He was joking, of course, but we still discussed it. He reasoned that it would be okay because the customers wouldn't know the difference, and we'd still get a good chair. I argued that it

Do Volkswagen crash ads go to far?

2006-04-20T23:01:00.000-06:00

Volkswagen has drawn scrutiny with two TV ads that depict graphic crashes to illustrate the safety features of its latest Jetta model. Some are wondering if the ads go too far and if the message of the ad will be clear to the consumers. At first I thought the ad was an insurance commercial, I had no idea it was for VW Jetta until the very end. I've talked to friends about the ad and most

Muhammad and Opus Dei

2006-04-19T23:47:00.000-06:00

It has been interesting to see what circumstances will prompt an explanation, retraction, or apology by the media. Another Muhammad cartoon has made the news. Here is an article searched from the web:http://www.woai.com/news/world/story.aspx?content_id=4DC4AE54-33E6-4030-9D9A-B256C1330F87It sounds like the publication claims to have been trying to promote inter-faith unity with the cartoon of

Schindler's mindset

2006-04-19T16:11:00.000-06:00

I just thought I'd share something I learned last night that I never realized from watching Shindler's List.I just got some new insights into the mind set of Schindler. I am a German Studies minor and this morning I read a poem by Guenter Eich. He is one of many post WWII writers that were part of "Die Gruppe Siebenundvierzig" or "the group 47." They, as a group, tried to write in such a way

Conflict as a value?

2006-04-18T14:50:00.000-06:00

I hate to think that conflict is a news value. Sadly, I think it is a human value, not that humans like conflict but rather then have the tendency to flock to it. Conflict is interesting to us and that is a very human problem. Rather than running from unknown noises in the forest, we have to investigate, figure out what is causing it. Because of this tendency, journalists, as the voice of the

Privacy, cyber-stalking & harassment

2006-04-17T21:53:00.000-06:00

Speaking of privacy online, there's a good but gasp-worthy article in today's New York Times. Here's a link: A Sinister Web Entraps Victims of Cyberstalkers.

Utah's Sex Offender Registry

2006-04-17T21:49:00.000-06:00

In case you haven't seen it for yourself, here's a link to the sex offender registry for Utah. Note that you have to promise not to use information you find there to harass the offenders or their families and friends, and there's a reminder that such harassment is against the law.To search it, type in your zip code.

Sex offender

2006-04-17T13:18:00.000-06:00

I work at a bank and the other day a co-worker was looking on the Utah State site at sex offenders. I personally think its kind of a morbid past time but that is beside the point.First off I would like to say that I wholeheartedly do not agree with sex offenses but I do feel that it is a violation of that persons privacy to be plastered all over the internet or whatnot.Back to the point. This

sex offernders and rights....

2006-04-16T23:21:00.000-06:00

valuesI have to say that I am in favor of anything to keep track of sex offenders. I think they should have to put signs in their yards warning everyone that can see that there is a sex offender in their neighborhood. This new idea of having your children tracked is great! use the info. out there to keep them safe and away from these perps. I know that there is a law that is trying to use the

Cat Trax – Godsend for parents?

2006-04-16T22:35:00.000-06:00

A couple of the local evening news programs have highlighted a service that will be available soon. Cat Trax is a company who will set up a gps enabled cell phone to track where your children are. The phone will alert the parents when the child gets close to a registered sex offenders residence. The service is to become available in Utah in June at a cost of about $20 per month.One newscast

Common Values in Iraq

2006-04-14T20:12:00.000-06:00

Today’s Utah Statesman carried an article "Life is better for Iraqis" on the opinion page by Jared Johnson USU Student/Soldier. I find that his articles offer an interesting insight into what we are doing in Iraq and some of the politics behind it all. I realize that it is his perspective and that his is not the only perspective on the issue.His article today had to do with the question of

Sextuplets: Six Times the Grief for an AP Journalist

2006-04-14T19:18:00.000-06:00

I must be learning something in class. At least I am more aware of what’s going on in the news. Here is a follow up story that could almost have been a case study in our Media Ethics class.http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-04-13-sextuplets-hoax_x.htmThere are beginning to be some follow up stories as well.It seems that a couple scammed the media and the public by claiming to have given

Sex Offender Registery Registers Offensively

2006-04-14T11:35:00.000-06:00

Well, that is a tricky little title, isn't it? All right, it seems that we all seem to be having the same kind of thoughts regarding the SOR. It seems that a majority of us seem opposed to it, and I'm part of that. Although I think it's somewhat of a good idea, I don't think it's fair. Perhaps that's not the best word. The fact is once an offender is in that thing, that person is in there

"United 93"

2006-04-13T01:52:00.000-06:00

Please read this article first if you aren't familiar with "United 93"Newsweek-'United 93':Is U.S. ready for a 9/11 film?A very controversial subject in the the news lately, "United 93" is the first feature film about 911 to hit theatres. My roommates and I just recently went to see the movie "Inside Man" this past weekend, and "United 93" was one of the previews. I had actually never heard

Sex Offenders & The Internet

2006-04-11T16:50:00.000-06:00

I'm not all that in favor of having registered sex offenders made public for anyone to see. I would be much more in favor of sex offenders having to be registered in some sort of database. A database for employers, or anyone with a certain need-to-know, may look.For example, a child rapist isn't going to be a concern to me, a single white adult male with no children under my care. If John Doe,

The Sex Offender Registry is a load of crap....

2006-04-11T15:55:00.000-06:00

This registry is nothing more than harrassment. I am sure, that at one point it was a stellar idea that had a good impact. Now it's run by a group of man-hating socialists who would rather ruin peoples' lives than actually do good in our society.My friend's brother is a good example of this, and his situation is not the first that I have seen. He met this lovely 19 year old girl on the

Ethics of the Sex Offender Database

2006-04-11T11:51:00.000-06:00

Utah's database of convicted sex offenders is, for the most part, considered a good thing. It is important for information like that to be available... especially where children are concerned. There are two big issues that some might see as potential ethical problems though.First, the site doesn't give us the whole story. I've heard people talk about this problem before, and they have mentioned

Syndicated Blogging

2006-04-10T15:02:00.000-06:00

According to an AP story in WiReD News, a new syndication service called BlogBurst will feed stories and headlines from 600 participating blogs into the mainstream media.Newspapers are looking to BlogBurst to provide expert blog commentary on travel, women's issues, technology, food, entertainment and local stories, areas where publishers may not have dedicated staff...

Ethics of news video

2006-04-09T19:15:00.000-06:00

Okay, I admit I got caught watching a dumb TV show. It wasn’t Cops vs. Bad Boys or whatever, but one step above it. The show was about how news video has been used in recent years to help law enforcement. There were a few ethical issues pointed out in the show.The segment that caught my attention had to do with (supposedly) the first-ever police chase caught on video by a news helicopter. After a

Isaac Hayes quits South Park

2006-04-04T21:42:00.000-06:00

Several articles have been in the news recently about Isaac Hayes, who has been a voice on South Park since 1997, leaving the show over a religious satire of Scientology. One link to one of the first newspaper reports is at: http://articles.news.aol.com/tv/article.adp?id=20060313163309990010The story continues in the media: Shortly after Hayes quit, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, creators of South

Magazines & Advertising

2006-04-04T14:15:00.000-06:00

Question: Is a magazine ethically required to be an open forum for all advertisers who have the ability to pay? No. Magazines and advertisers are two different species living symbiotically. But, just like species, you have different breeds of each. In our free enterprise system, magazines don't exist for the greater good; they exist because someone somewhere has some sort of agenda.

The Killing Fields revisited

2006-04-03T23:51:00.000-06:00

The timing of The Killing Fields could not have been at a more appropriate time considering the release of Jill Carroll by her Iraqi captors. Several parallels could be made between the movie and the real life Carroll story.I believe that taking risks as a journalist is a matter to be decided by the journalist only. He or she must decide if loyalty to their employer or loyalty to discovering and