Journalism Ethics in Perspective

The full title of the panel was “Journalism Ethics in Perspective: Some History and Some Questions.” Harwood commented on the differences in the standards that journalists are held to and that they apply to others. Hess focused on the television news practice of “shopping for sound bites” to fit stories. He maintained that the “hypothesis of the television news story is no longer in the hands of the field correspondent.” Ghiglione focused on issues of newspaper ethics, including: lack of self-criticism in the press, the reactive nature of journalists, and the intrusion of marketplace values on journalism. Bonafede differentiated individual and institutional ethics. close