Ethical Journalism Newsletter: December 8, 2015

News

New York Times: 95,000 Words, Many of Them Ominous, From Donald Trump’s Tongue

The New York Times found this week that Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump leads his cheering supporters through a “landscape of foes that must beaten, sent away, or discredited.” Watch the video and read the full article here.

For background read the EJN’s work on hate-speech: Hate-speech: A five-point test for journalists.

BBC: UK MP defends adding death threat to letter she publishes online

After the UK parliament voted to approve air strikes in Syria, some MPs received threatening online communications. Conservative MP, Lucy Allan was accused of faking a death threat after modifying a message from a constituent. Read the full story on the BBC.

MIC: Reporters Pried Into Alleged Shooters’ Apartment and Everyone Is Very Confused About It

Last week MSNBC, CNN and other news outlets entered the Californian apartment belonging to Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik, the suspected shooters in the San Bernardino attacks. To the shock of many, including Natasha Noman, the reporters started trawling through their belongings live on air. This MIC article is one of many which questioned the ethics of their actions.

About Journalism: Yes, Journalism Ethics and Objective News Coverage Are Still Important

A journalism student from the University of Maryland interviews Tony Rogers who runs About Journalism about ethics in journalism. Here are the links to part one and part two of the insightful exchange.

Activities

EJN Event: Readers’ editors – Do they matter?

Chris Elliott, the readers’ editor at The Guardian, discusses the commercial and ethical case for self-regulation.

Some newspapers opt to have readers’ editors, some don’t. As part of an EJN lecture series at City University London Chris Elliott outlines why The Guardian has had a internal ombudsman or readers’s editor since 1997.

Event: First meeting of the European Commission’s media literacy expert group

Joining the European Commission’s Media Literacy Expert Group on media literacy, freedom, pluralism and ethics.

Debates over media literacy and how to increase it need to reach a wider audience; this was the message the Ethical Journalism’s Network’s director, Aidan White, brought to the European Commission’s meeting of the media literacy expert group last this week.

EJN Event: Living with a TV Regulator

Dorothy Byrne discusses the Head of News and Current Affairs at Channel 4 discusses ethical journalism

Living with a TV Regulator – Dorothy Byrne discusses Ofcom and secret recording in the second of the EJN’s lecture series at City University London.