Media Ethics

1.5 credits · Graduate

Media Ethics will concentrate on ethical dilemmas faced by reporters and editors. Using case studies, readings and guest lecturers, the course examines the murkier conflicts that don't necessarily make it to court but nevertheless force difficult newsroom decision-making. What should journalists do? How should they justify their decisions? This course examines key ethical questions facing journalists, many of which took root in a pre-digital era. The central premise of this course is that journalism has the capacity to challenge social injustice, which is one reason to participate in and protect the profession. At the same time, dominant journalism has regularly dehumanized marginalized communities.