Fostering a Culture of Newsroom Independence

How to fight anticipatory compliance.

NYU Ethics and Journalism Initiative Announces Finalists for the Inaugural Peter F. Collier Award for Ethics in Journalism

Winners to be named in student, local, and international categories, with Dean Baquet serving as keynote speaker, at April 10 Paley Center event

Foreign Correspondents Dig Into The Ethics of Overseas Reporting

An extraordinary group of foreign correspondents gathered at New York University to discuss working with local journalists, protecting vulnerable sources, and maintaining ethical bearings in difficult situations.

Register: Collier Awards for Ethics in Journalism

An evening celebrating ethical journalism, recognizing those who uphold integrity and truth in their reporting.

Why The Colorado Sun Remains Committed to Diversity

When I started reading through the newsroom ethics codes posted on our website earlier this year, I noticed an interesting trend: Even as U.S. businesses, federal agencies and major universities were rolling back initiatives to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, plenty of news organizations continued to promote diversity, both in terms of newsroom staff and coverage of diverse voices and communities.

DECODED

Breaking down the ethics codes and guidelines shaping newsrooms across the industry.

How Chalkbeat Protects The Students It Covers

Interviewing students is a fundamental part of Chalkbeat's mission as an education-focused nonprofit newsroom that reports extensively on K-12 policy and experience. But how can newsrooms work with underage sources ethically?

Why The Colorado Sun Remains Committed to Diversity

When I started reading through the newsroom ethics codes posted on our website earlier this year, I noticed an interesting trend: Even as U.S. businesses, federal agencies and major universities were rolling back initiatives to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, plenty of news organizations continued to promote diversity, both in terms of newsroom staff and coverage of diverse voices and communities.

Fostering a Culture of Newsroom Independence

How to fight anticipatory compliance.

NYU Ethics and Journalism Initiative Announces Finalists for the Inaugural Peter F. Collier Award for Ethics in Journalism

Winners to be named in student, local, and international categories, with Dean Baquet serving as keynote speaker, at April 10 Paley Center event

Foreign Correspondents Dig Into The Ethics of Overseas Reporting

An extraordinary group of foreign correspondents gathered at New York University to discuss working with local journalists, protecting vulnerable sources, and maintaining ethical bearings in difficult situations.

Register: Collier Awards for Ethics in Journalism

An evening celebrating ethical journalism, recognizing those who uphold integrity and truth in their reporting.

DECODED

Breaking down the ethics codes and guidelines shaping newsrooms across the industry.

How Chalkbeat Protects The Students It Covers

Interviewing students is a fundamental part of Chalkbeat's mission as an education-focused nonprofit newsroom that reports extensively on K-12 policy and experience. But how can newsrooms work with underage sources ethically?

THE ETHICS DIGEST

Pointing you toward the latest news stories and initiatives that place ethics at the forefront.

How to Cover DOGE When It’s Family

Charles M. Sennott writes about his conflict of interest in reporting on the Elon Musk-led DOGE and the Trump administration, which his 26-year-old son Riley is a part of, acknowledging that while journalists should fully disclose their biases it can also get "impractical and invasive."

We ran the wrong headline about Trump firing the FTC commissioners

The Verge's Sarah Jeong conducts a postmortem on coverage of Trump's illegal firing of FTC commissioners and explains why headlines use 'hedgy' language and why, she says, they shouldn't.

Inquirer closes community news desk, sparking outcry over diversity and equity goals

Poytner covers the outrage over the shut-down of the three-year-old community news desk of The Philadelphia Inquirer, and what it means for the coverage of underserved communities as publications deal with costs of operation and the Trump administration's anti-DEI sentiment.

Advocates Explore Ways to Strengthen Local News in a Time of Crisis

At an event hosted by Free Press and Media Power Collaborative, panelists discussed not only the challenges faced by local communities in accessing credible news in difficult times, amid "mass deportations" and "skyrocketing costs," but also solutions to this problem.

How News Publications Are Changing to Protect Immigrant Sources

Columbia Journalism Review's Meghnad Bose outlines how several outlets are adapting and changing their policies to offer additional protection to vulnerable sources.

Browse the Digest Archive

RESOURCES ARCHIVE

Looking for more information on AI usage for your pitches and essays? Want to know more about how the biggest publications treat ethics in their newsrooms? We compile all of these sources (and more) in our resources library.

Browse Resources

UPCOMING EVENTS

New programming scheduled for the upcoming season.

April 10, 2025

5:00-9:00pm

April 10, 2025 | 5:00-9:00pm

Register: Collier Awards for Ethics in Journalism

An evening celebrating ethical journalism, recognizing those who uphold integrity and truth in their reporting.

April 11, 2025

10:00am-2:00pm

April 11, 2025 | 10:00am-2:00pm

REGISTER: Collier Awards Symposium for Ethics in Journalism

Conversations with the finalists in the student, local, and national/international categories.

AREAS OF FOCUS

Everyday Ethics

Journalistic ethical standards that form the profession’s foundation.

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Ethics and Technology

Ethical implications and challenges that arise from evolving technology.

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Ethics and Diversity

Ethical reporting on diverse communities and building ethical structures within newsrooms.

Read More

Ethics and Democracy

Ethics, journalism and the democratic process in an increasingly polarized world.

Read More

THE LATEST

The latest in ethics news and original commentary.

Why The Colorado Sun Remains Committed to Diversity

When I started reading through the newsroom ethics codes posted on our website earlier this year, I noticed an interesting trend: Even as U.S. businesses, federal agencies and major universities were rolling back initiatives to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, plenty of news organizations continued to promote diversity, both in terms of newsroom staff and coverage of diverse voices and communities.

Foreign Correspondents Dig Into The Ethics of Overseas Reporting

An extraordinary group of foreign correspondents gathered at New York University to discuss working with local journalists, protecting vulnerable sources, and maintaining ethical bearings in difficult situations.

NYU Ethics and Journalism Initiative Announces Finalists for the Inaugural Peter F. Collier Award for Ethics in Journalism

Winners to be named in student, local, and international categories, with Dean Baquet serving as keynote speaker, at April 10 Paley Center event

Fostering a Culture of Newsroom Independence

How to fight anticipatory compliance.

How Chalkbeat Protects The Students It Covers

Interviewing students is a fundamental part of Chalkbeat's mission as an education-focused nonprofit newsroom that reports extensively on K-12 policy and experience. But how can newsrooms work with underage sources ethically?

Do No Harm: Covering Gun Violence with ‘Radical Empathy’

“The model should be going into stories with compassion, heart, and humility.” A new coalition is building stronger bridges between journalists and communities affected by shootings.

Does It Still Make Sense to Be a Journalist?

An antidote to perpetual despondency.

How Newsrooms Should Cover Themselves

Looking beyond a mess at the Washington Post to more general rules

Anonymous Sources: How to Minimize Harm without Minimizing Impact

Many journalists have turned to anonymity as a default method for minimizing harm to story subjects. But how do we balance our obligation to sources with our ethical imperative to tell the full story?

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