Alison Frankel

Senior Advisor

Alison Frankel spent nearly 40 years as a legal journalist, first as a magazine writer at The American Lawyer and most recently as a daily columnist at Reuters. Frankel is also the author of Double Eagle: The Epic Story of the World’s Most Valuable Coin. She is a Dartmouth College graduate.

The Ethics of Covering the Trump Administration: How News Outlets Handle Insults Embedded in the Administration’s Official Responses

We spoke with standards editors at Reuters, NPR, and more and found a sharp divergence among them on the question of whether to publish extraneous insults from Trump spokespeople.

Covering Migrants In An Age Of Mass Deportations

The stakes are high for reporters on the migrant beat. To provide guidance and insight, we asked a veteran immigration reporter about building trust, fielding requests for help, navigating Trump administration changes to enforcement, reader fatigue, and more. 

How to Write Fairer, More Accurate Headlines

New guidance from the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics lays out three principles for ethical headline writing and offers guidance for newsrooms that want to achieve them.

Why Documented’s Website Features Legal and Financial Resources for Migrants

The nonprofit’s co-founder says its resources page is service journalism for the communities Documented covers.

At The Kansas City Defender, Activism Is The Mission

This startup nonprofit, which was born out of the 2020 George Floyd protests, embraces community advocacy in the tradition of what it calls “the radical Black press.”

Amid Protests and Elections, How Can Journalists Ethically Participate in Politics and Civic Life?

At THE CITY, journalists can participate in civic life – but only if the activity doesn’t conflict with their beats.

Transparency, Accountability, Vulnerable Sources: Guidance From The 2025 Collier Awardees

Reporting on Amazon, hostile state governments, and universities; working with survivors of trauma; and explaining their decision-making to audiences and more at the first annual Collier Awards Symposium for Ethics in Journalism held April 11, 2025.

Why The Colorado Sun Remains Committed to Diversity

Even as U.S. businesses, federal agencies and major universities were rolling back initiatives to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, plenty of news organizations have 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.