Stephen J. Adler
Director, Ethics and Journalism Initiative
Stephen J. Adler has led national and global newsrooms for more than two decades, most recently as editor-in-chief of Reuters.
A global advocate for free speech and journalism ethics, Adler is board chair of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and a board member and immediate past chair at the Columbia Journalism Review. He is on the advisory council of Physicians for Human Rights.
Getting Past Newsroom Myopia
The results of the 2024 election left many national media commentators stunned. This surprise begs the question: what can coastal big-city news organizations do to more accurately reflect and understand the concerns of the American public?
My Student Asked: Is It Ethical to Share Common Experiences, Interests or Beliefs with a Source?
The other day, a student asked me whether, in interviewing a union official for a story, it was OK to tell the official that the student had been a union organizer a few years before entering journalism school. Would this be ethical, the student asked?
Ethics and Diversity | Everyday Ethics
Confronting Falsehoods Carries Risks for the Press. So Does Ignoring Them.
Donald Trump's and J.D. Vance's recent comments about Haitian immigrants present a familiar challenge to journalists: how to report on misinformation without amplifying it.
Was It Unethical Not to Cover Biden’s Apparent Decline?
Story selection isn’t covered prominently in most newsroom ethics codes, but what we do or don’t choose to publish is a matter of journalistic ethics as much as anything else. Days after the Democratic National Convention, Ethics & Journalism Initiative Director Steve Adler describes the press’s reluctance to cover President Biden’s apparent decline before the June 27 debate as a significant ethical failure.
Letter from the Director, Stephen J. Adler
Welcome to ethicsandjournalism.org, the website of NYU’s new Ethics & Journalism Initiative. Here you’ll find newsroom ethics codes, AI guidelines, a compendium of best practices, topical discussions, and the most useful ethics articles and papers that we can produce or collect. The goal is to help journalists, whether experienced or just starting out, to become […]