Everyday Ethics

Journalistic ethical standards that form the profession’s foundation.

Event Takeaways: CBS News’s Dr. Jon LaPook on Ethics in Science, Health, and Medical Reporting

"Disinfecting" misinformation, offering context, navigating conflicts of interest, and more in our takeaways from our Ethics in Medical Reporting event with CBS News Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook.

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?

A large group of individuals in red shirts wearing shirts and holding signs with slogans calling for a fifteen dollar minimum wage.

Received Hacked Info? Now What? Five Takeaways About How to Ethically Navigate Reporting of Hacked Materials

Source scrutiny, foreign intervention, audience transparency and more in our takeaways from our September event with Semafor's Ben Smith, Columbia Journalism Review's Sewell Chan, and Kathleen Carroll, former executive editor of the Associated Press.

Moderator Stephen Adler with three panelists onstage.

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.

Image of a dog between two floating slices of bread.

Guest Column: Is An On-The-Record Interview a Sign of Journalistic Virtue? I’m Not So Sure.

When I started in journalism in the mid-1980s I was given a diktat. Never share a quote in advance with an interview subject. I never did.

On Hacked Documents, Journalism and the Motives of Sources

Highlighting a weakness in much of day-to-day coverage.

DC Says Gun Violence is a Public Health Crisis. Will newsrooms cover it like one? Ask Dr. Jon LaPook.

While this health-centric framing may have been new for Washington, it’s an approach some medical journalists like CBS News’s Chief Medical Correspondent Jon LaPook have embraced for years.

Dr. Jon LaPook on CBS 60 Minutes

Fall Event Lineup to Feature Sessions on Elections, Medical Ethics, Immigration

Guests to include CBS News medical correspondent Jon LaPook and Documented co-founder Mazin Sidahmed.

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 […]

Guest Column: Being Transparent With Sources Is Key to Building Trust

Guest columnist Dan Levine, a Reuters investigative reporter, explains the importance of sharing with sources how the editorial process works to earn their trust, minimize their exposure and protect their safety.