JOUR E-120/W Ethics and Journalism

Instructors: Angelia Herrin, Allan Ryan

Teaching Assistants: Jeanne Harnois
Jeremy Fox
Franklin Schwarzer

Class website: isites.harvard.edu/k63057

Class meets: Wednesdays 5:30-7:30 pm
53 Church Street L01

Email assignments: journalist.herrin@gmail.com

Email questions and concerns:
aherrin@hbsp.harvard.edu
ryan5@fas.harvard.edu
jeanne.harnois@gmail.com
jeremycfox@gmail.com
fjs143@gmail.com

Should a reporter go to jail rather than reveal a source? When is it ethical to

disclose an elected official's misbehavior? The foundation of good journalism, in
any media, is a solid understanding of strong ethical standards. Through case
studies, class discussion, and project papers, we look at frameworks for ethical
decision making. We examine a variety of ethical problems faced by journalists,
such as the balance of privacy and newsworthiness, journalists' conflicts of
interest, the obligation to maintain the confidentiality of sources, cooperation with
law enforcement, and the role of journalists in their communities. We examine
new questions raised by new technologies and new sources of information, and
consider whether journalistic ethics should apply to bloggers and other non-
professional "citizen media."

In your assignments and in class participation, you are expected to think and
write critically. During the semester, you will author a blog, filled with your own
observations and critiques. Additionally, you will be required to read, analyze and
discuss news coverage in The New York Times and your local paper. There will
be no final exam, only a final paper.

DISTANCE EDUCATION AND STREAMING VIDEO OF LECTURES: This

course is part of the Harvard Extension School's Distance Education Program.
We encourage distance learners to join this class: they add valuable
insights and perspectives to the class that gathers in Cambridge. Lectures
for this course that are given at Harvard on Monday will be available to distance
students via the Internet no later than the following FRIDAY morning. Those
distance students who do not have scheduling conflicts (such as time zones or
job obligations) are encouraged to participate directly in the class through instant
messaging (IM). TA Jeanne Harnois will handle setting up your IM participation.
Please see the Distance Education website for information on the Distance
Education Program and for details on how to view the lectures and obtain
technical support. The link is: http://www.extension.harvard.edu/distanceed.

The instructor will also set up phone conferencing with distance students, at a
mutually agreed upon time, to discuss individual work.

REQUIRED READING: There is one required textbook for this course, available
at the Harvard Coop or on Amazon.com.

Ethics in Journalism, Sixth Edition, Ron F. Smith; Blackwell Publishing

Other material used in the class will be posted on the class website. You are also
expected to read The New York Times and a local daily paper. Stories in papers
will be discussed regularly in class and on the class blogs.

ATTENDANCE AND CLASS PARTICIPATION,

Your consistent attendance is essential to your success in this class. This class
is designed to be an interactive discussion of the most critical issues in
journalism. Students are expected to stay up on the reading, participate in the
class blog and contribute in class. Distance students can use Instant Messaging
and email, as well as the blogs, to join the discussion.
Because your course is a planned sequence, you must write all of the
assignments to pass the course, and you must write them within the schedule of
the course--not in the last few days of the term after you have fallen behind. If
you believe you will miss a deadline, contact journalist.herrin@gmail.com and
you will receive a new due date. Failure to meet the deadlines in submitting work
will lower your grade.

PLAGIARISM AND FABRICATION: Plagiarism is the theft of someone else’s

ideas and work. Whether a student copies verbatim or simply rephrases the
ideas of another without properly acknowledging the source, the theft is the
same. A computer program written as part of the student’s academic work is, like
a paper, expected to be the student’s original work and subject to the same
standards of representation. In the preparation of work submitted to meet course
requirements, whether a draft or final version of a paper, project, assignment,
computer program, or take-home examination, students must take great care to
distinguish their own ideas and language from information derived from sources.
Sources include published primary and secondary materials, the Internet, and
information and opinions gained directly from other people. Whenever ideas or
facts are derived from a student’s reading or research, the sources must be
properly cited.

It is the student's responsibility to learn the proper forms of citation according to

the standards delineated by Harvard University. This is true even for students
from other countries who have been taught to use sources in other ways. Copies
of Writing with Sources: A Guide for Harvard Students and Writing with Internet
Sources: A Guide for Harvard Students, both prepared by Harvard’s Expository
Writing Program, are distributed to all students. Additional copies are available at
Information Services, 51 Brattle Street, first floor lobby.

In this course, we will have continuing discussion about sources, attribution and
use of the Internet in researching stories. Your work is expected to reflect those
discussions.

GRADING:
There will be three graded papers in this class. If an assignment is late, you will
automatically receive a lower grade.

“A” is outstanding work.

“B” means very good work, but with skill problems that still need correction.
“C” shows satisfactory grasp of the concepts, but also the need to bring skills up
to the level expected from a beginning reporter.
“D” means unsatisfactory display of fundamental skills and/or failure to follow
assignment.
“F” is unacceptable work.
Fs are also given for any assignment containing a major error of fact, displaying
plagiarism or containing verified case of fabrication.

The final paper makes up 35 percent of your grade. Class participation—in the
classroom and on the blogs —accounts for 25 percent. Your two shorter papers
each count for 20 percent.

PLEASE NOTE: This syllabus subject to revision, as speakers and

news events may influence our discussions!

Wednesday, September 2

Course Overview: Why ethics matter

Homework
Interview piece from class
Due to journalist.herrin@gmail.com and ryan5@fas.harvard.edu Thursday,
September 18 by 6 p.m.

For next class read

Ethics in Journalism
Chapters Two and Three
On the Website
Ethical Journalism is Not an Oxymoron, by Lee Wilkins and Renita
Coleman, Nieman Reports
Code of Ethics, Society of Professional Journalists
Poynter Ethics Box

Wednesday, September 9
Truth, Objectivity and Decision making: What are the “Rules”?

For next class read

Ethics in Journalism
Chapter Five
On the Web site
Anna Nicole Smith – Anatomy of a Feeding Frenzy, by the Project for
Excellence in Journalism
The Journalism of Assertion, by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosentiel, posted
on Journalism.org

Wednesday, September 16
Defamation, Deception, Transparency?

For next class read

Ethics in Journalism
Chapter Six
On the Website
Barnicle’s Game, by Dan Kennedy, The Boston Phoenix
Ex-USA Today Reporter Faked Major Stories, by Blake Morrison, USA
Today

Wednesday, September 23
Faking the news:

For next class read

Ethics In journalism
Chapters 7, 9
On the Website
Tall Tales of a Mafia Mistress, by Tim Robbins, the Village Voice
The Trial of Jim Taricani, by Ian Donnis, The Providence Phoenix
Uncharted Terrain, by Rachel Smolkin, The American Journalism
Review

Case Study Paper II – Due Sunday, September 26 to

journalist.herrin@gmail.com and your TA

Wednesday, September 30
Working with Sources

For next class read

Ethics in Journalism
Chapter 8
On the Web site
U.S. Says Hussein Intensifies Quest for A-Bomb Parts, by Michael R.
Gordon and Judith Miller, The New York Times
Now they Tell Us, by Michael Massing, New York Review of Books
The Connective Threads of the News Media and Government, by Dan
Kennedy, Nieman Reports

Wednesday, October 7
The Press Goes to War

For next class read:

Ethics in Journalism
Chapter 14
On the Web site
Networks need a Reality Check, by Bernard Goldberg, The Wall Street
Journal
Introduction to Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distorts
News
What Liberal Media?, by Eric Alterman, The Nation
Re-thinking Objectivity, by Brent Cunningham, The Columbia
Journalism

Wednesday October 14
Confronting Our Biases: Political, Racial and Social

For next class read:

Ethics in Journalism
Chapter 4
On the Web site
Collection of blog columns by John Robinson, editor, Greensboro News&
Record
Journalism’s Last Line of Defense, by Jeffrey Dvorkin, Salon
Ownership Creates Challenges in Covering Red Sox, Richard Chacon,
The Boston Globe

Wednesday, October 21
Explaining the News
Guest Speaker, John Robinson, editor, Greensboro News & Record

For next class read:

Ethics in Journalism
Chapter 15
On the Web site
Columnist Drums Up Business: The Wall Street Journal

CASE Study Paper II due Sunday October 25 to

journalist.herrin@gmail.com and your TA

Wednesday, October 28
Freebies and Financial Concerns

For next class read:

Ethics in Journalism
Chapters 13
On the Web site

Wednesday, November 4
Compassion and the PhotoJournalist

For next class read:

Ethics in Journalism
Chapters 11, 12
On the Web site

Wednesday, November 11
Veterans Day
NO CLASS

Wednesday , November 18
Covering Your Community

Guest Speaker: Judy Enright, former executive editor, Norwell Mariner

For next class read:

On the Web site
Blogging vs. Journalists is Over, by Jay Rosen PressThink
Journalisms Backseat Drivers, by Barb Palser, the American Journalism
Review
After Blogs Got Hits, CBS Got a Black Eye, by Howard Kurtz,
Washington Post
Dissection a Right Wing Smear, Media Matters for America

Wednesday, November 25
NO CLASS
HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Wednesday, December 2
The Networked World

For next class read:

Ethics in Journalism
Chapter 16

Wednesday, December 9
Journalism, Deadlines and the Bottom Line

TAKE HOME FINAL

DUE Wednesday, December 16