Journalism Ethics in Student Newspapers

Ethics. They're what we live by.

In the world of journalism, it is ever so important to hold on to the proper 'codes of conduct' while reporting the news. This ensures that lawsuits are not filed and that journalists hold a level of accountability and credibility.

Unfortunately, some student-run newspapers around the country have had trouble with those boundaries...

The Badger Herald newspaper, printed on the UW-Madison campus, came under fire for letting an ad be published depicting anti-Semitic comments geared toward the Jewish community.

There was speculation as to wether this was intentional or an editing error, but the paper received negative feedback on its online forums and comment boards. The news spread quickly through online channels and the paper had to deal with a variety of consequences. -To read the original article click HERE.

This example shows that writers and publications need to be on their toes when it comes to the content they express. Whether it's in print or online forms of the publication, the speech that gets out there should be censored for such offensive remarks. In this context, this type of 'hate speech' would be only protected insofar as if it didn't target a particular individual...but that doesn't mean it should get printed.

Young journalists should conduct themselves in ways that will help establish their credibility as writers, which I have noted in the video blog about this article. Since these are students, and not professional journalists there should be a little lee-way granted, but it also reflects badly on the publication and the school when such issues are raised in stories.

I feel like the student organization should go to extreme matters to right the wrongs that occurred in this case, and also go to great lengths to ensure that ALL students know what should/shouldn't be allowed to run in an issue.

In order to report the news accurately and effectively, it takes the entire staff's effort to ensure that the right sources and content reach the audience...in a non-offensive way. Not all student newspapers have this problem, but it has become apparent that there needs to be more emphasis made on teaching journalism ethics to young writers and students.