US Media Ethics News: 672 Stories |
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CNN's Michael Martinez made an error in his May 12 story on the Cleveland kidnappings case and suspect Ariel Castro. But, at some point since the story's publication, CNN or Martinez spotted the error and... |
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A new iMediaEthics poll suggests Americans are more laid back about immigration reform than what most polls show, with about a third of the public unengaged on the issue. The rest appear to be about evenly divided on whether... |
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IMEDIAETHICS METHODOLOGY FOR IMMIGRATION SURVEY
Geography Surveyed: USA 50 States
Data Collected: 04/13/2013 - 04/16/2013
Immigration: 896 adults nationwide were interviewed by SurveyUSA Saturday 04/13/13 through... |
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Many news outlets are naming the six-year-old daughter of Cleveland kidnapping victim, Amanda Berry.
But should they?
Berry is one of three women who were kidnapped in Ohio... |
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There are journalists, and then there are police.
And then there are student journalists. And campus police.
Whereas battle-hardened, experienced journalists know how to pick their battles and navigate their way... |
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The public editor for Cornell University's student newspaper Cornell Daily Sun, Nicholas Kaasik, slammed the newspaper for how it reported on rape in an April 4 story. "In my opinion, The Sun had a... |
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It is easy to critique the media for errors during national breaking news like the Boston Marathon bombing, but what about daily local coverage?
An iMediaEthics fact check of stories about a recent fire in the... |
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A Louisiana high school's student newspaper published a story that local restaurant was being shut down and possibly sued over huge health violations, like selling old, re-used food, including "months old"... |
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Recently, Fairleigh Dickinson’s PublicMind poll released results of a national survey showing 29% of registered voters agree with the statement, “In the next few years, an armed revolution might be necessary in... |
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While New York children were watching TV and munching on cornflakes while parents slept in, New York's WPIX-TV (PIX Channel 11) aired a program called "Best Sex Ever"’ on a recent Sunday morning. ... |
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In the ten days since the Boston Marathon bombings, there have been a handful of errors and ethical issues in the related news media reportage.
iMediaEthics has already written several stories about errors, including The... |
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Writer Dan Cassavaugh justifiably accused Stanford University student newspaper The Stanford Review of plagiarism, iMediaEthics has found.
In a tweet that Jim Romenesko picked up, Cassavaugh claimed The Stanford Review... |
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In the four days since the Boston Marathon explosion, there have been more than a handful of high-profile errors in the media, including wrongly reporting there was a suspect in custody within hours of the... |
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Errors in breaking news stories -- especially ones involving mass injuries and deaths -- often come with the territory. iMediaEthics has covered this topic in our December report on media errors in reporting on the... |
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One of the questions facing lawmakers in their attempt to reform the immigration system is what to do with the estimated 11 million immigrants currently living in the United States illegally. Besides deportation, which most... |
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Major Shawn Haney, a public affairs officer for the U.S. Marine Corps, has helped reveal the extent to which Philadelphia magazine was hoaxed by a lying... |
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A student dies of natural causes and the school newspaper gets a picture of his housemate's reaction. Should the paper print that?
The public editor for Cornell University student newspaper the Cornell Daily... |
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The Daily News, the New York Post, the Hollywood Reporter, the Village Voice, Fox News and other news outlets published a photograph of Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon that used a fake background, but none of the news outlets... |
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With many politicians falling over themselves in an effort to join the gay marriage movement, we might expect that most Americans today would support a referendum on that issue. But Nate Silver, the statistical guru who... |
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San Jose, California daily newspaper The Mercury News fessed up this week to being hoaxed by a joke tweet claiming that President Barack Obama was going to lend a soccer player Air Force One.
The errors began when... |
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A slew of media outlets -- from NBC's Nightly News to ABC's Good Morning America -- were hoaxed by a fake video apparently showing a pig swimming to help a goat.
The New York Times, which exposed the video... |
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A college newspaper is again the subject of a libel lawsuit.
The... |
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A student at Florida A & M University has sued two Florida media outlets -- Florida A & M University's The Famuan and ABC-affiliate WFTV -- for wrongly reporting that he was disciplined because of fellow student... |
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Two recent polls come to contradictory conclusions about the public’s willingness to accept spending cuts imposed by the sequestration that went into effect March 1.
A Pew poll last month reported that... |
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Rutgers University "satirical fake news" paper The Medium apologized Feb. 27 for an article "written in a cruel, debasing manner that does not reflect the values or goals of our... |
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Two New York newspapers published a "stomach-turning photo" of Bashid McLean, a New York man who is accused of dismembering his mother. In the photograph, McLean is mugging for the camera and holding the head of... |
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As iMediaEthics wrote yesterday, the Washington Post announced the newspaper was replacing its ombudsman position with a readers representative. Notably, instead of being independent, the readers representative will be a... |
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Cherokee Scout editor Robert Horne resigned this week just days after apologizing for trying to obtain the gun records of local residents, Jim Romenesko reported.
The request was for "all Cherokee County County... |
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The Knight Foundation paid $20,000 for Jonah Lehrer to speak about his plagiarism and fabrication scandal earlier this week.
As iMediaEthics has written, last summer Lehrer resigned from the New Yorker and was fired from... |
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Mayor Jay Obernolte was interviewed by CNN's Wolf Blitzer last night about the search for former Los Angeles police office Chris Dorner.
But, after that interview, CNN's live blog said that the network... |
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Yesterday, CNN deleted information from its live blog on the search for former police officer Chris Dorner and said that it found out the interview had been with someone posing as the mayor of Big Bear Lake, Jay Obernolte,... |
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CNN was hoaxed by someone posing as Big Bear Lake Mayor Jay Obernolte, according to a note on its live blog coverage of the police manhunt for Christopher Dorner in the San Bernardino Mountains. Dorner is the former... |
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With about two weeks remaining on Washington Post's ombudsman Patrick Pexton's two-year term, the newspaper has yet to announce what it plans to do.
According to a Feb. 6 report from The... |
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The Atlantic has announced new "Advertising Guidelines" in light of its much-criticized advertorial for the Church of Scientology, Ad Week reported.
As iMediaEthics wrote, in mid-January, The Atlantic... |
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After learning its Jan. 12 story on the Panama Canal contained plagiarism, The Washington Post apologized and reportedly suspended the reporter, William Booth, for three months. Despite two separate anonymously-sourced... |
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Veteran pollster and author David W. Moore presents the 2013 Fifth Annual Top Ten “Dubious Polling” Awards. Designed as a satirical, though serious look, at some of the most questionable polling practices or... |
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The Journal News' may be making face-saving excuses about why it took down identifications of gun permit holders but its actions are clear. The New York newspaper's controversial gun map now shows a bunch of... |
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After NBC's David Gregory showed a "30-round gun magazine" last month on Meet the Press, there was some debate and an investigation over whether he would be charged for violating D.C. law on how many rounds a... |
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How could the New York Post have mixed up the infamous former Rep. Anthony Weiner with an Andrew Wiener, a man with a completely different name in its Jan 10 story?
New York Magazine’s Kevin Roose fact checked the... |
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This poll is part of a series of PollCheck surveys, designed by iMediaEthics and conducted by SurveyUSA, to “fact check” the results of other polls. Other PollCheck surveys can be found here. They include a... |
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In light of reader criticism of reporting on December's Connecticut school shootings, two public editors -- NPR's Edward Schumacher-Matos and the New York Times' Margaret Sullivan -- assessed their outlets'... |
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George Will commented last month on ABC's This Week Sunday that “Quite literally, the opposition to gay marriage is dying. It’s old people.”
Noel Sheppard at Newsbusters, a conservative website... |
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Norman P. Lewis, assistant professor in journalism for University of Florida, writes about a lesser-known form of plagiarism in his paper, “Idea Plagiarism: Journalism’s Ultimate Heist.”
Dr. Lewis... |
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Igniting much controversy, the White Plains Journal News, a daily newspaper in White Plains, N.Y., published a list and map detailing which local residents had gun permits and giving out... |
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Three recent polls show how convoluted the debate can become over what the public thinks about banning semi-automatic weapons.
All three polls were conducted in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook School shootings, and all... |
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The New York Post was tricked by a fake Facebook page for Ryan Lanza, the brother of the Adam Lanza, the gunman in the Dec. 16 Connecticut school massacre. Adam Lanza killed 26 adults and children at Sandy Hook... |
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Marcy, his source, accused Bruce Porter of lying in Newsweek in 1967. He admits lying to a Michigan journalist about her in 2011. So why is CJR not telling its readers? Porter to Michigan reporter: "This is probably the... |
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Several recent polls have shown slight majorities of American adults with favorable views of same-sex marriage. The latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll confirms this trend, but also provides evidence that supports... |
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CNN's Matt Dornic told iMediaEthics that reports that CNN aired the wrong photo of the alleged Connecticut school shooter are false. When iMediaEthics asked about the reports, Dornic said by email:
"I... |
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Your mother always told you that saying sorry can repair a lot of damage. NBC apparently forgot this important lesson.
Lawyers for George Zimmerman, who is charged in the February shooting death of Florida teen... |
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After finding out one its longtime reporters, Karen Jeffrey, had used fake sources in at least 34 of her stories, the Cape Cod Times came clean and apologized to readers on Dec. 4.
In an explanatory note... |
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While the Post’s photograph, taken by Umar Abbasi, and its sensational headline (“DOOMED”), were jarring and repulsive for many, it’s instructive to step back and realize that this sort of gore was... |
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A Vermont weekly newspaper questioned a fellow local newspaper's transparency and accountability after finding out that it hired a convicted sex offender to report on police and courts. In a late November report, free... |
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A New York Times correction on its Nov. 20 article, "Obama, Showing Support for Israel, Gains New Leverage over Netanyahu," was corrected at some point after publication, only to have the correction later go... |
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"Three prominent journalists" sent Judge James Zagel letters backing William Cellini, the Chicago Tribune reported. There were in total 364 letters "testifying to Cellini's good character and seeking... |
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As iMediaEthics wrote last month, editors from three South Carolina and Georgia newspapers participated in a September journalism ethics forum hosted by the Beaufort County library. Hilton Head Island... |
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The Journal Register Co.'s Matt DeRienzo addressed the need for prominent corrections in a Nov. 18 column about a significant error in the Register Citizen.
The Register Citizen had reported that the... |
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New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan responded to the numerous reports questioning if Paula Broadwell's husband was behind the July letter to Times Ethicist columnist Chuck... |
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Denver ABC-affiliate KMGH, also known as 7News or the Denver Channel, apologized yesterday for its "viral" error in using a Photoshopped picture of Paula Broadwell's book on David Petraeus.
The cover for... |
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Hartfort Courant reporter Hillary Federico resigned earlier this month after the newspaper found her articles had "strong similarities" to other outlets' work, according to an note by the Courant, which Mondo... |
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MSNBC's Chris Matthews apologized Nov. 7 for commenting during the 2012 Presidential Election coverage that he was "glad" about Hurricane Sandy "because of its impact on this national campaign,"... |
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ABC News is defending its "pink slime" comments as "imaginative expression" and "rhetorical hyperbole," Courthouse News Service... |
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The New York Post unpublished an Oct. 31 story reporting that "Mayor Bloomberg will announce later today that passenger cars will be temporarily barred from entering Manhattan," Poynter's Julie Moos... |
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Alabama Live (AL.com) apologized and unpublished an "inappropriate" Halloween photo showing someone dressed up in "blackface." Jim Romenesko posted the photo in question, which shows a man with his... |
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Editors' Note: This is Part 1 of a 2-part analysis by David Moore of the Associated Press Poll on racial attitudes, conducted by researchers from Standford University, the University of Michigan, and NORC at the... |
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CNN and the Weather Channel both told viewers that the floor of the New York Stock Exchange was flooded with three feet of water Oct. 29 because of Hurricane Sandy. But, it... |
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Fake and dated photos are circulating with Hurricane Sandy coverage... |
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How should news outlets handle photos of the Upper West Side family the Krims, whose personal tragedy has made national news? As has been much reported, mother Marina Krim returned to the family's Upper West Side... |
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New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson commented on the Times' standards, policies and thoughts on sourcing, online comments, reporting on Libya and more in a recent Q & A with readers.
Sourcing
In... |
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Journalism ethicist Stephen Ward commented that he was "uncomfortable" with TV journalist Jennifer Livingston using part of her Wisconsin WKBT news program to give a "four-minute rebuttal to a viewer's... |
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As iMediaEthics wrote earlier this week, the Daily Wildcat, an "independent news organization" at the University of Arizona, apologized after running a comic that "readers felt was homophobic and... |
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The Arizona Daily Wildcat apologized Oct. 17 for its "serious error in judgment in printing a cartoon that some readers felt was homophobic and inappropriate."
The Wildcat identifies itself as "an... |
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Brigham Young University journalism professor Joel Campbell called for journalism students to "have kind of a moral compass in what they do" during an October "lecture series," the... |
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Editors from the Hilton Head Island Packet/Beaufort Gazette, the Gullah Sentinel and the Savannah Morning News discussed journalism ethics in a recent Beaufort County Library "forum," according to Beaufort Gazette... |
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Shepard Smith apologized after Fox News aired live footage of a man killing himself, the New York Times reported. Smith said:
"We really messed up…and we're all very sorry. That didn't belong on... |
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The University of Washington's Department of Communications is looking for a "full-time tenure-track Assistant Professor who focuses on journalism and communication ethics in a digital age," according to a... |
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Beef Products Inc. (BPI) is suing ABC News for defamation because it claims that the network's reporters on its "lean finely textured beef, the food product that critics call 'pink slime,'" caused... |
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As we've previously written, Arizona State University's student newspaper the State Press retracted articles by student writer Raquel Velasco because of plagiarism. A few days later, Arizona... |
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Shepard Fairey, the artist who created the Obama Hope poster with an Associated Press photo, was "sentenced to two years of probation, 300 hours of community service and a $25,000 fine," related to his lawsuit with... |
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A new iMediaEthics PollCheck survey, designed to check the validity of media polling, finds that when the American public is asked about new specific gun control measures, large majorities express strong support. Such... |
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840 adults nationwide were interviewed by SurveyUSA Friday 08/10/12 through Monday 08/13/12. Research, conceptualized and commissioned by iMediaEthics.org, was conducted 100% by telephone, as follows: Adults reachable on a... |
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This month, Arizona State University's student newspaper the State Press apologized for plagiarism by one of its reporters, Raquel Velasco, and Arizona newspaper the East Valley Tribune apologized for plagiarism by an... |
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As we wrote yesterday, Arizona newspaper the East Valley Tribune told readersthat it had unpublished "several articles" by an Arizona State University student intern who plagiarized. While the Tribune... |
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The East Valley Tribune announced that it unpublished "several articles" by an unnamed intern who plagiarized. According to the Tribune's note on the plagiarism, "the intern, a student at Arizona... |
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New Rochelle's Talk of the Sound website apologized and retracted an article claiming the New Rochelle Police Department tried to "cover up" a "recent auto theft." Talk's managing editor... |
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The Boston Globe added an editor's note to an unsigned Aug. 17 editorial, "Biden should apologize for 'back in chains' remark," apologizing for and disclosing that the editorial lifted from Boston NPR... |
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Commentary
In the past week, a whole lot of shaking of heads has been going on in newsrooms across America about the printing and broadcasting of graphic photographs from a murder scene near the Empire State Building on... |
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Many news outlets published graphic videos and photos from the Aug. 24 shooting at the Empire State Building -- including photos of the dead shooter Jeffrey Johnson and his victim Steven... |
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Yesterday, astronaut Neil Armstrong died. NBC News wrongly reported that singer Neil Young died, according to Mediaite, which said NBC News "quickly corrected."
The article in question now carries an... |
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The University of Georgia student newspaper's board apologized after a memo instructing on what type of content the newspaper should publish prompted the newspaper's staff to quit, Student Press Law Center... |
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CNN and Time magazine announced the ends of Fareed Zakaria's suspension after he apologized earlier this month for "close similarities" in his Time column to a New Yorker article, the Associated Press... |
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Commentary
CNN recently used much of the front page of its website to advertise Ketel One vodka. The advertisement went live July 12, 2012, and framed its homepage taking up more of the screen than the news. It was... |
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Clyde Prestowitz has retracted and apologized for his claims that Fareed Zakaria's book The Post-American World didn't credit him for a quote. As we wrote yesterday, the... |
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Fareed Zakaria has been accused of lifting a quote for his 2008 book The Post-American World from a 2005 book by Clyde V. Prestowitz, the Washington Post's Paul Farhi reported.
Zakaria was suspended last... |
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Last year, we highlighted a Tennessee judge's libel lawsuit against Nashville TV news WTVF over reports the judge, Daniel B. Eisenstein, said were "false and malicious." Eisenstein claimed that the... |
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Michigan Fox-affiliate Fox 17 apologized and fired a reporter for "failing to disclose his connections to" the subject of his report, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, MLive reported.
The Freedom from... |
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As we wrote earlier, daily Virginia newspaper the Virginian-Pilot was found guilty of libel and ordered to pay $3 million to local school assistant principal Phillip Webb over a 2009 story that his son also sued... |
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The Shelby County Commission is subpoenaing The Commercial Appeal for "the identities of anonymous commenters on its website," the newspaper reported itself.
The Commercial Appeal... |
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We heard back from Glenn Kessler, the columnist for the Washington Post's Fact Checker.
Kessler was recently awash in controversy. He commented about, but did not fact check -- a recent Washington Post report,... |
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Washington Post readers complained that the newspaper's publishing four front-page pictures of James Holmes gave "attention" or "potential for copycats," ombudsman Patrick Pexton wrote.
Pexton... |
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Jonah Lehrer resigned from the New Yorker yesterday after being busted for fake Bob Dylan quotes in his book Imagine, The New York Times reported.
Lehrer's journalism ethics were in the news this summer because of... |
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The Connecticut SPJ announced the results of an "independent review" into articles by fired New Canaan News reporter Paresh Jha.
As we wrote, the New Canaan News fired Jha in June after learning he made up... |
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A fake op-ed defending WikiLeaks purporting to written by former New Yor\k Times executive editor Bill Keller is circulating.
Keller tweeted July 29 about the phony op-ed, writing in all capital letters:
"THERE... |
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ABC News' president Ben Sherwood apologized for ABC News' Brian Ross' wrong report linking the Aurora, Colorado Dark Knight Rises shooting suspect James Holmes to the Tea Party, Mediaite... |
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Wildlife news site The Wildlife News apologized and retracted a July 26 story claiming the state of Idaho killed a bison.
The Wildlife News also published a... |
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CBS News denies an Orlando Sentinel report that it sent flowers to George Zimmerman's family, Media Bistro's TV Newser reported.
The Orlando Sentinel's July 16 article reported outright that "CBS News... |
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The Wall Street Journal's James Taranto spent about 1,000 words explaining and apologizing for a 15-word July 24 tweet about victims in the Aurora, Colorado "Dark Knight Rises"... |
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Last week, at the top of the front page of The New York Times, came the startling headline: “Poll Indicates Economic Fears Hurting Obama.”*
Who wudda thought? That may be news for anyone who... |
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A Haredi news site pasted in gray boxes to New York local news coverage published on its website, blogger Shmarya Rosenberg of Failed Messiah... |
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In the dark of night on June 14, 2012, vandals spray painted symbols of hate in a largely Jewish neighborhood of Brooklyn. Given the history of the swastika and the suffering of the Jewish people at the hands of the... |
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The Washington News Council found June 16 that Seattle's CBS affiliate KIRO-7 News and its reporter Chris Halsne wrongly accused school janitor Chester Harris with bullying and invaded the privacy of students in its May... |
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Steve Penn claims The Kansas City Star defamed him when it reported on firing him for plagiarism, the newspaper... |
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The Wall Street Journal intern who was fired last month for fabrication also "snookered" The Huffington Post, the Atlantic Wire... |
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The New York Times corrected a June 28 article about Ann Curry's final day on the NBC "Today" show that "referred erroneously to a highlight reel of Ms. Curry" that wasn't part of the show in... |
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As described in an earlier report on this website, a new iMediaEthics poll found about 7 in 10 Americans tolerant of gay marriage – that is, they would not be upset if most or all states recognized such... |
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The Connecticut SPJ has asked SPJ member, "media lawyer and Syracuse professor" Roy S. Gutterman to "conduct the independent investigation" of Paresh Jha's two stories that won awards from the... |
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Seriously? Days after we contacted the Los Angeles Times about errors in its Julian Assange reporting, the newspaper has made the same mistake of wrongly reporting there are "charges" against... |
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CNN goofed up its coverage of the health care ruling this morning, and issued several corrections through its Web site, Twitter account and e-mail. iMediaEthics just spotted these corrections.
Via e-mail, CNN... |
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The Wall Street Journal fired an intern for fabrication, according to a note on its... |
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The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is running twice-weekly profiles of homes for sale in the Seattle area alongside news stories. But the listings carry no disclosures that they are essentially advertisements, not... |
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Connecticut's New Canaan News fired reporter Paresh Jha for making up "quotations and sources" and apologized for the "gross violation of our standards." New Canaan News is a weekly newspaper... |
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A new PollCheck poll by iMediaEthics reveals a great deal more public tolerance of gay marriage than what most news stories report. Instead of a highly polarized public, in fact about 7 in 10 Americans are “not... |
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SurveyUSA interviewed 893 adults nationwide, Monday 06/04/12 through Wednesday 06/06/12. Research conceptualized and commissioned by iMediaEthics.org. Adults reachable on a home telephone (69% of respondents) were... |
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Charlotte NC's WSOC-TV 9 issued a correction, retraction and apology for mis-reporting that a high school student at the Lake Norman High School intentionally flashed the camera for a photo in the school's... |
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The New York Times countered blog posts about its late May story "Secret 'Kill List' Proves a Test of Obama's Principles and... |
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One of Fox News host and author Oliver North's column has been questioned for including plagiarism of a Vietnam War veteran's 1990 book, the Washington Post reported.
North's Fox News Insider column... |
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The Washington Post admitted an error to a reader, changed the story to fix the error, but posted no correction or update notice.
As the reader, Glenn Merritt, noted in an e-mail to iMediaEthics, this past year,... |
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Exclusive: Since January 17, iMediaEthics has tried, and failed, to get the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) New York chapter, The Deadline Club, to answer two simple questions about its annual contest, billed as... |
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CNN's Ashleigh Banfield issued a clarification after being criticized for her comments on homosexuality and pedophilia.
Banfield said May 31 that "pedophilia is not by choice" but "homosexuality is a... |
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The chairperson of an Idaho Republican Party committee wants Washington state newspaper the Spokesman-Review to give her the identitiy of "three individuals... |
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Steve Buttry outlined his "aggregation guidelines" of "link, attribute, add value" in a May 16 blogpost.
Buttry noted that "aggregation has become a dirty word in much of journalism today,"... |
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The Virginian-Pilot must pay a high school assistant principal Phillip Webb $3 million for a 2009 story, the Associated Press reported. Webb works at Oscar Smith High School. In its own report on the libel case, the... |
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A proposed New York state bill would ban anonymous commenting on the Internet, WIRED reported.
The bill, titled the Internet Protection Act, is proposed by Sen. Thomas O'Mara and Dean Murray, and Peter Lopez and Jim... |
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The Washington Times announced that its columnist and former editor-in-chief Amaud de Borchgrave is taking "a three-month leave from writing his weekly opinion column" following accusations of plagiarism... |
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As we wrote May 8, the Seattle police subpoenaed Seattle TV news KIRO-7 and five other news outlets (KOMO-4, KING-5 TV, KIRO-7, KCPQ-13 TV, the Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer) for footage from May 1... |
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Reno, Navada ABC-affiliate KOLO-TV 8 apologized for a "poorly written play on words" grouping gay marriage in which "sin" like "quickie divorces, prostitution, gambling," Media Bistro's TV... |
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Blogger Nate St. Pierre, who created the hoax story that Abraham Lincoln patented Facebook, explained why he made up the story in a May 10 blogpost.
As we wrote May 9, St. Pierre's detailed May 8 blogpost claimed... |
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We are looking for journalism and design interns for this summer and fall. iMediaEthics is a not-for-profit, non-partisan media ethics news website. (Check out our About Us here.)
iMediaEthics needs journalism... |
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The Seattle Police Department has subpoenaed Seattle news outlets for video of protests earlier this month, the Seattle Stranger's associate editor Eli Sanders reported.
In a May 7 story, CBS-affiliate KIRO-TV 7... |
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Loyola University Chicago's The Center for Digital Ethics & Policy announced a call for papers for its annual International Symposium on Digital... |
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The Washington Post's public editor Patrick Pexton weighed in on the recent resignation of Washington Post blogger Elizabeth Flock.
As we wrote, after Flock resigned from the Washington Post last week, the newspaper... |
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The Washington Post's Elizabeth Flock resigned April 13, Poynter's Andrew Beaujon reported. Beaujon noted that Flock said she left to pursue another type of journalism job and denied that she was... |
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ABC affiliate KRDO apologized for "accidentally" airing "hardcore pornography," the Jane Dough... |
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MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell apologized April 11 for his comments on Mormonism, Mediaite... |
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Conservative political magazine National Review has fired two employees in the past week because of "racially-inflammatory" comments.
On April 7, the... |
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The Los Angeles Times updated a headline on a story because readers criticized its wording as suggesting support "of [George] Zimmerman's fundraising efforts," according to a post on Los Angeles Times... |
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A new PollCheck by iMediaEthics finds a more disengaged public on the government’s efforts to save the auto industry from what was reported by either Gallup or Pew in February.
While those polls suggested that... |
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METHODOLOGY STATEMENT FROM SURVEY USA
SurveyUSA interviewed 849 adults nationwide Friday 03/16/12 through Monday 03/19/12. Research conceptualized and commissioned by iMediaEthics.org. Adults reachable on a home... |
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A Bloomberg article recently announced that, according to its latest poll, 65% of Americans favor tighter fracking regulations, more than three times greater than the 18% who favor less regulation. (Just 17% said they were... |
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Rutgers University student satire newspaper The Medium published an April 4 column "What about the good things Hitler did?" under the name of a Jewish student who didn't write the column, the Associated Press... |
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CNN correspondent Susan Candiotti and CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield both apologized after Candiotti said "profanities" from a Facebook post during an April 8 segment on the shootings in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Media... |
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The Contra Costa Times apologized to the Los Angeles Times after learning its April 2 editorial was "nearly identical" to one by the Los Angeles Times. According to Mondo Times, the Contra Costa Times... |
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An NBC News producer was fired April 5 as a result of the NBC News investigation into how an edited version of George Zimmerman's 911 call made it on air, the New York Times... |
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NBC News announced it will look into "the editorial process" that led to a selectively edited 911 phone call made by George Zimmerman ending up on the air, Media Bistro's TV Newser reported.
NBC's... |
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Geraldo Rivera gave a sort of apology for his March 23 comment that "[I] am urging the parents of black and Latino youngsters particularly to not let their children go out wearing hoodies. I think the hoodie is as much... |
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DePauw University student newspaper The DePauw published an opinion piece by Chase Hall defending the newspaper's report on a university class session focused on the arrest of a DePauw... |
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In The Oregonian's correction of its original obituary for one of its editors, Bob Caldwell, the newspaper revealed that Caldwell was having an affair and reported that Caldwell gave money for school-related purchases to... |
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Poynter's Craig Silverman and Andrew Beaujon highlighted a shocking case of plagiarism by a former North Dakota Newspaper Association president, Jon Flatland.
Flatland "has been exposed as a serial... |
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The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication announced a call for papers about media ethics in a recent news announcement on its website
The AEJMC identifies itself as a "nonprofit,... |
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Washington, D.C. reporter Andrea McCarren stepped off the air for a week after her children were "harassed" over her reports, the Washington Post reported.
McCarren had been... |
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NPR-affiliate WAMU-FM news director Jim Asendio resigned Feb. 21 after an ethics dispute concerning potential conflicts of interest, The Root reported.
Asendio said he "did not agree with an upper management... |
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The South Portland-Cape Elizabeth (Maine) Sentry fired a reporter for plagiarizing stories on "South Portland city meetings" from both the Forecaster and Current, the Forecaster reported.
The Sentry is a... |
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The North Carolina Star News' Jan. 15 editorial was accused of containing factual errors, according to a blog on the John Locke Foundation website.
The John Locke Foundation identifies itself as an "independent... |
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"More than two dozen news organizations" have asked Virginia's U.S. district court in a "friend-of-the-court brief" to allow New York Times reporter James Risen to keep the sources for his 2006 book... |
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The Associated Press has updated its stylebook to advise against using the phrase "Polish death camps," the Kosciuszko Foundation's president Alex Storozynski announced in a Feb. 15 e-mail. The... |
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Chicago TV news station CLTV is being accused of and sued for airing "a picture of the wrong man" in a 2011 sexual assault story and then of covering its tracks to hide the alleged error, the Chicago Tribune... |
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The Washington Post published a Dec. 18 article about errors in Virginia textbooks. Since the article's publication, though, the Post has acknowledged making two errors in its story on... |
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The Washington Post's public editor, Patrick Pexton, apologized Jan. 23 for an inaccurate Jan. 20 blogpost in which he criticized the Post for a failing the newspaper actually didn't make.
According to... |
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The Society of Professional Journalists' ethics committee has published the third in its series of "position papers" about journalism ethics.
The SPJ's ethics committee chairman Kevin Smith told... |
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In this report, veteran pollster, author and political scientist, David W. Moore, issues the Fourth Annual Top Ten “Dubious Polling”... |
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The New York Post slammed Newsweek/The Daily Beast earlier this month for an article titled “31 ways to get smarter in 2012” that the Post said basically serves as an advertisement.
According to the... |
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Paul Isom claims East Carolina University fired him from his position as student media director because the student newspaper East Carolinian "published a controversial front-page photo of a streaker" in November... |
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Blogger Crystal Cox was ordered to pay $2.5 million for a defamatory posting on her blog. The case brings up issues of defamation, anonymous sources, shield laws, and who is and isn't a journalist. However, the... |
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The owner and CEO of the San Diego Union-Tribune defended their call for the newspaper be a "cheerleader" for San Diego in a Dec. 15 interview with San Diego public broadcasting station KPBS, MediaBistro... |
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A New Jersey township's Board of Education dropped its plan to ban access to certain reporters, the Asbury Park Press reported.
Under the now-dismissed plan, the Jackson school board would essentially be able to... |
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The New York Times issued a lengthy correction to its Dec. 16 obituary for Christopher Hitchens, Regret the Error's Craig Silverman -- now at Poynter -- noted.
The Dec. 17 correction notes that the Times'... |
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We consulted both scholars and studies for advice on what legality and best practices college newspapers can adopt to serve the public interest while still minimizing harm to students. Scholars like Toronto Star ... |
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The Standard-Examiner's executive editor Andy Howell apologized in a Dec. 17 column for publishing a photoshopped image on its front page Nov. 27.
According to Howell's column, the fake image pictured a... |
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Whoops? The Washington Post apparently jumped the gun on its Dec. 16 obituary for writer Christopher Hitchens and published an obituary with dummy key words in place of the facts, J-School Buzz reported. J-School... |
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The UK National Union of Journalists criticized the UK police's order for BBC News, ITN News and UTV News to give its un-aired video from an August Northern Ireland parade, Journalism.co.uk reported.
According to a... |
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MSNBC's Chuck Todd apologized Dec. 14 after making an obscene gesture on air, Mediaite reported.
On Dec. 14's Morning Joe program, Todd raised his middle finger to the camera. According to Mediaite and... |
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Editors Weblog questioned if there should be an "ethical code for cartoonists" in light of Urban Tulsa Weekly cartoonist David Simpson and Columbia Dispatch's Jeff Stahler both being accused of plagiarism. Both... |
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The Federal Reserve claimed Bloomberg News made a "variety of egregious errors and mistakes" in a letter to Congress signed by Ben Bernanke, the New York Times reported.
The Times noted that the Federal... |
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The Harvard Crimson reported that Harvard Graduate School of Education professor Howard Gardner advised that ethics education must be emphasized. Gardner's comments, made in a Dec. 1 speech, included that educators... |
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MSNBC's Ed Schultz apologized on air for not attributing information from a segment on Occupy Wall Street to Yahoo News' Chris Moody.
Moody's Dec. 1 story reported on Frank Luntz's "10 do's and... |
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CBS-affiliate WBTV Channel 3 made an on-air correction Dec. 3 after incorrectly reporting that evangelist Billy Graham died, according to Media Bistro's TV Spy.
The Charlotte, North Carolina TV news station issued a... |
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| The New York Times' Brian Stelter questioned where the reports that Occupy Wall Street protesters in New York City would shut down the subways originated.
According to Stelter, New York's Fox affiliate, WNYW told viewers... |
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Journalism ethics codes call for the lines between editorial and advertising to be clear. But, a Nov. 13 post on Patch.com in Decatur-Avondale Estates, Georgia seems to more than blur that line.
The post,... |
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| StinkyJournalism wrote in February about student-run newspaper the Koala, which published a graphic doctored photo and headline criticizing a student. The Koala is a tabloid newspaper published at San Diego State, UC San... |
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| Baton Rouge, Louisiana newspaper The Advocate recently apologized for wrongly attributing quotes to a local high school football coach.
But the kicker is that The Advocate doesn't know who its reporter got the quotes from,... |
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| The San Antonio Express-News' public editor Bob Richter weighed in on the recently published video of Texas family law judge William Adams "beating his daughter with a belt." -- a video Richter called "brutish... |
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| New York Times public editor Arthur Brisbane weighed in on criticism of the Times' op-ed writers. Mirroring former Washington Post public editor Andrew Alexander's December 2010 comments on readers' desire for... |
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| The Wall Street Journal issued a brief correction to its Oct. 15, 2011 article on rice fritters.
The article incorrectly stated: "Mr. Stryjewski likes to use long-grain Louisiana rice sourced from fields west of... |
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| Los Angeles attorney Robert B. Silverman has accused Los Angeles Times writer Michael Hiltzik of illegally taping their phone call, Courthouse News Service reported. Silverman says he didn't know or give Hiltzik... |
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| COMMENTARY
As has been widely reported, a teenager was injured earlier this month while taping himself skateboarding for Anderson, a CNN talk show. The boy is currently in a coma.
But, is the boy's... |
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| Two men who were at the Occupy Wall Street protest on Oct. 8 posed as New York Daily News reporters, New York City blog Gothamist reported.
According to Gothamist, the men were attempting to interview protesters and... |
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| Media Bistro's Fishbowl LA questioned the Boston Globe's decision to name the woman who "tipped the FBI to the whereabouts" of James "Whitey" Bulger.
As FishBowl LA explained, once the Globe named... |
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After being accused of plagiarism, the hyperlocal news site Examiner.com apologized for and unpublished the stories in question, Poynter's Jim Romenesko wrote Oct. 7.
The site's vice president of editorial,... |
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| Amanda Knox's father, Curt Knox, rejected a New York Post Page Six article on his daughter, Amanda Knox, according to Media Bistro TV Newser. Knox called the article "very misleading."
The New York Post wrote Oct.... |
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| The Washington Post's public editor Patrick Pexton wrote about a photo mishap at the newspaper that suggested Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia had died.
In a blog, Pexton explained the Post's Oct. 2 obituary ... |
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| The Kansas City Star's readers' representative Derek Donovan commented on news tips from anonymous sources in an Oct. 2 column.
Donovan explained that the newspaper often receives tips from sources who wish to remain ... |
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| The Huffington Post's Sam Stein detailed the "myth" that the Department of Justice paid $16 a piece for muffins. As Stein explained, the muffin story originated from a Justice Department report on ... |
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| The Central Intelligence Agency cut and then reinstated its advertising with Michigan newspaper the Arab American News after the newspaper published a story critical of the CIA, the Detroit Free Press reported.
The Arab... |
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StinkyJournalism wrote earlier this week about accusations of plagiarism against architecture news site Arch Daily. An architecture news site and magazine, Architectural Record, claimed that Arch Daily lifted an... |
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| Readers questioned why NPR has not devoted air time to recent protests on Wall Street, NPR ombudsman Edward Schumacher-Matos wrote Sept. 26. As Time magazine explained, the protests "started as a largely online... |
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Washington Post public editor Patrick Pexton denied that freelancer Anna Lewis plagiarized but did accuse Lewis of "sloppy attribution."
StinkyJournalism wrote in March when ithe Post suspended staff reporter... |
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| Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder has dropped his libel lawsuit against the Washington City Paper, CBS Sports reported. Snyder's lawsuit was over this Nov. 19 article "The Cranky Fan's Guide to Dan Snyder" by ... |
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| NBC News' Twitter account was hacked Sept. 9. In a matter of a few moments, four fake tweets were published claiming that the site of New York's World Trade Center had been attacked. The fake tweets claimed that... |
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| Fake photos from Hurricane Irene are already surfacing, the Washington Post reported.
A Miami TV news station, Channel 7, along with blogs and Reddit, have posted "a photo of a shark swimming down a Puerto Rico street... |
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| A North Dakota community news editor wrote a column protesting his newspaper's owners, North Dakota news site Inforum reported.
The editor, Lee Morris, wrote a "scathing column about concerns" with the newspaper,... |
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The Federal Trade Commission announced it wouldn't be looking into Ashton Kutcher's editorial for Details magazine, Betabeat... |
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Should we believe two polling organizations that claim New York City residents are solidly supportive of the city’s efforts to expand bicycle lanes?
While Quinnipiac and Marist both have reported this year... |
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Fred Brown, pictured above, oversaw the revision for the SPJ's ethics book. (Credit: 9News)
Last year, the Society of Professional Journalists publicly "denounced" ABC, NBC, CNN and CBS for paying sources... |
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