A Washington Post reporter's decision to share a draft of a story with his sources is provoking a healthy discussion in newsrooms about when, if ever, it's wise to circulate unpublished material for comments.As originally reported in the Texas Observer, a Post education writer gave the media-relations department at the University of Texas at Austin an opportunity to review and suggest changes to a March 14 story about standardized testing.
Tag: ethics
Keeping undercover reporting above the law
It’s a call we usually receive a few times a semester: A student reporter is interested in finding out how easy it is to acquire an illegal substance.
UNL paper’s architecture sex story prompts backlash
A Daily Nebraskan article that discusses the sex lives of University of Nebraska-Lincoln architecture students has caused a flurry of controversy for the newspaper.The story, which appeared in the arts and entertainment section, quotes multiple sources by their first names only, with an illustration alongside showing two students having sex on a drafting table.
Unfunny rape joke + offensive cartoon = a recipe for newsroom disaster
If there are two things that are guaranteed to get a college newspaper in hot water, they are (1) making light of sexual assault and (2) publishing an offensive cartoon.
Weigel, Nasr cases dramatize need for newsroom ethics policies
Dave Weigel (Washington Post) and Octavia Nasr (CNN) had, and lost, some of the most enviable jobs in professional journalism, because they expressed controversial opinions in comments published online.