Journalism Ethics and Issues

JRN U650 • Spring 2008

Kennedy

Your one-page memo

During the month of February you will research and write a paper on a topic related to the ethics of journalism. This week you are to do some preliminary research in order to determine whether you have a workable topic. If you look through our syllabus, you will see a wide range of subject areas from which to choose. You may also choose a subject area that we won’t be covering this semester.

Your paper must be about something specific. For instance, if you choose media bias as a topic, you need to find an example within that topic to research. I really want you to drill down. Let’s say, for instance, that you want to research the question of whether there is liberal bias in the media. I want you to look at a single news organization, or even a single story or series of stories, and analyze them for bias. This is your primary-source material. Then, for secondary-source material, I want you to consult sources that analyze media ethics and media bias. The idea is to go deep and really come to a thorough understanding of one example, and then to use secondary sources to place that example in a broader context.

For the purposes of this memo, I would like you to do the following:

  • Identify your subject area (media bias, photojournalism considerations, corporate ownership and the like).
  • Identify your example. This could be anything from a prominent story in the news to an ethical dilemma you had to deal with on a co-op job.
  • Identify at least two secondary sources that you will make use of in your paper. Explain what those sources are and how they pertain to your paper. Examples: articles in the Columbia Journalism Review, the American Journalism Review, the Project for Excellence in Journalism, Poynter.org, the Media Research Center (tracks liberal bias), Media Matters for America (tracks conservative bias) and Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (tracks corporate bias).
  • Write a paragraph explaining what the theme of your paper will be.

I expect your memo to be one page, single-spaced, in 12-point Times or Times New Roman.

I will turn these around very quickly. My goal is simply to make sure you haven’t assigned yourself a task that isn’t going to work out, and to get you started on your research.

Due date: At the beginning of class on Thursday, Feb. 7.

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