Overview

This module is the second in a series of six that the faculty of the Carter Journalism Institute at NYU has developed to expose students to core ethical and legal issues underscoring journalism as it is practiced in the United States. In this module we provide an ethical framework to making prudent publishing decisions, look at government censorship of the press during times of war, debate journalists’ ethical responsibilities, weighing a person’s privacy against the public right to know, and recount real-life examples of people whose lives were upended by a decision to publish.

Each module in this Journalism Ethics & Law series takes about 90 minutes to complete. At the end of each is a knowledge check quiz, which, to receive credit, you must complete.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this unit, students should be able to:

• Weigh arguments in favor and against publishing contentious material.
• Understand the inherent conflict between a person’s privacy, the public’s right to know, and community standards governing material that could be deemed offensive by a community or communities.
• Have a grasp of history as it relates to government censorship in times of war.
• Be aware of the harm that can occur when a person, innocent or otherwise, is tried and convicted in the press.
• Understand the issues that surround naming an alleged perpetrator of a crime while keeping the name of the alleged victim out of the press.