As a journalist, would you publish everything you heard or saw? Discuss the ethics of journalism with a lesson from PBS. Young reporters imagine themselves to be the editor of their school's newspaper, and as they read five scenarios, they decide which stories they feel ethical about publishing.

Concepts

journalism ethics, journalism

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Create a poster-sized copy of the list of rules and ethics, and laminate it to hang in a journalism class
• Encourage learners to come up with their own scenarios that question what an ethical journalist would do in that position
• Split the class into five groups, and give one scenario to each group for a short discussion, in order to explain to the larger class

 

Classroom Considerations

• Lesson page does not have much support for the procedures; most of the activity is on the enclosed worksheet
• The third in a series of 10 media literacy lessons

Pros

• Encourages thought-provoking discussion and group work
• Great for journalism class or any philosophy or social studies class
• Comes with the scenarios on a separate worksheet

Cons

• None

Common Core

RI.7.4 RI.8.4 RI.9-10.4 RI.11-12.4 SL.7.1.a SL.8.1.a SL.9-10.1.a SL.11-12.1.a