Asking tough questions is what we do. Asking tough questions is what we’re supposed to do. And our audiences should be demanding that we ask tough questions because we represent them in our wonderful Democracy.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was responding to a blogger’s question about whether network anchors Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric had been unfair in their questioning of her.

Palin said that she was “surprised that so much has changed since I received my education in journalistic ethics all those years ago.”

So just what about asking important questions in a thoughtful and respectful way is unethical? As Kelly McBride points out in her Everyday Ethics column http://poynter.org/column.asp?id=67&aid=151526, Palin was essentially interviewing for a job — Vice President of the United States. She is, in an often overused reminder, a heartbeat away from the Presidency. Don’t Gibson and Couric have a right, even a duty, to ask her about foreign policy, economic plans, health care and more? Don’t reporters owe it to viewers and readers to ask tough questions because as McBride points out, it’s unlikely that voters will be able to ask those questions themselves? Aren’t journalists the ones who get blamed when they don’t dig deep enough into significant issues (see the debate about reporting leading up to the Iraq war)?

Neither Gibson nor Couric asked “gotcha” questions. Both asked fair questions in a straightforward manner, with respect and deference to the candidate. The reporters neither led Gov. Palin to an awkward response nor ambushed her for one.

I got a journalism degree nearly 10 years before Palin did and I remember the lessons pretty clearly. I teach media ethics now after a newspaper career of more than 20 years. The lessons were and are still relevant, but the issue of media credibility has become more urgent.

We were taught, among other things, to be fair, to avoid bias and to seek the truth. There are important media ethics issues involving deception, conflicts of interest, sensationalism, manipulation, anonymous sources, etc. that journalists should learn and avoid. But the Gibson and Couric interviews don’t veer into those issues. Where is the ethics dilemma?

Ethics is part of journalism education. Good journalists do what Gibson and Couric did, without sensationalism, without ambush, without bias.

That’s what we do.

 In the talks, professors typically talk about issues that matter most to them. Dr. Pausch opened his talk with the news that he had terminal cancer and proceeded to deliver an uplifting, funny talk about his own childhood dreams and how to help his children and others achieve their own goals in life. He learned he had pancreatic cancer in September, 2006.

  I believe ethics training can influence and help aspiring journalists do their jobs with character and with consideration for their audiences and sources. I contend that an understanding of ethical issues confronting media helps practitioners do their jobs well and defend their decisions.

  Apparently, this idea is gaining popularity in other academic areas. See this article about teaching corporate ethics in business schools from the May 29 edition of the New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/business/smallbusiness/29shift.html

  The New York Times examines some these questions in Jacques Steinberg’s Sunday (June 8th ) piece. See it here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/weekinreview/08steinberg.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=Mayhill%20Fowler&st=cse&oref=slogin

  Note that two people quoted in the Times article will be featured at the 4^th Annual Poynter KSU Media Ethics Workshop on Sept. 18. Kelly McBride, ethics group leader at the Poynter Institute, will be the lead facilitator for discussion of the important questions of online ethics and rules for bloggers. Jay Rosen, journalism professor at NYU and creator of PressThink, is one of the keynote speakers.

For more information about the Media Ethics Workshop ***

Dissell, a Kent State journalism grad, and photojournalist Chan spoke at KSU in February 2008 about their experiences covering Johanna’s story and the resulting series titled “Johanna: Facing Forward.”

In excerpts from their talk to journalism students, Dissell and Chan discuss the difficulties they encountered trying to document what happened between Johanna, an 18-year-old high school senior who was shot in the face by her 17-year-old ex-boyfriend, Juan.

Hear how Dissell and Chan managed to remain objective and how they dealt with ethics issues of privacy and confidentiality, among others.

The original series, with additional photos and multimedia extras, is available at the Plain Dealer’s web site:

http://www.cleveland.com/johanna/

Among others, the series won a 2008 Dart Award for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma and a National Headliner Award for best online slideshow.

Visit New Forums at http://classes.jmc.kent.edu/newforums/ — password: northstorm869

The group consisted of two television news directors, a news service director, and a news and political program coordinator. The purpose of the visit was to learn about covering political events fairly and objectively.

Kent State University was the last stop for the participants before returning to Armenia.

Before arriving at Kent State, they attended lectures about a variety of news issues at major Cleveland television news stations and stopped briefly to discuss applied politics at The University of Akron.