Module 15
Multimedia Ethics

Journalism ethics is not about coming up with the one right answer. It's about coming up with an answer you and your audience can live with. A multimedia approach offers journalists more options in the ethical decision-making process and also offers journalists the opportunity to succeed at the diversity dimension of ethical news coverage. As you complete these exercises and explore the module resources, you will learn to:

• Be accountable. Ethical decision-making allows you to reach a justifiable decision. Analyze case studies that will help you learn how to clearly defend your choices to anyone who asks.
• Think about new ethical issues. As new methods of storytelling evolve, journalists must take care to think through the ethical implications. Ethics codes and other decision-making resources can help.
• Maximize diversity through use of multimedia. Convergence can give journalists more access to diverse viewpoints through the interactivity of the web. Social media is proving to be a valuable tool in this effort.

Module Exercises

• Exercise 1: Corrections Policies
• Exercise 2: Handling Disturbing Content
• Exercise 3: Skill Building--Test Your Ethical Decision-Making