Learning objective

Students will evaluate the role of integrity in journalism by identifying and analysing scenarios where journalistic integrity is challenged. They will also assess the impact of external pressures on journalistic decision-making and propose strategies to maintain integrity.

• Student-facing objective: By the end of this lesson the student will be able to identify situations where a journalist’s integrity might be tested and suggest ways to stay truthful and unbiased.
• Standards: Students will learn about how integrity in journalism empowers them to investigate issues thoroughly and truthfully without being influenced by external pressures.

Learning activities

Warm-up

• Begin with a brief discussion on the concept of integrity. Ask students to share what they understand by the term and how it applies in everyday life. Transition to journalism by posing the question: “Why is integrity crucial for journalists?”
• Next, present a short, hypothetical scenario: A journalist receives a gift from a company they are reporting on. Ask students to consider: “What should the journalist do, and why?” Encourage students to think about potential conflicts of interest and the importance of maintaining impartiality.
• Conclude by summarising the main points from the discussion, emphasising the role of integrity in ensuring truthful and unbiased reporting. This sets the stage for deeper exploration in the lesson.

Direct instruction

• Conceptual understanding: Introduce the concept of journalistic integrity by discussing real-world examples where integrity was either upheld or compromised. Use a case study of a well-known journalist who faced ethical dilemmas. Describe the situation and ask students to identify the integrity issues involved. Discuss the consequences of the journalist’s actions on public trust and the news organisation’s credibility.
• Procedural skills and fluency: Explain the procedures journalists should follow to maintain integrity. Outline issues such as:
  • Avoiding conflicts of interest.
  • Ensuring editorial independence.
  • Declaring any potential biases.
• Scenario: Provide a hypothetical scenario where a journalist must decide whether to accept a free trip to cover a story. Ask students to outline the steps the journalist should take to maintain integrity, using the practices discussed.
• Application: Present a scenario where students must apply their understanding of journalistic integrity. For example, a journalist is offered exclusive access to a high-profile event in exchange for favourable coverage. Ask students to:
  • Identify the ethical issues.
  • Propose a course of action that upholds integrity.
  • Justify their decisions based on the principles discussed.
  • Encourage students to consider the broader implications of their decisions on public perception and trust in journalism.

Guided practice

Think, Pair, Share: Facilitate a discussion on a scenario where a journalist’s integrity is tested.

• Think: Present a scenario where a journalist is offered a gift in exchange for favourable coverage. Ask students to individually think about the ethical issues and potential actions the journalist could take.
• Pair: Have students pair up to discuss their thoughts. Encourage them to consider the implications of accepting the gift and how it might affect the journalist’s credibility and the news organisation’s reputation.
• Share: Invite pairs to share their discussions with the class. Highlight different perspectives and solutions, emphasising the importance of maintaining integrity.
• Collect and display: As students share, write the main points and ethical considerations on the board. Organise these into categories such as “potential conflicts,” “actions to maintain integrity,” and “consequences.”
• Connect: Conclude by connecting the discussion to the broader principles of journalistic integrity. Reinforce the idea that integrity is crucial for maintaining public trust and ensuring unbiased reporting.

Independent practice

• Scenario analysis: Provide students with a set of brief scenarios where journalistic integrity is challenged. Examples might include receiving gifts, facing pressure from advertisers, or dealing with conflicts of interest. Ask students to analyse each scenario and write a brief response on how they would handle the situation to maintain integrity.
• Reflection exercise: Have students reflect on a recent news story they have read or watched. Ask them to evaluate the story for potential biases or conflicts of interest. They should consider whether the journalist maintained integrity and how they might have approached the story differently.
• Role-playing: Assign students roles as journalists, editors, or external influencers. Present a situation where integrity is at stake, such as a high-profile interview with potential for bias. Students must navigate the scenario, making decisions that uphold journalistic integrity. Afterward, have them discuss the challenges they faced and the strategies they used.
• Peer review: Students exchange their scenario analyses or reflection exercises with a partner. They provide feedback on each other’s work, focusing on the identification of ethical issues and the proposed solutions. Encourage constructive criticism and discussion on alternative approaches to maintaining integrity.

Assignment

Ask students to answer these questions:

1. What is one main principle of journalistic integrity you learned today?
2. How can a journalist maintain integrity when faced with external pressures?
3. What’s one question you still have from today’s lesson?

Here are some suggested answers:

• Suggested answer to Question 1: Journalists should avoid conflicts of interest to maintain integrity.
• Suggested answer to Question 2: A journalist can maintain integrity by ensuring editorial independence and declaring potential biases.

Teacher resources

Differentiation guide

• Advanced learners: Encourage deeper analysis by having them research and present on historical cases where journalistic integrity was compromised. Challenge them to propose alternative actions that could have upheld integrity.
• Striving learners: Simplify scenarios and provide structured guidance. Use role-playing to help them visualise ethical dilemmas. Offer sentence starters for written responses to scaffold their thinking.
• General strategies: Use visual aids to illustrate key concepts. Provide clear examples and non-examples of journalistic integrity. Encourage peer collaboration to support diverse learning needs.

Notable definitions

• Integrity: The quality of being honest and having strong moral principles, crucial for journalists to ensure truthful and unbiased reporting.
• Conflict of interest: A situation where a journalist’s personal interests could potentially influence their professional decisions, compromising their impartiality.
• Editorial independence: The freedom of journalists to make decisions about what stories to cover and how to cover them without external influence or pressure.

Required materials

• Whiteboard and markers.
• Printed copies of hypothetical scenarios for group discussions.
• Access to computers or tablets for online research and scenario analysis.
• Projector for displaying case studies and examples.
• Notebooks and pens for student reflections and note-taking.

Lesson summary

• Warm-up
• Direct instruction
• Guided practice
• Independent practice
• Assignment

The free teaching tools at the Khan Academy were used as a basis for converting the original article into a lesson plan.

Related article

Integrity and journalism

The post Lesson: Integrity in Journalism first appeared on Media Helping Media.

In this scenario a political correspondent working for a broadcaster is asked to speak at an event organised by a political party – but there is a catch.

You are a political correspondent working for a broadcaster. A general election has been called. You receive an invitation to speak at a public event about the role of journalists in covering elections.

After your talk the people who invited you ask whether you would be prepared to do some private coaching for a number of politicians who were interested in what you had to say.

The fee suggested is five times the daily rate you receive from the media organisation you work for. They also hand you a gift as a ‘thank you’ for attending the event.

What do you do?

What do you do?

Do you:

• Accept the gift as a payment for your services, and agree to take on the media training for the politicians. After all, you have expertise that they seem to need and are willing to pay for.
• Hand the gift back, and explain that although you were happy to talk about the role of the journalist in covering elections, you are not interested in coaching politicians on how to manage the media.
• Go back to the office, resign as a journalist and take up a new career teaching politicians how to avoid tough questions and spin a line.

Suggested action

You should hand the gift back, and explain the situation to your editor.

It’s not wise for political journalists to get involved in training politicians. That is the job of public relations and communications professionals.

It’s fine to offer to speak about the role of journalists in covering elections, but it’s not a good idea to be rewarded by a political party, even indirectly.

Accepting gifts

It’s potentially dangerous for a journalist to accept gifts. They will never be free. There will always be a price to pay at some future date.

Your media organisation will have a policy on this. Usually, the best advice is to refuse gifts.

There may be some situations where a reporter or producer on a lifestyle programme is offered facilities to sample so that they can review  them.

In such cases the following rules should apply:

• Keep accurate records of what has been accepted.
• Always inform suppliers that they cannot refer to your news organisation in selling their products.
• Never offer suppliers any editorial influence in the programme you are producing.

Conflicts of interest

There must never be any situation where personal, commercial, business, financial or other interests have any bearing on your editorial decisions.

Typical situations where there could be a conflict of interest for journalists include:

• Public speaking/public appearances at events which have a political agenda.
• Media public relations training, where the journalist is asked to train business leaders or politicians in how to avoid tough questions and spin a line.
• Personal connections to charities, campaign organisations, and political parties.
• Accepting hospitality and personal benefits during the course of your work where there is an expectation of an editorial return.
• Personal financial and business interests associated with the stories you are covering.

Conclusion

It’s fine for journalists to speak at public events about their work; how those attending use what they hear is up to them.

But staff members of, or regular freelancers for, any media organisation should always obtain permission from their employers beforehand. As long as you are a journalist working for them, your actions reflect on them whenever you speak, appear or work in any other role you are offered that involves journalism. Your actions can affect your news organisation’s credibility and reputation.

What you should not do is work on behalf of one group or other in order to help them improve how they package and present their particular message and avoid tough questioning from journalists.

The political correspondent in this scenario didn’t do anything wrong, but was probably naive in accepting the invitation in the first place.

They really should have asked more questions about who was organising the event, who would be attending, and why it was being staged.

Analysis

The core issue here revolves around maintaining journalistic integrity and avoiding conflicts of interest, especially during a general election. The invitation to speak at a public event about the role of journalists is seemingly innocuous. However, the subsequent offer of private coaching for politicians, coupled with a substantial fee and a gift, throws up significant red flags.

• The gift:
  • As the text correctly points out, gifts are never truly “free.” They create an obligation, real or perceived, and can compromise a journalist’s impartiality.
  • Accepting a gift from individuals with political interests during an election cycle is particularly problematic.
• The coaching offer:
  • This is where the major ethical breach lies. Offering media training to politicians, particularly in how to “avoid tough questions and spin a line,” directly contradicts the fundamental role of a journalist: to hold power to account and provide unbiased information.
  • The exorbitant fee, five times the daily rate, further highlights the potential for corruption and undue influence.
• The invitation itself:
  • While speaking about journalism is acceptable, a more thorough vetting of the event organisers and attendees was crucial.
  • The correspondent’s “naivety,” as the text suggests, is a significant oversight.

Why the suggested action is correct

Handing back the gift and informing the editor:

• • This demonstrates transparency and a commitment to ethical conduct. It protects both the correspondent’s reputation and the broadcaster’s credibility.

Informing the editor allows the news organisation to address the situation appropriately and reinforce its policies on conflicts of interest.

Issues

Perception is reality:

• • Even if the correspondent believes they can maintain objectivity, the public perception of bias is damaging. In today’s highly polarised political climate, trust in media is paramount.

The importance of editorial independence:

• • • This scenario underscores the need for strict adherence to editorial independence.
    • Journalists must be free from any influence that could compromise their ability to report fairly and accurately.

The broader implications:

• • • This situation isn’t just about one individual. It reflects a broader concern about the blurring lines between journalism, public relations, and political advocacy.
    • The rise of social media and the 24-hour news cycle have increased the pressure on journalists, making it even more critical to maintain ethical standards.

Proactive measures:

• • News organisations should provide regular training to journalists on ethical conduct and conflict of interest policies.
  • Clear guidelines should be established for accepting speaking engagements and handling potential conflicts.
  • When dealing with political events, extra diligence must be taken to discover who is really behind the event.

In essence, this scenario is a cautionary tale about the importance of maintaining journalistic integrity in the face of political influence. The correspondent’s initial missteps highlight the need for vigilance and a deep understanding of ethical obligations. The correct course of action, returning the gift and informing the editor, is essential for preserving public trust and upholding the principles of responsible journalism. The political landscape is a minefield of potential conflicts, and journalists must navigate it with utmost care.

The post Journalistic integrity – scenario first appeared on Media Helping Media.