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Chapter 2
 

HOW DO ETHICS AND CRITICAL THINKING APPLY TO EVERYDAY REPORTING? 

 

Examples

Exercises

 

Exercises

EXERCISE W2-1

 

a.  Identify a practice you are a part of in which internal goods are the focus.  What internal goods would you teach a newcomer first?  Why would you select those internal goods to start with? 

 

What internal goods would you teach someone at the intermediate phase?  Why would you wait until they were a little more advanced than a newbie?

 

What would you think of someone who was focused on external goods?  What would an external good in the practice be? 

 

b.  Identify a practice that you joined as a newbie.  Were internal goods the focus?  What internal goods did you learn first?  Why do you identify them as internal goods?

 

What would an external good in that practice be?  Did people in the practice ever comment on someone focused on external goods?  What types of comments were they?

 

EXERCISE W2-2

 

Go to the Pulitzer website and check out some of the prize-winning stories from this year, or before. Select a story or package to analyze.  Take notes as you study the coverage: What issues do you see that are related to the principle of justice? Other principles?  Write a 250- to 400-word discussion that includes a two- or three-sentence summary of the coverage and then a description of the issues you identified.

 

EXERCISE W2-3  

 

Let’s say you’ve asked a professor for an interview for a story you’re doing.  The professor says he’s been burned by students who have misquoted him in past stories, so he wants to review yours before you submit it. Write a 250- to 400-word discussion that answers the following questions: What would you do? Why would you choose that course of action over others? What issues of freedom and autonomy do you see?

 

EXERCISE W2-4

 

You are in charge of formulating your campus news organization’s policy on freebies.  Promoters and event coordinators, hoping for positive coverage, regularly offer your reporters passes to sports events and tickets to concerts, which otherwise would cost up to $50 each.  Write a 250- to 400-word discussion that answers the following questions:  What would your policy be?  Why would you choose this option over others?  How would you avoid a conflict of interest, or the appearance of one?

 

EXERCISE W2-5

 

Go to factcheck.org.  Select a story to analyze.  Write a 250- to 400-word discussion that describes the types of errors in factual accuracy and contextual truth the journalists found.  What insights does this give you into the types of facts that should raise warning flags for you?

 

 

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