Journalism - Ethics Assignment

Select from the following scenarios and based on the ethical decision-making process and explain, as a newspaper editor, whether or not you would cover the story. If you decide to cover it, show exactly how you would handle the research and coverage. You will then create a PowerPoint of NO LESS than 15 slides discussing the facts of the story, issues with covering the story, and why or why not you would proceed with covering the story, and how you would cover it.

 All the scenarios are based on events that occurred at high schools with student newspapers.

A. A female teacher in your school has been placed on administrative leave. Rumor is that she had an affair with a senior boy who is 18. Will you cover this story?

B. A local chapter of Planned Parenthood wants to advertise in your school newspaper. Will you accept the ad?

C. On a language club field trip to another country, two students are caught with alcohol. They, in turn, turn in the names of several others who also drank on the trip. The students involved include a few athletes, members of the band, and two newspaper editors. After the school punishes those involved with a five-day suspension from school and a one-month suspension from extracurricular activities, several teens come forward to say that drinking has occurred on field trips in the past as well. They accuse the advisers of negligence and question the severity of the suspensions. How will you cover this story.

D. A student at the school has contracted the HIV virus. Explain your coverage of this story.

E. A newspaper columnist writes an opinion piece about the unfair member-selection process of a high school club. She says it is based on popularity and personal connections rather than qualifications. The president of the club writes a letter to the editor stating that the columnist had tried out for the club two years earlier and had been rejected.

F. A student and a teacher are arrested for shoplifting in separate incidents. The teacher is accused of stealing lipstick without paying. The student is accused of stealing a leather jacket. Will you cover these incidents? How?

G. A newspaper features editor wants to do a story using a grade card that rates teacher in the school from an "A" to an "F". You're the editor-in-chief - how would you advise him to approach the story? 

H. An editor wants to do a story on cheating, but teachers are opposed as they view it as teaching kids how to cheat and encouraging them to target certain teachers for cheating. How should the topic be covered and what research is needed?

I. A parent attacks a teacher in the parking lot after school one day. What approach should be taken in covering this story?

J. A student is killed in a car crash. Another student was at the wheel. Accusations are being leveled at the student driving that he may have been racing another student. How does your staff proceed in covering the story?

K. A rumor circulates that a student at school has had an abortion. A pro-life student on the newspaper staff wants to write an editorial condemning abortion, with thinly-veiled references to the girl in question. What is your decision on the matter?

L. A teacher and student attended the same party on a weekend, although they were not together, with both consuming alcohol. Photos later surfaced on a student's Myspace page showing the teacher and the student, with both possessing alcohol. The school is considering disciplinary action against the teacher after a parent raised the issue with the school board. How do you cover the event?