Purpose: This assignment is aimed at helping you to review the assigned material, as well as to help you express your ideas in a brief and efficient form.
Task: Write your responses to the following questions using complete sentences, proper spelling and grammar, and specific examples from the class and reading. You may use outside sources but must cite them properly at the end of your paper. Each response should be 2-5 sentences long.
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For the first three questions, carefully review the brief case summaries below. After doing so, provide the following three items in your response to each scenario: (1) a short description of what you think the ethical course of action is (2-3 sentences max), (2) support your answer by specifically citing one of the four principles of the SPJ Code of Ethics (journalism ethics lectures & SPJ reading can be found under Module 3), and (3) briefly explain how the situation is relevant to the specific SPJ principle you identified (2-3 sentences max).
- Susan, a student reporter for her college newspaper, reads on social media that the nutrition information on the food in the dorm cafeteria is mislabeled and some foods may be more unhealthy than previously thought. This is a big story for a health-conscious university, and Susan’s deadline is rapidly approaching. There’s no source on the information, just an anonymous Twitter post. Should Susan run the story first with the intent of doing a follow-up next week, or hold off on the story for now?
- You are a reporter for a tech blog, assigned to cover the launch of Apple’s latest iPad. You are contacted by an Apple representative, who offers you a free flight to Hawaii to attend the official launch and a free iPad if you agree to write a positive preview of the device. Do you accept the free trip and iPad or decline it?
- A scandal has rocked the small town of Point Place, where the local high school football coach has been accused of years of inappropriate sexual contact with students under his supervision. In her investigation of the story, reporter Gillian Thomas finds that the administration knew about this but kept the coach on because the team was consistently winning and is also related to the school superintendent. An informant on the inside passes Gillian a document containing names and addresses for as many as 30 current and former students who brought complaints against the coach. Should Gillian publish the names of these students?
- Utilizing the SIFT model, lateral reading, and other source evaluation tactics discussed in Modules 2 and 3, evaluate the following story: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/technology/ai-schumer-roadmap-congress.html?unlocked_article_code=1.t00.Tj23.O1M-ZibXcq-A&smid=url-shareLinks to an external site. Is the story trustworthy? Is it accurate? Is it biased? Why? Explain your conclusions and what you did to determine your answers (i.e. how did you fact-check it?).
- Identify a public health issue that is important to you. Imagine you were going to develop a communication campaign to raise awareness of the issue and provide solutions to it. Using what you have learned so far in the class, which individual or organization would be the best Sender for the topic and what would you include in the Message they send out? What Channel would you use to deliver your message and why? Finally, who is the target audience or Receiver for your message? Explain why you made these choices – you may wish to provide citations to support your answers. (You may find the Public Relations and Health Communication lectures helpful here.)
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