Archive
29 Aug

Ward’s Words: Is talk of a Canadian press council outdated?

<p><img align="left" alt="" class="imagecache-thumbnail inline-image" hspace="10" src="http://j-source.ca/sites/www.j-source.ca/files/imagecache/thumbnail/images/Stephen Ward_3.JPG" title="" /><strong>By Stephen J.A. Ward</strong></p><p>Newspapers Canada, an industry voice, is soliciting feedback on behalf of the provinicial press councils for <a href="http://j-source.ca/article/newspapers-canada-reveals-proposal-national-press-council">a national press council to be launched in 2015</a>.</p>

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14 Aug

Ward’s Words: DIY vs. depersonalized journalism ethics

<p><strong>By Stephen J.A. Ward</strong></p><p>The creation of a global and open media ecology that is online and offline,  as well as professional and amateur, has undermined a prior professional consensus on the content of journalism ethics. There is scarcely a principle or concept that is not up for debate, from who is a journalist to whether reporters should be objective.</p><p>Yet, increasing numbers of journalists believe there is a need for guiding values as we sail journalism’s roiling sea.</p>

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16 Jul

Stephen Ward launches new ethics website

<p><img align="left" alt="" class="imagecache-thumbnail inline-image" hspace="10" src="http://j-source.ca/sites/www.j-source.ca/files/imagecache/thumbnail/images/Stephen Ward_0.JPG" title="" /> <strong>By Tamara Baluja, Associate Editor </strong></p><p>Canadian media ethicist Stephen Ward has launched a new website, <a href="http://www.mediamorals.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Media Morals</a>, that will explore journalism ethics in global media world.</p>

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2 May

Ward’s Words: An ethics reform must include the public

<p><img align="left" alt="" class="imagecache-thumbnail inline-image" hspace="10" src="http://j-source.ca/sites/www.j-source.ca/files/imagecache/thumbnail/images/Stephen Ward_0.PNG" title="" /> <strong>By Stephen J. A. Ward</strong></p><p>Professional news organizations and associations are seeking—or forced?— to rewrite their codes of ethics in the face of overwhelming change to journalism. </p>

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14 Nov

Ward’s Words: Do ethics, not definitions

<p><strong>By Stephen Ward</strong></p><p>Ironically, journalists—a group normally reluctant to theorize—are today up to their ears in definitions, a favourite activity of philosophers. For some time, journalists and their associations have been trying anxiously to define “journalist” and “journalism” as a media revolution blurs the differences between professional journalists and citizens. I have some bad news for this definition-making industry.</p>

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21 Oct

Ward’s Words: Putting transparency in its place

<p><strong>By Stephen Ward</strong></p><p>Transparency, according to optimistic accounts, is the answer to bad government and wrong doing by corporations and news media. Let the “sunshine” of transparency enter the public domain and watch these evil forces retreat.</p><p>Transparency—monitoring how agencies operate—goes back to the trumpeting of “publicity” as a check on secretive government in the 18<sup>th</sup> century.</p>

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28 Jun

Going radical: We need a substantial change in the way we talk about ethics

<div><em style="font-size: 10px;">New codes will need to recognize that activist journalism in its many <span style="font-size: 10px;">forms will continue to be one of the many ways to use media. But, </span><span style="font-size: 10px;">when are journalists ‘agenda-driven activists’ and when are they </span><span style="font-size: 10px;">‘investigative journalists with a valid cause’? </span></em></div><div> </div><div> </div><div><p><span style="font-size: 10px;"><strong>By Stephen J. A.

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13 Dec

The emotional commitment to objective journalism

<p> </p><p> </p><p><em>Impartiality and objectivity as bloodless norms is an absurd caricature, argues <strong>Stephen J.A. Ward</strong> in the latest issue of Media magazine. </em></p><p><strong>Intro by David McKie</strong></p>

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9 May

Media ethics as activism

<p><em>The current changes in journalism have brought many new ethical challenges, but they’re also changing the idea of ethics itself, according to <strong>Stephen J. A. Ward</strong></em><em>. </em></p><p>           </p>

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13 Sep

Media and the hard truth about suicides

<p><em>No one likes covering a suicide. The publicity may add pain at a time of grieving, and can, experts fear, push other suicidal people over the age. But for <strong>Stephen J. A. Ward</strong>, the question is how -- not whether -- painful facts should be reported.</em><br /><br />Recent suicides and deaths of former NHL enforcers have stirred up debate about the NHL’s support system for hockey players during their career – and after they retire.<br /><br />The deaths have also raised, once again, the question of how news media cover the deaths of public figures.<br />

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