The question of how ethics is learned, or even if it can be, is as old as Western philosophy itself. In Plato's dialog Meno, the title character asks, "Can you tell us, Socrates, whether virtue is acquired by teaching or by practice; or if neither by teaching nor practice, then whether it comes to man by nature, or in what other way?" Of course, Socrates, being Socrates, resists giving a definite answer. We can't. The sad fact is, our students had better get an effective ethics education now, or they may never.

According to a 2001 survey by Gary Hanson of Kent State University, students in journalism ethics courses as well as newsroom managers think that journalism ethics can best be learned on the job.1 But, ironically, few students who served internships or held media-related jobs during college reported any first-hand exposure to ethical issues. Two-thirds said they didn't receive a written ethics policy or guidelines. Seventy percent said they hadn't taken part in any discussion of ethics while at work. And almost 60 percent said they never witnessed anyone making what the survey termed "a tough ethical decision."

Not surprisingly, Hanson concluded that the professionals' "enthusiasm for on-the-job ethics instruction may be misplaced." If students are to learn journalism ethics, they have to go where it's actually being taught-in our classrooms.

Since the late 1970s, media ethics courses have proliferated like Starbucks stores. Most of the courses use the case study approach, perhaps because most media ethics textbooks are little more than collections of case studies held together by bits of gluey exposition. In the typical case study, students are asked to imagine themselves in the role of reporter, editor, or news photographer, with the goal of discovering how they'd react to an ethically problematic situation and why they'd react so. I myself have often used case studies like the following as discussion starters or even exam questions:

While investigating a story, one of your reporters comes across documents showing that a longtime community leader was active with the Ku Klux Klan as a teenager. The man, now dead, had a distinguished career both in public service and as a private attorney. A building and a park are named after him. His family still lives in town. The revelation is not relevant to the story your reporter is working on, but it could make an important [?] story in and of itself. What, as editor, do you do?

Continued...

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