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Credibility in Crisis
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
Public trust in the news media has been shaken by several recent scandals and lapses in journalistic judgment. The following high profile cases illustrate fundamental journalistic ethics and the fallout of breaching those tenets.
IN THE NEWSCASE STUDIES
May 9, 2005
Computer Screen, TV Screens

NYT Panel Recommends Ways to Improve Credibility
Update: An internal committee at The New York Times has recommended a number of steps to improve readers' trust in the newspaper, including having senior editors write a regular column about the internal workings of the paper, making reporters and editors more available to the public and systematically tracking errors.

New York Times Report: Preserving Our Readers' Trust (PDF required)

CBS News and the National Guard
A look at what went wrong with the 60 Minutes report from Sept. 8 questioning President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard that cited documents that later appeared to be forgeries.

USA Today and Jack Kelley
USA Today and Jack KelleyA report on the journalistic fraud committed by USA Today's former star correspondent, Jack Kelley, and the paper's aggressive investigation into the matter.

The New York Times and Jayson Blair
The New York Times and Jayson BlairThe New York Times made headlines of its own in May 2003 after former reporter Jayson Blair resigned amid charges of large-scale plagiarism and fabrication.

KEY FEATURES

Interactive: Making the Ethical Choice
Making the Ethical ChoiceAre the ethical choices journalists must make always black or white? Test your own decision-making skills in this interactive of ten scenarios that represent challenges to basic newsroom standards reporters routinely face.

Forum: Credibility in Question and Newsroom Ethics
What ethical standards should journalists strive to uphold? What constitutes a breach of these standards? And how should news organizations improve public confidence in their ability to report fairly and thoroughly? Michael Getler, ombudsman for The Washington Post, and Jay Rosen, chairman of New York University's Journalism Department and author of the pressthink.org blog, answer your questions.

MAIN: CREDIBILITY IN QUESTION
SEEKING ETHICAL STANDARDS
HOLDING THE MEDIA ACCOUNTABLE
NEWSHOUR EXTRA
ARCHIVE

Prewar Media Coverage of Iraq
In the run-up to the Iraq war, the press reported on Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction. Since then, the failure to find any major weapons programs has sparked a reassessment of the media's performance.



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