THE NUMBERS
Over the past 12 months, it was once again our pleasure and privilege to do the galvanizing work of the Center for Journalism Ethics. Through panels and conferences and countless personal interactions, we have fostered vigorous debate on the many critical ethical issues of our time. In presenting the Anthony Shadid Award for Journalism Ethics, publishing original reporting, and providing training, we have also worked hard to promote high standards in journalism ethics. In the coming year as in year's past, we will continue to ask the hard questions, elevate critiques and calls for change, and create space for a more thoughtful and responsive journalistic practice.
FOSTERING VIGOROUS DEBATE
On December 7, 2022, we hosted a public conversation, "Breaking Precedent: Journalism Ethics & the U.S. Supreme Court," which featured recently retired NBC News correspondent Pete Williams in conversation with Center director Katy Culver. Williams served as the Center's 2022 journalist in residence, speaking about media ethics and the challenges of covering the U.S. Supreme Court at this event and in many classroom visits during his weeklong stay in Madison.
100 + attendees
Our conference "Ethics, Urgency & Climate Journalism" took place on Friday, April 28, 2023. We were thrilled to welcome keynote speaker and TIME correspondent Justin Worland, who gave the outstanding address, "Justice & Journalism's Climate Challenge."
Attendees also benefited from an exceptionally strong roster of panelists who discussed the disproportionate effect of climate change on marginalized communities, the issue of whose voices get heard in climate coverage, breaking down industry barriers to conveying climate urgency, and the shifts in perspective that are changing the way media cover climate.
There's a role for journalists [...] to shed a light on the reality that environmental justice issues are everywhere, to capture the slow violence that's occurring across the country and across the world. - Justin Worland, TIME Magazine
350 attendees
PROMOTING HIGH STANDARDS
A team of Associated Press reporters won the 2023 Anthony Shadid Award for Journalism Ethics for their work documenting the Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in March of 2022.
The Shadid Award judging committee lauded the extraordinary care, quick thinking and courage the Associated Press team demonstrated while covering the earliest stages of the war. “Reporting from Mariupol weeks into the Russian siege, the AP team faced a string of difficult choices,” said Lucas Graves, professor in the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication and chair of the judging committee. “Like previous generations of journalists on the front lines, they had to weigh their duties as reporters and as human beings. This meant not just protecting sources but helping victims of the war — and accepting their help to avoid capture and get the story out.”
Ron Nixon, Vice President of News and Head of Investigations, Enterprise, Partnerships and Grants at the Associated Press, accepted the 2023 Anthony Shadid Award for Journalism on behalf of the winners at an award ceremony in New York City on May 17. The night also featured a keynote conversation with ESPN's Steve Fainaru conducted by award-winning journalist David Maraniss. [Pictured above: Ron Nixon (left) accepts the award from Washington Post reporter and Center advisory board member Jonathan O'Connell].
The Shadid Curriculum
We continue to build our Shadid Curriculum, which draws from the outstanding journalism of those who have won or been named a finalist of the Anthony Shadid Award for Journalism Ethics. Launched in 2021, the curriculum encourages student journalists to consider thorny ethical issues and place themselves in the position of making difficult journalistic decisions.
This year, five student fellows produced original reporting on current issues in media ethics, writing about depolarizing local news coverage, the urgent call to improve coverage of addiction and recovery, lack of industry guidance on un-publishing, covering abortion post-Roe, the relatively new practice of texting the news and more.
The Center's fellows program continues to grow in quality and reputation. A student from this year's cohort said of the experience, "It exceeded my expectations. I would say it was the most useful and cool journalistic experience of college so far."
SHARING OUR EXPERTISE
Center director Kathleen Bartzen Culver addressed media ethics in many local, and national news outlets, with interviews focused on everything from political ads to the firings of Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon.
We were also proud to partner with Reporting on Addiction to host a one-day training for Wisconsin journalists on May 22 called "How to ethically and accurately cover addiction," which attendees called "extremely helpful and worthwhile in so many ways" and "so applicable to our daily work."
The power of this training and the great potential we see in this partnership has led us to bring this training back once again in September 2023.