The question I was asked most often as chair of Canada’s largest journalism school was: How many of your graduates get jobs in journalism? The runner-up: Do you teach them ethics? The queries are a measure of public skepticism: a lot of people are uneasy about what we do, and are far from sure they really need us to be doing it. But yes, we do teach ethics, because there are still plenty of jobs in journalism. For all the hand-wringing about broken business models, disruptive technology and the death of this or that, several thousand people earn their living as journalists in Canada. Judging by the number of applicants to our programs, many more would like to.
As for journalism ethics, it is not an oxymoron. It is a flourishing academic field with a vast literature and diverse schools of thought. One of its most respected theorists is Stephen Ward, a former reporter and foreign correspondent with The Canadian Press. He spent several years as a journalism professor...
Paul Knox, a former reporter, editor and foreign correspondent for the Globe and Mail, is associate professor emeritus in the School of Journalism at Ryerson University.
Advertisement
Advertisement