Determinants of Attitudes toward Ethical Dilemmas in News: A Survey of Student Journalists

ABSTRACT In this research, we surveyed 214 college journalists to assess their attitudes toward a series of ethical dilemmas. Significant predictors of a nine-item index included years enrolled in college, completion of an ethics course, ethics training as a part of student media, informal discussions about ethics in student media, number of situations calling for an ethics-related decision, familiarity with the ethics code of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), and use of that code. Of these determinants, familiarity with the SPJ code showed the strongest association with the response measure. Findings suggest that formal instruction of ethics and professional journalistic norms should continue and that students should be encouraged to gain practical experience during their college years. Additionally, data suggest the SPJ code can prove useful as a pedagogical tool and should be incorporated into both classrooms and newsrooms.