My journalism students and I followed Brian Williams’ fall
from grace in the classroom. Williams’ controversy provided me, and my students,
with a real world scenario to discuss ethics. Instead of just studying the
prior infractions of the likes of Stephen Glass and Jayson Blair, we watched
Williams’ credibility crumble before our eyes in both video and print. Now that it has been confirmed that Williams
is leaving ‘NBC Nightly News’ and Lester Holt will permanently take over, I may
need to revisit this story again next year.
While cautionary fall-from-grace tales are a great platform
to start the conversation on ethics, looking back I don’t think I am doing
enough. The online module on Journalism Ethics got me thinking about how I
approach this in the classroom. It’s easy to show students an example of a
mistake; tell them ‘see this guy, don’t do that!’; discuss and reflect; and
move on. It’s one thing to use direct instruction to teach students about an
issue, it’s entirely another to immerse them in it. While reading the ‘Sticky
Situation’ scenarios, I was forced to really occupy the situation and reflect
on the best course of action. I was pushed outside my comfort zone, and I need
to do the same for my students. So I’m going to bring the ‘Sticky Situations’
to my classes next year with my own twist – Cavotta Catastrophes.
Ethics is an ongoing lesson, it can’t be contained to just
one class session or even a week. On the first day of class I try and instill
the importance of what a journalist does: they report the truth. Students need
to face the complex issue of ethics on day one. I think I may need to hang
Uncle Walter’s quote, ‘Truth knows neither friend nor enemy,
nor should those who pursue it,’ in my classroom next year.
Jill Cavotta
Mater Dei High School
Santa Ana, Califoria
All that's happened with Brian Williams is a great way to discuss ethics with our students, but I do agree that it needs to go beyond just a discussion--something you remind them of every day.
ReplyDeleteHow are you hoping to use this quote ‘Truth knows neither friend nor enemy, nor should those who pursue it' next year? I'd love to understand more of how you'll infuse it into your teaching.
Emily Sell
Bingham High School
South Jordan, Utah
Hi Emily! What I think I will do with the quote is a quickwrite that leads students into a discussion. I use quickwrites pretty frequently in both my Journalism and English classes. I give them a topic and and 5-7 minutes to write. I think I will have them write about what they think they quote means, and at the end of the quickwrite discuss as a class. I think the quote means so many things about truth on numerous levels - impartiality, evaluating information, finding sources, etc.
ReplyDeleteJill Cavotta
Mater Dei High School
Santa Ana, California
Jill,
ReplyDeleteI hope you'll take a look at my post on Ethics. WWYD? Ethical Dilemmas. I use a sticky situations type of activity and some clips from the TV show. It's fun and generates great discussion. It's relevant and they really enjoy it.
It is sad that there have been cautionary tales to follow. I've shared the plagiarism stories of Fareed Zakaria since 2012 and have realized with my students that it happens all too frequently. We actually did an assignment where they all had to bring in an article about someone making bad ethical decisions in their career or personal life (fake resumes, plagiarism, DUI). It was a great discussion.
Brian Williams' fall is especially interesting because he was here a few years ago to accept the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism. On ethics, any time there's an opportunity to apply ethical principals I try to gather as many students as possible. Those are great teaching moments.
ReplyDeleteSteve Elliott
Arizona State University
Phoenix