Chapter 8:Making Moral Decisions You Can Defend

Chapter 8:Making Moral Decisions You Can Defend

Overview: Making Decisions

Michael Josephson, an essay on making ethical decisions. The president of the Josephson Institute outlines a process. [See separate file in this folder.]

Michael Josephson, Making Ethical Decisions (Los Angeles: Josephson Institute, 2002). A preview and ordering information:

Bob Steele, “A sharp saw for making sound decisions,” poynteronline, Jan. 1, 2001. “[In carpentry] sharp saws speak of care, precision and the quest for excellence. This notion of preparation, craftsmanship and quality certainly translates to journalism. … Journalists regularly must make tough ethical calls, and it’s imperative that they have the sharpest tools. …”

Critical Thinking as a Tool in the Decision Process

Rushworth M. Kidder, How Good People Make Tough Choices: Resolving the Dilemmas of Ethical Living (New York: HarperCollins, 1995), 159.

Stephen Klaidman and Tom L. Beauchamp, The Virtuous Journalist (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987), 20.

Edmund B. Lambeth, Committed Journalism: An Ethic for the Profession (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1986), 152.

Barry Beyer, Critical Thinking (Bloomington, Ind.: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, 1995), 8-9.

Jill Geisler, “Critical thinking: What do you mean by that?”, poynteronline,April 26, 2005. The writer identifies the individual skills involved in critical thinking.

Applying a Step-by-Step Template

Bob Steele, “Ask these 10 questions to make good ethical decisions,” poynteronline, Feb. 29, 2000.

Sherry Baker, “Applying [Rushworth] Kidder’s ethical decision-making checklist to media ethics,” Journal of Mass Media Ethics, Vol. 12, No. 4, 197-210. “Contributions in Kidder’s approach include his dichotomy between ethical dilemmas and moral temptations, his tests for right-versus-wrong and right-versus-right issues, his framework by which to clarify values in ethical dilemmas, and his sequencing of the decision-making process.” (Academic databases)

Practicing Decision Skills in Case Studies

Deni Elliott, “All is not relative: Essential shared values of the press,” Journal of Mass Media Ethics 3:1 (1988), 28-32. (Academic databases)

Christina Hoff Sommers, “Teaching the virtues,” Public Interest, 111 (1993: Spring), 3-13.(Academic databases)

James Carey, introduction to Tom Rosenstiel and Amy S. Mitchell (Eds.), Thinking Clearly: Cases in Journalistic Decision-Making (New York: Columbia University Press, 2003), 1-5. A discussion of the case-study method.

Russell Frank, “The Sandusky scandal: PennState ethics students had a front-row seat,” Media Ethics Magazine, Spring 2012. A classic example of studying and debating journalism ethics in real time.

Case Study No. 4: Deciding Whether to Identify a CIA Agent

Scott Shane, “Inside a 9/11 mastermind’s interrogation,” The New York Times, June 22, 2008.

The New York Times, Editors’ Note, June 22, 2008.

Clark Hoyt, “Weighing the risk,” The New York Times, July 6, 2008.

Bob Steele, “When principles collide: The NYT and the CIA interrogator,” July 5, 2008.