Yesterday, I posted an inventory of about 15 major journalism and media figures who have been accused of sexual harassment or abuse over the last year or two. I’ve spoken with a number of people about this list, and where it would fit in the ethics chapter of the next edition of Mass Communication: Living in a Media World. And to a degree, this is pretty simple. There is no ethical debate to be had here – this behavior is wrong, indefensible, and (in my mind) not open to debate.
But that doesn’t mean that that there aren’t plenty of legitimate ethics issues raised by these cases. For example – How do media organizations go about covering the scandals that affect their owners.
Last night Rachel Maddow had a fascinating interview with NBC News correspondent Stephanie Gosk on he she’s gone about covering the NBC Today Show host Matt Lauer story for NBC:
(Note: Having trouble getting this video to load, but link above should work.)
More on this topic as I have time.