SPJ uses grant to explore journalism ethics

USC's SPJ campus chapter was one of 13 chapters to receive monetary grants for Ethics in Journalism Week programming, April 21 through 25. The grant of $825 was given by the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation.

USC's program is titled “Act Independently.” For each day of Ethics in Journalism Week, the campus chapter has posted ethical scenarios in the Journalism School and asked students to weigh-in. The scenarios explore various dimension of journalistic independence (accepting freebies, cutting deals with sources, letting sources preview stories, etc). Participants are guided to the project blog – www.uscethicsweek2008.blogspot.com – where they can post their reactions and responses to the problem of the day.

Graduate student Garen Cansler created the artwork based on scenarios provided by chapter adviser Ernest Wiggins.