Scenarios
Test your editorial awareness with our news scenarios, which are all based on real situations faced by journalists.
Scenario: Conflict of interests
In this scenario you are a political correspondent working for a national public service broadcaster. A lobbying company offers you a significant amount of money to train lobbyists in how to influence the media. What do you do?
Journalistic ethics – scenario
In this scenario a reporter feels ethically compromised after accepting hospitality from a developer who subsequently pressured them for favourable coverage.
Trespass and journalism – scenario
In this scenario we look at a situation where a journalist is faced with breaking the law in order to gather essential information for informing the public debate.
Emotional assumptions – scenario
In this scenario a journalist lets their own emotional assumptions colour their news judgement resulting in misinformation.
Photo journalism – scenario
In this scenario a reporter tells the newsdesk that she has a strong news story only to find that the facts were not as they seemed.
Returning favours – scenario
In this scenario a naive reporter's early success with a government minister leads to an ethical dilemma when a 'favour' is demanded in return.
Accuracy – scenario
In this scenario a reporter witnesses a mass walkout of workers from a factory affected by industrial action. The company claims it's business as usual; the union says all workers have downed tools.
Privacy protection – scenario
You are working on the online news desk of a large media organisation. News breaks of fighting overseas. Raw footage arrives showing identifiable dead bodies. What do you do?
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