Scenarios

In this scenario you are a parliamentary reporter being put under pressure to cover a story by a politician who says they did you a favour in the past.

This scenario looks at some of the issues that need to be considered when deciding whether a story is in the public interest.

What should a journalist do with off-the-record information? Should they agree to conditions on its use? Should they ignore any conditions and do the story anyway? Or should they use what they have been told as background information and dig further? Try our scenario and decide what you would do in the circumstances.

Try our journalistic ethics scenario and see what you would do if an earlier laps in editorial led to you feeling unable to cover a news story because of external pressures.

Journalists often come under pressure with threats of legal action if they don't publish or broadcast what others want. In this scenario we look at a scenario where a reporter is sent a cease and desist letter and told legal action will be taken against them if they don't add 'positive-spin' to an article.

In this scenario we discuss whether it is every justified for a journalist to trespass in order to gather information that helps the audience better understand the issue being covered.

Scenario: You arrive at a border crossing and see a child sitting by the roadside crying. You think it's been abandoned and take a picture. You alert the newsdesk. But it transpires it's just lost its mother and stops crying when the mother arrives. What should you do?

You are about to publish an article about a local business which is offering a service for a paid-for subscription. Before you publish you are informed that a similar service is being offered by a community project which is totally free-of-charge. What do you do?