Scenarios

Test your editorial awareness with our news scenarios, which are all based on real situations faced by journalists.

Trespass and journalism – scenario

Scenarios

Withholding information – scenario

Scenarios

Legal threats – scenario

Public interest – scenario

Privacy protection – scenario

Right of reply – scenario

Scenario: Conflict of interests

Doorstepping – scenario

You are a local newspaper reporter sent out to doorstep a bereaved family but you lie to your news editor because you are reluctant to intrude on their grief.

Testing boundaries – scenario

In this scenario we look at a situation where an editor faces breaking protocol because of the strength of a story.

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?

Transparency and full disclosure – scenario

In this scenario a reporter embedded with the military and closely monitored in a war zone wanders off and discovers a story the army wouldn't want him to tell.

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.

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.

Journalistic ethics – scenario

In this scenario a reporter feels ethically compromised after accepting hospitality from a developer who subsequently pressured them for favourable coverage.