View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Carolina Digital Repository “ACCURATE AS OF THE TIMESTAMP:” NEWSPAPER JOURNALISM ETHICS IN A TIME OF ECONOMIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE Michele Kathleen Jones A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Chapel Hill 2010 Approved by: Lois Boynton Penny Abernathy Anne Johnston Paul Jones Steve May © 2010 Michele Kathleen Jones ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT MICHELE JONES: “Accurate as of the Timestamp”: Newspaper Journalism Ethics in a Time of Economic and Technological Change (Under the direction of Lois Boynton) In the first decade of the 21st century, American newspaper organizations faced significant economic challenges and underwent great change as communication technology advanced. The purpose of this study was to examine the views of newspaper journalists regarding their professional ethical values, practices, and the changes their work environment has undergone. Using a Web survey and follow-up interviews, this research found that newspaper journalists adhere to ethical norms that align with a libertarian/social responsibility tradition. Journalists at smaller, community newspapers, however, incorporate elements of communitarian ethics in their views of the role of the newspaper organization in society. Results also identified several types of challenges that journalists faced in their work. Analysis revealed that the journalists employ several techniques in the ways they view these challenges that allow them to cope with and contextualize change while maintaining their existing ideas of ethical journalism. Theoretical and professional implications are discussed and directions for future research are identified. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Several truisms circulated among the graduate students in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication while I was privileged to be there. Among them was one that I thought of often as I worked on this dissertation: Graduate school is about jumping through a series of hoops; the closer you get to the end, the hoops get smaller and then people start lighting them on fire. The submission of this document is the final flaming hoop, and I would like to express my gratitude to those who helped me through the fires and nursed my burns at points along the way. First, I was blessed with the most patient and encouraging advisor and committee chair, Lois Boynton. She coached me through each chapter, half-formulated thought, and attack of insecurity I encountered and sweetened the process with cards, candy, and cat stories. Anne Johnston, Penny Abernathy, Paul Jones, and Steve May were invaluable members of my dissertation committee and provided fantastic support and perspectives from several areas of expertise. I am grateful to many other members of the j-school faculty and staff: Cindy Anderson, the oracle of all knowledge and keeper of the master key that let me back into my office several times a week when I locked myself out; Rhonda Gibson, who went to bat for PhD students as director of the program; Cathy Packer, who says things exactly as she sees them and made me an honorary law dawg; Ruth Walden and Michael Hoefges, who offered guidance and advice at numerous points. iv My return to graduate school was made possible through the generous Roy H. Park Fellowship provided by the Triad Foundation, and I wish to express my gratitude to the Park family for this gift and their continued support of graduate students. The friends I made in the friendly confines of Carroll Hall were my life raft for three years. My PhD cohort will go down in history as the least competitive (with each other) and undramatic group in grad school history, which continues to amaze and please me. Dozens of classmates and friends supported and entertained each other and helped warm the chairs at the department’s weekly happy hour. Most of all, though, I owe my sanity to my roommate Julia Crouse and friends Patrick O’Donnell, Joe Recomendes, Tiffany White, and Chris Higginbotham. Together we were the most unlikely group of people to coalesce into a six-headed monster of creative inappropriateness. For that, I will always love you guys – or at least pretend to. After all, you know too much. Finally, but most importantly, thank you to my family for being my home, no matter where we are. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………..……viii LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………...………………ix Chapter I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND……………………………1 II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE………………………………...………..8 Normative Theories of the Press………………………………....…….9 Theories of the Press in Professional Codes ……………………....….21 The Economics of Newspapers ………………………………………23 Digital Communities and Open-Source Culture………………...…....31 Conceptualizing Change in the Newspaper Industry ………...………38 Research Questions ...………………………………………...…..…..47 III. METHOD…………………………………………………...………..51 Quantitative Survey ………………………………………..………...53 Qualitative Interviews ………………………………………...……...60 Integrated Analysis ………………………………………………..…63 Limitations ...……………………………………………………..…..63 IV. SURVEY FINDINGS ………………………………………...……...67 Research Question 1: Purpose and Values ………………...………....72 Research Question 2: The Business of Journalism ………….……….98 vi Research Question 3: Ethical Implications of Digital Media ………116 V. INTERVIEW FINDINGS………………………………….………..121 Themes…………………………………………………………....…125 Research Questions: Putting Themes Together ……………...….….166 VI. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION………………………………173 Synthesizing the Findings - RQ1: Purpose and Values ………...…..173 Synthesizing the Findings - RQ2: The Business of Journalism.….....181 Synthesizing the Findings - RQ 3: Implications of Digital Media.....189 Discussion: Theoretical Implications ……………………………….193 Discussion: Professional Implications ……………………...………197 Limitations and Future Research ……………………………......….199 VII. APPENDICES ……………………………………………………...202 A. Emails to Respondents ………………………………………….202 B. Survey …………………………………………………………..204 C. Interview Guide ……………………………………….…...…...212 D. IRB Approval ……………………………………………...…...214 E. Informed Consent …………………………………….……...…216 VIII. REFERENCES……………………………………………….….….219 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Distribution and Response of Web Survey………………………….……56 2. Profile of Journalists Responding to Survey……………………….…….70 3. Journalists’ Professional Tenure……………………………………...…..71 4. Journalists’ Views on Functions of Journalism in Society………….……73 5. Correlations for Functions of Journalism...………………………….…...76 6. Purpose Codes and Themes…………………………………………..…..83 7. Journalists’ Views About Importance of Values……………….…….…..84 8. Journalists’ Choices of Most Important Values………………….….……84 9. Correlations For Ethical Values………………………………..…………87 10. Journalists’ Views on the Newspaper Industry………………….…..…..100 11. Correlations for Journalists’ Views on the Newspaper Industry ..……....101 12. Journalists’ Views About Their Own Newspapers………………...……104 13. Correlations for Journalists’ Views About Their Own Newspapers…....105 14. Journalists’ Views About Online Journalism………………………..….117 15. Correlations for Journalists’ Views About Online Journalism……….…119 16. Interview Analysis Steps And Results…………………………...…...…124 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. The Newspaper Industry, Pre-Internet………...………………….………39 2. The Newspaper Industry, Post-Internet………………...……….………..40 3. Ethical Dilemma Codes and Categories……………………...…….…….90 4. Future of Journalism Categories………………………….…..…………107 5. Relationship of Themes To Research Questions…………...…………...167 6. The Newspaper Industry, Pre-Internet……………………...….………..193 7. The Newspaper Industry, Post-Internet………………………….……...194 8. Revised Model Of The Newspaper Industry, Post-Internet….………....195 ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND In early 2009, the Los Angeles Times ran a front-page advertorial for NBC’s new prime-time series Southland. The piece was labeled as an advertisement, but included a narrative similar to a newspaper story as if a reporter had gone on a ride-along with one of the police officer characters (Pompilio, 2009). Front-page advertisements, which were rarely found in daily newspapers during most of the 20th Century, became more common in the last decade (Shaw, 2007). While critics argue that front-page ads signal a creeping of commercial interests into an area that had been reserved for news content (Morton, 2009), professional organizations indicate that a front-page ad is no less ethical than an ad in any other part of the newspaper (Pompilio, 2009; Schotz, 2009; Steele, 2009). Similarly, advertisements that resemble editorial content have been common in daily newspapers since the 1980s (Cameron & Ju-Pak, 2000). However, the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics (1996) calls for publications to "Distinguish news from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two.” The Times ad was labeled and offset with a thick border, but over 100 of the newspaper's journalists signed a petition that said, “Placing a fake news article on A-1 makes a mockery of our integrity and our journalistic standards” (Kafka, 2009). The compounded effect of a front-page ad and an advertorial crossed the journalists’ ethical line and sparked criticism from around the profession (Schotz, 2009; Steele, 2009). The paper’s publisher defended the move, citing difficult economic