The School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has taken a new step to advance the study and practice of journalism ethics. It has established a chair in journalism ethics that I took up in August 2008. Thanks to a generous benefactor, I’ll be the first James E. Burgess Professor of Journalism Ethics. In addition to teaching and researching, I’ll also be the director of a new center for journalism ethics at the school of journalism.

The first major initiative by the center will be to stage a conference, “The Future of Ethical Journalism,” on April 29-30, 2009. Members of the Ethics Division are encouraged to attend and participate in discussions around such topics as new economic models for good journalism, the future of investigative journalism and the ethics of online journalism. To register, email sjward2@wisc.edu

The development of the chair and the center has long-term implications for journalism ethics in a time when ethics has never been more important to the survival of responsible public journalism. I do not see the chair, and the center, as isolated entities. I see them as part of the larger domain of journalism ethics and of ethics at large. My intention is not only to integrate ethics into the curriculum of the Wisconsin school of journalism but to seek links with other centers and university departments. I hope to develop links with other ethicists in the United States, and beyond. In an age of rapid and disorientating change in journalism, all people concerned with media ethics – whether they are journalists, professors, or members of the public – need to continue to build stronger and more effective associations and mechanisms for responsible journalism. I hope the new center will exhibit the following general features.  

First, the center should be of value for working journalists, many of whom practice their craft under difficult circumstances. The center needs to stimulate discussion, reflection and action on key issues in journalism. The methods for such discussion include conferences and workshops, in a variety of inventive formats, which engage journalists that use all forms of media. Discussions should be available to a wide public, and there should be ways to follow up on ideas as they arise out of dialogue.

Second, these discussions should be informed by leading-edge research on the state of journalism and on ethical issues. The Wisconsin School of Journalism and Mass Communication has a faculty and student body committed to top-notch analysis of journalism today. These studies, grounded in the pressing issues of practice, will make theory relevant and advance the discipline of journalism ethics and journalism studies.

Third, the chair and centre should involve students at many levels in its activities so that a new generation of scholars and critical, knowledge-based journalists can continue this important work into the future.

Fourth, and finally, the centre and the ethics chair should address the challenges presented by a news media that is increasingly interactive and global in impact. Both research and practical discussions need to situate themselves within this evolving economic, technical and social media environment. The center, for example, can help journalists understand how the ‘new media’ can be used in the service of quality journalism for a democratic public. In addition, the center should be open to the world - aware of developments in journalism beyond the borders of the United States.

These are only a few of the ideas that the new centre for journalism ethics will implement in the months to come. In defining the center’s mandate, I will work with the members of the Media Ethics division of the AEJMC, as colleagues united in the quest for better journalism and a better world.

Stephen J. A. Ward is the James E. Burgess Professor of Journalism Ethics and Director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison