Morals and the Media: Ethics in Canadian Journalism. 2nd ed.

M. Wayne Cunningham is a past executive director of the Saskatchewan
Arts Board and the former director of Academic and Career Programs at
East Kootenay Community College.

The second edition of former journalist and professor Nick Russell’s
Morals and the Media deals with both print and online journalism and
provides up-to-date examples of personalities such as Conrad Black,
headlines from newspapers like the Sunday Express, and news stories
involving sexist language and provocative photographs.

Although admittedly reluctant to impose his beliefs on others, Russell
is clear in his views of what he considers to be ethical breaches; he
cites several codes of ethics and includes three of these codes in the
appendixes. Over the course of the book’s 18 chapters, he discusses
such topics as the role of the media, freedom of the press, the
influence of money, what constitutes conflict of interest, the
phenomenon of pack and celebrity journalism, issues of news suppression,
the verification of news facts, breaches of privacy, and how to access
press councils and ombudspersons. Russell’s comprehensive study is
recommended for anyone interested in learning about the moral dilemmas
that journalists routinely encounter.