When high profile legal issues arise, the traditional media attempts a familiar balancing act, weighing ethical obligations of fairness, accuracy and objectivity against the necessity for timely and competitive reporting.
This mission, in itself, requires careful execution. But there is significantly more pressure in recent years, due to a voracious 24-hour news cycle, competition by new media entities that have high-tech speed and occasionally choose to remain unfettered by journalistic ethics, and challenging economic realities.
In Panel #1: The Role and Responsibility of Traditional Media, moderator Sara Beale, the Charles L. B. Lowndes Professor of Law at Duke University School of Law, talks with a panel of veteran reporters, journalism academics, and experts in the legal side of journalism. The far-ranging discussion covers the basic tenets of journalistic ethics, famous journalistic controversies, and the difficulties faced by print reporters who increasingly have to cover more ground with fewer resources.
"Reporters in the middle of a major breaking story, whether it is what might be considered traditionally newsworthy by journalistic standards or whether it's just Lindsay Lohan's latest brush with the law, can find themselves in a push/pull situation. The pressure to not miss something, to make sure that you have everything your competition has, is enormous."
- Sylvia Adcock