Unethical Newsroom Behavior
Paradoxes and a Perfect Storm
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12909718 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Minette E Drumwright (The University of Texas at Austin, corresponding author), Peggy Cunningham (0000-0002-2160-5944, Dalhousie University) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 963-983 |
| Publication date | 2020-09-29 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journalism Practice (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1751-2786 • E-ISSN: 1751-2794 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17512786.2020.1825114 |
| OpenAlex | W3091196009 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 36 |
Unethical behavior in newsrooms has come to public attention, and despite the glare of publicity, it persists. This research examines the question of why newsrooms provide a context conducive to persistent unethical workplace behaviors. We conducted 25 in-depth interviews with reporters, editors, anchors, producers, and news executives. Sexual harassment has been in the public eye, but our informants also described other unethical workplace behaviors such as bullying, discrimination, and incivility. Behavioral ethics emerged as a theoretical lens to help interpret our data. Five explanatory themes arose: 1) conceiving of work solely as creating journalistic content; 2) toxic rituals, rites of passage, and norms; 3) high power differentials and acquiescent behavior; 4) ineffective organizational mechanisms; and 5) a disruptive industry context. Networks of complicity enabled the bad behavior, and together with the themes, created a perfect storm that permitted unethical behavior to persist. Two paradoxes resulted: 1) the ethics paradox in which journalists had high ethical sensitivity in reporting but were blind to unethical behavior within newsrooms and 2) the power paradox in which journalists experienced role conflict caused by the need for initiative, courage, independence, and resistance to intimidation in reporting versus the dependence, obedience, and acquiescence required within newsrooms
Acquiescence · Context (archaeology · Cynicism · Harassment · Incivility · Intimidation · Obedience · Political science · Power (physics · Public relations · Sociology · Ethics in Business and Education · Law · Psychology · Sexual Assault and Victimization Studies · Social Psychology · Workplace Violence and Bullying
Blind Spots
The Long Interview
Behavioral Ethics in Organizations
A Contingency Framework for Understanding Ethical Decision Making in Marketing
Citizenship and Counterproductive Work Behavior
Managing Ethics and Legal Compliance
Elite and specialized interviewing.
The American Journalist in the Digital Age
Losing Their “Mojo”
The Future of Journalism Practice
From Jerusalem to Jericho
The Newspeople
Institutional Disconnects as Obstacles to Diversity in Journalism in the United States
Journalistic Responses to Technological Innovation in Newsrooms
Management and resistance in the digital newsroom
Society of Newspaper Editors
Networks of complicity
Introspection in Consumer Research
Ethical Fading
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |