ETHICS, INTEGRITY & IMPACT
We're deeply proud of the work we've done to foster vigorous debate and promote high standards in ethical journalism this past year. Sixteen years strong, our programs and our outreach have never been better. As journalism and the truth continues to come under attack, we stand firm in our advocacy for a free press and in advancing the cause of a more ethical journalistic practice. And we look forward to serving journalists, educators, students and news consumers for many years to come. - Director Kathleen Bartzen Culver
FOSTERING VIGOROUS DEBATE
POLITICO Politics Bureau Chief and Senior Political Columnist Jonathan Martin served as the 2024 journalist-in-residence for the Center for Journalism Ethics. In addition to meeting with students for one week, he participated in a public discussion titled “Under Pressure: Covering Election 2024” moderated by Marquette University Law School Senior Advisor in Law and Public Policy Mike Gousha.
Martin, co-author of “This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Fight for America’s Future,” discussed the 2024 Presidential Election, Wisconsin politics, ethical challenges of election reporting and more. Held at Memorial Union, the event was co-sponsored by UW–Madison's Elections Research Center and Office of Strategic Communication.
Our Student Fellows Program
Our student fellowship program welcomes exceptional UW–Madison students with a strong interest in creating a more ethical future for news media. Over the academic year, fellows work under the mentorship of our director, advisory board and administrator, to produce original reporting on the critical ethical issues of our time and to contribute to the life of the Center.
This year, five student fellows produced original reporting on current issues in media ethics, including such topics as reporting on immigration enforcement, FCC deregulation, news corrections, school shooting coverage and more.
My fellowship with the Center for Journalism Ethics deeply shaped my approach to reporting. Working with industry leaders showed me that ethics are not just part of good journalism — they are its very foundation. This experience gave me a lasting framework for responsible, compassionate reporting that serves the profession’s core values. - Student fellow Cat Carroll
Contributed Articles from Experts
This year we published three articles from experts who contributed original reporting on citizen journalism, attacks on the press and reporting on Arabic in English. Advisory board member and award-winning author Samuel G. Freedman served as editor for this series.
PROMOTING HIGH STANDARDS
The 2025 Anthony Shadid Award for Journalism Ethics went to a team of three Seattle Times reporters for their work showing the barriers that prevent young people from accessing treatment for opioid addiction in Washington state.
Hannah Furfaro, Lauren Frohne and Ivy Ceballo uncovered how systems are failing teens in Washington, a state in which emergency responses to youth overdoses have quadrupled since 2019. For this work, the team built relationships with vulnerable teenagers while taking painstaking steps to ensure they weren’t further endangering the teens’ safety. The result is a compelling series that shows the heartbreaking impacts of flawed policy making and foregrounds the crucial voices of those most affected by this crisis.
The Shadid Award judging committee lauded the extraordinary care The Seattle Times team demonstrated in carrying out their investigation. Kathryn McGarr, associate professor in the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication and chair of the committee, said this year’s winning entry was part of an exceptionally strong slate of entrants.
“The painstaking care that Ceballo, Furfaro and Frohne took with their piece exemplifies such excellent work in ethical decision-making throughout a long process,” McGarr said. “They made difficult choices along the way, ultimately presenting readers with nuanced portraits of their subjects and work that makes a difference to an underserved population.”
Furfaro, Frohne and Ceballo accepted the 2025 Anthony Shadid Award for Journalism at an award ceremony in Washington, DC. The night also featured a keynote conversation with the New Yorker's Jane Mayer conducted by David Maraniss.
Our First Storytelling Institute
In July 2024, the Center for Journalism Ethics launched the first annual Social Impact Storytelling Institute – a two-day pilot workshop aimed at promoting ethical storytelling and empowering high school juniors from first-generation, LGBTQIA+, and low-income communities.
The institute is designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of storytelling, ethical journalism, and media literacy through hands-on activities and mentorship. The pilot workshop took place on July 18-19, 2024, with a total of 10 participants, four PEOPLE Program Mentors, and three Center staff. We are expanding the program in 2025 and look forward to providing this meaningful experience for aspiring storytellers.
SHARING OUR EXPERTISE
Center Director Kathleen Bartzen Culver addressed media ethics in local and national news outlets, with interviews focused on everything from TikTok bans to the importance of explainers. Culver also served on the PBS Editorial Standards Review Committee and the Associated Press Standards Advisory Panel and continued to co-lead the Journalism Educators Institute.
SAVE THE DATE
September 26, 2025 on the UW–Madison campus.
Journalism Ethics in a Fracturing World will bring together news media professionals, non-profit news leaders, media innovators, academics, advocates, activists, students and the public to address the ethical dimensions of a media environment characterized by fragmentation, press attacks and disappearing and unreliable data. Free and open to the public.