Commit journalism’s biggest sin and get paid

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Our community got pretty riled up over an SPJ contest last week.

SIN: Spread Immoral News asked student journalists to egregiously violate journalistic ethics: “Make up stuff entirely. The wilder the better. But run the SPJ Code of Ethics with a letter from the editor explaining what you’re doing.”

The best execution of this ethics explainer will win $500 (entries closed last week).

Just for fun, run this by your students and get their opinion: Is this a great exercise designed to prove to audiences just how bad information would be without journalistic ethics, or a credibility-killing failed experiment?

FYI

Here’s a meaty look at the important work being done by the Center for Community News at the University of Vermont: Students on the Beat | A growing movement of news-academic partnerships aims to fill local coverage gaps (Local News Initiative, Northwestern)

Two student media organizations recently went public with their struggles for financial survival: The Guardian at UC-San Diego, and The Observer at Central Washington. The Guardian turned to student fees for funding, asking their peers to pay $3.50 per quarter to keep them in business. That measure passed with 73% approval. I’ve reached out to The Observer to see how our community can help, so stay tuned.

Efforts to Halt Student Deportations Risk Trump Retaliation (Inside Higher Ed)

It was good to see this get the national press attention it deserved: Journalism Advisory Organizations Issue Rare Alert to Student News Outlets (Nieman Reports)

Exclusive: How the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg got added to the White House Signal group chat (The Guardian)

Whew, for now. AP wins reinstatement to White House events after judge rules government can’t bar its journalists (Associated Press)

And heck, a little more good news! A win for press freedom: Judge dismisses Gov. Phil Bryant’s lawsuit against Mississippi Today (Mississippi Today)

A Few Hours In the Life of a Financial TV Anchor During a Market Meltdown (Hollywood Reporter)

C’mon, Ivies — I want to see you localize this: A League of Their Own | A cottage industry has sprung up at Harvard, Penn, and other Ivy League colleges, providing nepo babies and children of the ultra-wealthy a luxury alternative to campus living (Air Mail)

The National Magazine Awards were announced last week. You can read the full list here. For your students who love to write and get inspired by Big Feature Stories, share these winners:

• The Deserter (Sarah A. Topol, The New York Times Magazine)

• Coming to America (Rhana Natour, Atavist) 

• The Last Thing My Mother Wanted | Healthy at age 74, she decided there was nothing on earth still keeping her here, not even us. (Evelyn Jouvenet, The Cut/New York)

I’m going to briefly talk (God how I hate this) about ways to support this newsletter and my work.

1. I created a customizable reimbursement request you can use to ask your department head or purse-string-holder to pay you back once you subscribe to my newsletter.

2. You can hire me to fulfill grant deliverables, train your students, help you plan curriculum, counsel you on bringing harmony to student media vs. departmental conflicts, or water your neglected office plants.

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Watch this

I want to flag two really inspiring and important pieces of broadcast journalism from last week. 

This is the part that feels a little like begging.