Much of the reporting on now-former CIA Director David Petraeus has been filled with factual detail. But a piece on the front page of the same day's Boston Globe, modeled another side of journalism -- the ugly practice of protecting anonymous cheap shots.

Hey there, folks, I'm speaking at the Poynter Journalism Ethics Symposium today. I gave my speech a little earlier, and this is what I talked about: ...

If journalism can't help save the world, then why in the world should the world care about saving journalism -- at least this kind of journalism? Prove that you are smart enough to be trusted with the shield of humanity that you say you deserve.

In 2011, the number of articles published by women in top thought-leader magazines was significantly less than the number of articles published by men.

January has not been a good month for media ombudsmen, as the in-house press analysts at our two leading newspapers have both come under attack for writing lazy, ill-considered commentaries that seemed to confirm the views of their most strident critics.

Politico's remarkably poor job of disclosing its own corporate conflicts has practical consequences. Most notably, it serves to send a message of intimidation to Hill staff.

Do you really welcome and enjoy the emotional, metaphorical or actual wounding and bleeding of a fellow human as tabloids claim you do?

Too many Western writers try to portray themselves as selfless, Mother Theresa-like figures who venture to an exotic and dangerous country to single-handedly save the natives.

Today's "journalists," like Matt Bai of the New York Times, see no difference between themselves and those they serve. Indeed, when they hear the term "political elites" -- they now see themselves in the mirror.

Imagine you are Walter Isaacson. You are the president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, "a nonpartisan educational and policy studies institute based...

Bill Sammon, Fox News' Washington managing editor, sent a memo "at the height of the health care reform debate" to his network's so-called journalists, directing them not to use the phrase "public option."

It is good that the New York Times has a "Public Editor" to keep an eye on the paper's ethics. But sometimes, it seems like valuable column space is wasted chastising Times staffers for minor missteps.

There's a very old fable of unknown origin that goes something like this... A scorpion comes upon a river and asks a friendly frog for a ride to the ...

There is no democracy, unless there is dissent and that dissent can be overtly expressed. It obfuscates one's mind to see how heads of states, democra...

ProPublica does true public service media, funded philanthropically and according to a strict code of ethics. The code is a really big deal; to me, it's a commitment to traditional journalism values.

The mainstream media, including the New York Times, played a pivotal role in ACORN's demise through shoddy, opportunistic journalism. But all have refused to acknowledge their role.

Towards the end of The Other, Ryszard Kapuściński credits Bronislaw Malinowski, a Polish social anthropologist, with the contestable maxim: "To judg...

Attorney General Jerry Brown's spokesman was unceremoniously "disappeared" from Brown's incipient campaign this week because of a lapse in judgment that, quite frankly, has been grossly overblown.

While I greatly mourn E&P's passing, I want to call attention to the splendor of its final years, when it died like a supernova, with a great burst of energy.