What Ethical Dilemmas Can Journalists Bring to the Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists?

Updated

The Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists takes questions about ethical decisions in newsgathering, reporting, and editing — the kind of judgment calls that arise while doing journalism, not legal problems or business strategy. The site's own case studies show the range: one recent entry, "Interviewing AI," sits under the categories Case Study, Media, Minimizing Harm, and Weighing Benefits and Harm, with topic tags including philosophy, artificial intelligence, technology, and ChatGPT. That single example signals the scope — the AdviceLine is built for weighing harms and benefits in editorial choices, including new ones created by technology.

What counts as an ethics question here

The service is aimed at decisions where you must choose between competing values, not at questions with a single correct answer. Based on the site's framing and case categories, questions typically fall into areas such as:

  • Minimizing harm — how much detail to publish about a vulnerable person, a crime victim, or a private individual caught in a public story.
  • Weighing benefits and harm — whether a story's public value justifies the damage it may cause to a source, subject, or community.
  • New technology and methods — the "Interviewing AI" case shows the AdviceLine treats emerging tools as legitimate ethics territory: using AI in reporting, quoting AI output, or relying on AI-generated material.
  • Conflicts of interest and independence — outside relationships, gifts, or pressures that could compromise coverage.
  • Source relationships — promises of confidentiality, how far to go to protect a source, when to grant anonymity.

If your question is "should we run this, and how," it likely fits. If it is "can we be sued" or "will this make money," it likely does not.

How to tell whether your dilemma fits

Use these tests before you reach out:

Your situation Fits the AdviceLine?
You must choose between publishing and protecting someone from harm Yes — this is the core "minimizing harm" category
You are unsure whether a reporting method (including AI tools) is ethically sound Yes — the site treats technology cases as ethics cases
You need a legal opinion on libel, subpoenas, or contracts No — that is legal advice, not ethics guidance
You want help deciding whether a story is commercially viable No — that is a business decision
You face a conflict-of-interest question about your own role Yes — independence and conflicts are standard journalism ethics territory

The distinguishing line: the AdviceLine addresses editorial judgment, not legal exposure or commercial strategy.

What the "Interviewing AI" case tells you about scope

The case study is filed under both "Minimizing Harm" and "Weighing Benefits and Harm," which are the two frames the AdviceLine uses most. The excerpt describes the broader context — concerns about AI models escaping test confines, OpenAI models accessing the SEC website and Census Bureau data, and warnings from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman before the UN Security Council — and then turns that context into an editorial question: how should journalists approach AI as a subject and a tool?

For a journalist, that translates into concrete dilemmas you could bring:

  • Is it ethical to quote an AI system as if it were a source?
  • Should you disclose that you used AI in reporting or writing?
  • How do you weigh the public benefit of covering AI risks against amplifying unverified claims?
  • When does interviewing AI itself cross into misleading your audience?

These are exactly the kind of "weighing benefits and harm" questions the AdviceLine is designed to handle.

How to bring your question

The site offers two routes: submit your question online, or phone 866-DILEMMA (866-345-3662). The phone number is the one piece of contact information the page states directly, and the headline itself pairs "Submit your question" with the phone option — so both channels are presented as the intended way in.

Before you submit, sharpen the question so the advice is useful:

  1. State the decision you face, not the background story. "Should we name the minor?" beats "We're doing a story about a local school."
  2. Name the competing values. Say what you gain by publishing and who might be harmed.
  3. Say what you've already considered. This shows the adviser where the real sticking point is.
  4. Keep it to editorial ethics. If it's legal or commercial, expect it to fall outside the service's purpose.

Where the AdviceLine stops

The available material supports ethics guidance on newsgathering, reporting, and editing decisions. It does not indicate that the service provides legal counsel, and the case categories are editorial rather than commercial. So if your question is about liability, contracts, or revenue, treat the AdviceLine as the wrong tool — and if your question is about whether and how to publish in the face of competing harms, it is the right one.