Journalism - ethics and independence

A TV channel is breaking news about the death of a celebrity they work with. They do not name sources. What do you do?

• Write it right away!

• We don't care about celebs. No news

• Try to get confirmation from an independent source

You are allowed to take valuable gifts that you received from firms or organisations

• True

• False

A sports club is offering you free gym use because of an article you wrote about them. Do you...?

• ...take the gift and go to the gym

• ...refuse politely

• ...ask for another free pass

• ...report the club for bribery

You are next to the Olympic village and go on Tinder. You see a lot of famous athletes. What do you do?

• You write an article with the names included

• You try to pick someone up and write an article

• You try to pick someone up, take screenshots and write an article

• You give a wide pass, or turn to the law department before you write

A company offers you free transportation on their plane to cover an event. What do you do?

• Accept it and fly

• Only accept if there's no other way to reach the destination. But pay

• Refuse the offer

• Accept it and ask for catering as well

You can make news from a private post on social media without permission, if you're friends with a famous person

• True

• False

Another publication is shamelessly copy-pasting your article. You...

• Pick up the phone, call them and tell them what you think

• Do nothing

• Find their "journalist" and settle the score

• Alert your editor-in-chief and law department

You get an anonymous mail, stating that there's a virus breakout at a local hospital, killing people. What do you do?

• Do nothing. We don't care about anonymous mails

• Try to get more information and more sources. Ask the hospital, too

• Write the article! Do not ask for an official comment from hospital

• Write the article. Ask the hospital for official comment

A friend contacts you. He's working for an energy company. He asks you to publish the new press release of theirs. You?

• Sure enough, he's my friend, we publish the press release

• Refuse straight away

• Try to confirm the information of the press release from an independent source

• Send him to the sales department. They can buy a PR article instead

A car is performing badly in a test that your website published. The company runs an ad campaign on your site & threatens to pull it. You?

• I delete the article about the test. Money is more important

• I do not delete the article, but I pull it from our main website

• An advertiser can't interfere with editorial content. It stays up!

• I call the company and tell them to get lost