#WorldPressFreedomMonth: Margaret Sullivan on Ethics and Transparency

What does press freedom mean to you? 

"On the subject of press freedom, it's very near and dear to my heart. You know, as a journalist who has been in the business for a long time, I've never been in a situation like the one we're in now. I mean, there have always been issues of press freedom and there have always been concerns.

Certainly, there were things in previous administrations, including the Obama administration, that worried me. But I think right now, globally and nationally, press freedom is under siege.

So how can Columbia Journalism School and how can the Newmark Center, you know, help with that? And also, we've got this other huge issue, which is that artificial intelligence has kind of come into the lives of journalists and journalism students and newsrooms.

So, there's a lot to think about and a lot to talk about. The ethics of AI in this moment are really important. And we've done some research in the Newmark Center to look at how newsrooms are dealing with AI and the thing that comes through, that’s sort of a through line with all of this stuff, is that the principles behind what we do at the journalism school and what we do as journalists are really the same. Honesty, transparency, getting it right and trying to do work that serves the public. But now we've got all these new things that complicate that and we see news organizations really under siege from the Trump administration, we see journalists who are worried about their own security in this moment and we see AI presenting both a lot of opportunities and exciting stuff and at the same time, a lot of opportunities to screw up and and fall."

What is it like working with CJS students during this time?

"One thing I find about working with the students here at Columbia Journalism School is that they are of a very high quality, and they are very thoughtful. And the ethical issues that they face are the same ones, very similar ones, to ones that are faced in the workplace every day by professional journalists.

And they, too, are dealing with all of these issues about ethics, about security, about how to use AI or not use it, how to be transparent. And so it's been great for me to have a contact with students who are maybe I've taught in an ethics class, but kind of remember that they might be able to come and chat with me about an issue that they're going through right now in their reporting, and that's happened a lot.

Sometimes I feel like I'm running a little ethics hotline for students, but I'm always really happy to do it, and I find it extremely interesting and very fulfilling to talk with them about their challenges. And one thing that I find is that there's no perfect answer. I mean, there's a perfect answer of being honest and being transparent, but a lot of times with these issues, there's nothing there's no manual for how to deal with that.

And you kind of have to work through it in a way that feels right and is defensible and reflects our values."

What is the Newmark Center’s role in today’s media environment?

"When I first came to the Newmark Center, the name of it is the Craig Newmark Center for Journalism Ethics and Security. And I kept thinking, well, that's sort of an odd fit. They don't really seem to go together, ethics and security, but it turns out that they really do. In this moment, we are dealing with a lot of issues around journalism, security, both cybersecurity and physical security, and there are ethical issues that accompany those.

And it's very hard to separate them. In fact, it's better to look at them in some kind of global and holistic way. I hope that the research and the trainings that we've done, helping students figure out how to keep themselves and their sources safe at this moment, is something that we're really committed to."