The Society of Professional Journalists notes in its Journalistic Code of Ethics:

• Ethical journalism means taking responsibility for one's work and explaining one's decisions to the public.
• Ethical journalism strives to ensure the free exchange of information that is accurate, fair and thorough. An ethical journalist acts with integrity.
• Never deliberately distort facts or context...

1. Define:

• ethics
• impartiality
• credibility
• transparency
• integrity

2.  CBS has damaged the public's trust in their organization by violating all of the above journalistic standards in distorting VP Harris' answer.  Should viewers stop watching CBS? Why or why not?

3. Why do you think CBS tried to make Harris' answer look better than it was?

4. How can viewers be assured that Harris' answers to other questions were not altered as well?

5. CBS has so far refused to release the full transcript of Harris' interview with 60 Minutes. Why do you think this is so?

6. A Gallup Poll published this week found that fewer than 1 in 3 Americans trust the media to report the news fairly. The Gallup survey found that more U.S. adults have no trust at all in the media (36%) than trust it a great deal or fair amount; 33% of Americans express "not very much" confidence in the media. What can the media do to regain the public's trust?