What student journalists learn from being 'as unethical as possible'
SPJ’s parody news contest pushes student journalists to break every rule and reflect why those rules matter
A contest criticized as “out of line,” “shockingly bad idea” and “so aloof to what’s happening in our profession at this moment” taught some student journalists the importance of ethics and the need to be transparent with their readers.
The “Spread Immortal News” competition, dubbed as “SIN,” asked college journalists to create a parody issue while “striving to be as unethical as possible” by violating the entire Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics to win $500 in cash. Students also had to explain which rules they broke.
The SPJ Ethics Committee ran the contest as part of its ethics week. Out of seven entries, The Arkansas Traveler, OutFAU and The Eastern Echo won first, second and third place, respectively.
Despite the group funding a similar competition nationwide 12 years ago with no pushback, journalists and educators quickly criticized the contest this time, citing the government’s anti-press sentiment and the public’s eroding media trust.
“This has got to be one of the most stupid ideas that SPJ has ever come up with,” wrote a Utah journalism professor. “In an era where the press is under attack, why would any legitimate J-school of college student news organization get involved in this?”
“In this climate, why are we encouraging students to take time out of their day away from real journalism to create fabrication of lies and violations of our precious code of ethics?” a Kentucky student editor asked. “This is so concerning. This is a poor excuse to relate to students. Do better.”
Michael Koretzky, SPJ’s ethics chair, told The Nutgraf the contest was meant to teach student journalists and their readers that most news media are ethical — “so ethical, it’s invisible.”
The parody issue was designed to show what an unethical paper might look like.
“In the past, they’ve learned that it’s really freaking hard to be totally unethical,” Koretzky said. “No SIN edition has ever violated every part of the Code — because being totally unethical is as hard as being totally ethical.”
What students say
The Nutgraf checked in with the three finalists to see why they participated, how they approached creating unethical stories and what they learned.
For the winning newspaper, Arkansas Traveler Editor-in-Chief Jenny Weyforth said the project was an opportunity to better understand the ethics code through pitching stories in what she described as a “low-stakes workshop.”
They ran a front page with a “bombshell” about the Walton Family Foundation’s plan to purchase TikTok, citing a press release from The Onion. The story included student reactions, anonymously sourced from Yik Yak.
Quoted in the story was a user who said, “THIS IS 100% REAL,” claiming their aunt, who works as a bagger at a local Walmart, said it was true.
At the end of each story, The Traveler explained which SPJ codes it broke. For this story, they cited failures to verify information, use original sources, respond to accuracy concerns and distinguish news from advertising, among other violations.
The newspaper won first place by earning 68.5% of 146 votes.
“This was a rare opportunity to understand the true line between unethical and truly illegal, considering we usually stay far away from that line,” Weyforth said.
She added that having to show the rules they broke allowed them to pull back the curtain on the work they do — work readers might not always see — and that transparency is essential for building trust with the campus community.
“We’re proud of the issue we made and it was a great ethical exercise, so I think the Traveler Tomato should definitely become an annual project,” she said.
Ameera Salman, editor-in-chief of The Echo at Eastern Michigan University, said the entire team was on board when they learned about the contest just one day before the submission deadline, calling the idea “a hit.”
“One of the biggest reasons I wanted to do this was to show just how important journalism is when it's done right,” Salman said.
The newspaper featured headlines like: “Bigfoot to stand trial at EMU,” “Swoop (the university’s mascot) faces Supreme Court trial” and “Enjoying the start of spring? Think again!”
Salman said she received a lot of feedback, both good and bad. Some of the criticism, she said, came from people who didn’t take a close enough look or understand the reasoning behind the issue. The experience solidified the importance of ethics in journalism, she said.
“It also taught me just how much some of our audience doesn’t know about our mission and our ethics,” she added. “There’s so much negativity about journalism and the media — some of which warranted — but I hope that issues like this give people insight into what we are trying to accomplish.”
Another finalist, LGBTQ-focused publication OutFAU, didn’t respond to a request for comment. But the newspaper encouraged readers to hunt down “each and every” ethical violation in the issue for a chance to win the honorary “OutFAU Reader’s Award.”
“The idea behind the SIN issue is to let our imaginations run wild, crafting outlandish, completely fictional stories — all in the spirit of fun and creativity,” CJ Walden, executive editor, wrote in the issue. “The staff and I had an absolute blast putting together these wild tales.”
Koretzky, who also advises OutFAU, reiterated that it’s “hard as hell” to violate the entire ethics code and that it’s easier for journalists to do the work ethically.
Responding to the backlash, Koretzky said: “Journalists who condemn a program before they ask questions? They’re as hypocritical as doctors who smoke and financial advisers who gamble. People hate journalists because they’re humorless hypocrites who take themselves way too seriously.”
💬 I want to hear from you! What’s one ethical line in journalism you think is most important never to cross and why? Email me at nutgrafnews@gmail.com.
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