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The Kicker

Margaret Sullivan Takes a New Look at Journalism Ethics

The Columbia professor talks about her new series about how the challenges facing journalists have evolved with the times.

October 23, 2025
Original illustration by Ariel Davis / Colorized for The Kicker

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This summer, Margaret Sullivan, the executive director of the Craig Newmark Center for Journalism Ethics and Security at Columbia Journalism School, and her colleague Julie Gerstein published a series of essays in CJR exploring what a new generation of journalism ethics might look like, as the media industry evolves. 

“It is conventional wisdom among journalists that while the world around us changes, our ethics do not,” Sullivan wrote, in her introduction to the project. “Yet a fresh look at our standards and practices seems a worthwhile pursuit at this moment.”

Sullivan joins The Kicker to talk about what it means for journalism ethics to evolve with the times—and how she views critical questions around transparency, media bias, and whether the public editor role might make its return.

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Josh Hersh is a senior editor at CJR. He was previously a correspondent and senior producer at Vice News, and spent several years as a reporter based in the Middle East.

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