SPJ: Phoenix, Arizona Chapter

Image by Yvette W. from Pixabay

The ethics of secretly recorded videos of four ASU faculty and staff members discussing diversity, equity and inclusion at the university were questioned by SPJ Ethics Committee Chair Dan Axelrod, who described Accuracy in Media’s videos as “not journalism,” according to a report in the campus newspaper, State Press.

AIM has posted the videos, which have brought federal complaints from a conservative organization, the State Press reported March 5.

Saying the conversations were likely legally recorded as Arizona law allows only one-party to a  conversation to be aware it is being recorded, whether they were ethical is a different matter, the State Press quoted Axelrod as saying.

The rules of journalism ethics do not apply to the videos because “they’re not journalism,” Axelrod said in a statement. “To call those videos ‘journalism’ would be like mistaking Mickey Mouse for an actual mouse or fresh-squeezed juice for Hi-C fruit punch.” 

The campus newspaper quoted Axelrod as saying ethical journalism does not involve “deceiving, decontextualizing, entrapping, embarrassing and even, in some cases, intentionally harming those being covered to meet a predetermined objective or to support a particular view.”

Various federal courts have blocked and upheld the Trump Administration’s threat of withholding federal funding from colleges and universities with DEI policies. In January, the Department of Education dropped its appeal of one such ruling against the administration, The Associated Press reported Jan. 21.

Inside Higher Ed reported Feb. 26 that “recent statements and actions from the Trump administration suggest the effort to end all diversity, equity and inclusion programs is far from over. And other legal experts with more separation from the court cases warn that (the Education Department) and other federal agencies still have a variety of other tools to use in the DEI crackdown.”

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