This study, based on terror management theory from social psychology, examines how the thought of death affects journalism students' views toward relativism, idealism, and unethical journalistic behavior. College journalism students participated in an experiment where half were primed to think about death and the other half, the control group, thought about dental pain. Then, all of them completed a questionnaire measuring their attitudes toward ethics. Results showed that although those in the death group were no more fearful, they were less (...) relativistic and more strongly opposed to socially undesirable behavior by journalists, such as lying, publishing the names of rape victims, and reporting a public official's sexual affair. Implications for ethics research and journalists are discussed. (shrink)

A content analysis of 253 Great Ideas for Teachers (GIFTs) found that most of the 18 activities suitable for ethics courses relied on traditional methods of teaching, mainly discussions, teamwork, and case studies. Few used online technology, games, or simulations, compared with activities in other areas of journalism education. While most ethics ideas were designed to stimulate higher order learning, they were less likely than other GIFTs to incorporate varied elements that might improve student engagement. The authors make suggestions, based (...) on the education literature and GIFT analysis, for incorporating dynamic, interactive activities in ethics courses. (shrink)