Custodians of Conscience

by James S. Ettema, Theodore L. Glasser

This book is the culmination of more than a decade of research and writing on the nature of investigative journalism as a form of social and moral inquiry. Focusing on the work of a number of award-winning investigative reporters, James S. Ettema and Theodore L. Glasser punctuate their analysis of news and journalism with interviews with these writers and excerpts from their stories. Custodians of Conscience provides a powerful assessment and critique of the tensions and contradictions that characterize modern American journalism. It is a book that honors the rigor and importance of investigative journalism by showing how facts implicate values and by explaining why the future of news requires a deeper appreciation for the connection between human knowledge and human interest.

Genres: Journalism

288 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1998

Reviews

[Diana180]

Worthwhile study of investigative reporting, the labor-intensive kind that involves going through lots of records and interviewing people about things they don't want to talk about. The takeaway for me was how to justify investigations of activities or omissions that have not broken laws but still seem unethical: Put them in context, for example as deviations from normal behavior or as breaches of laws or standards that should exist because other states have them.