Transcript
BOB GARFIELD: A few weeks ago Loyola University in Chicago began to offer a service called the Ethics Advice Line. With a simple telephone call a journalist struggling with an ethical dilemma can be helped in a hurry!
BROOKE GLADSTONE:That's all very well and good -- by which I of course mean it's neither well nor good. The Ethics Advice Line faces a few obstacles. Foremost, what journalist is going to outsource a decision that could break a career? And even if you would, how would you know the service exists? Which is why we at On the Media offer our humble contribution to the advancement of ethics in journalism, the On the Media Ethics Hotline. [JAZZY MUSIC UP AND UNDER]
MAN: I was confused! I needed direction!
SEXY WOMAN'S VOICE: The Ethics Hotline.
MAN: I didn't know who to source; I didn't know when to footnote; and I didn't know where to turn.
SEXY WOMAN'S VOICE: The Ethics Hotline.
MAN: Then I called The Ethics Hotline.
UPSTANDING MAN VOICE: Don't trust those other so-called ethicists. The ethics hotline has ethics experts standing by 24 hours a day to help you with all your ethical needs.
DESPERATE MAN'S VOICE: Hello? Ethics Hotline? I've been a very--naughty journalist. I have the urge to-- blow this story all out of proportion.
SEXY WOMAN'S VOICE: Sorry. We're not that kind of hotline.
WOMAN: Hello? Ethics Hot Line? I picked up a murder plot on my baby monitor. Can I report it?
SEXY WOMAN'S VOICE: Ethics Hotline can help.
WOMAN: I have evidence that exonerates Puffy Combs, but I hate his music! What should I do?!
SEXY WOMAN'S VOICE: Ethics Hotline can Help.
WEIRD MAN'S VOICE: Hello Ethics Hotline. I have plagiarized the Bible. Am I going to hell?!
SEXY WOMAN'S VOICE: Yes.
MAN: Thanks, Ethics Hotline.
DESPERATE MAN: Thanks Ethics Hotline.
MAN: Thanks, Ethics Hotline!
WOMAN: Thanks, Ethics Hotline.
WEIRD MAN: Damn you, Hotline! I'm taking you down with me!
ANNOUNCER: Ethics Hotline. Five dollars the first minute; 99 cents each additional minute. Some Boston Globe columnists may qualify for bulk discounts.
