Ethics

I must say, Michael Reupke is quite right to be “surprised, even shocked” at the idea of a mandatory ethics course for editorial [Ethics]. But almost more surprising is that this online course lasts no more than 10 minutes [Mandatory ethics training ordered for Reuters staff].

I had to read it several times to make sure I hadn’t missed something and then came to the conclusion the Monty Python team could also probably write an excellent script for a 10 minute ethics course. But then perhaps the idea is not really to ensure that editorial staff are aware of the issues involved (which they should be anyway) but rather to be able to show lawyers and courts that Thomson Reuters has set a system which could be used as a possible defence if needs be. ■