Abstract

This article attempts to provide empirical assessment of the nature and extent of ethical dilemmas confronted by librarians working in the news media. Sixty-eight librarians randomly selected from the membership of the News Division of the Special Libraries Association were surveyed to identify prevailing ethical attitudes, specific ethical problems, and the frequency with which those problems were encountered on the job. The study found a widespread concern about ethical issues among news librarians; 9 widely experienced ethical dilemmas; and although ethical challenges are experienced by a majority of news librarians, they are not encountered with great frequency and therefore a crisis situation is not perceived to exist. These findings raise serious issues for both journalism and library professionals.