• Wednesday evening, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Clarence Page lectured on media ethics to students and faculty in the Alumni Memorial Union.
• Issues of public versus private interest, undercover journalism, culture clashes and the underlining influence of new technology were the main ethical topics Page discussed in his lecture.
• Admitting mistakes, apologizing for them and holding yourself to the same standards you hold others to were the final ethical considerations Page addressed in his discussion of media ethics.

Clarence Page, a Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist from the Chicago Tribune, spoke to the Marquette community about media ethics in the Alumni Memorial Union yesterday afternoon.

Just before Page delivered the College of Communication Burleigh Media Ethics Lecture, William Thorn, the chair of the department of journalism, introduced the award-winning journalist to about 100 people in attendance.

"He doesn't know it, but he's been a part of my breakfast ritual for some time now," Thorn said of Page's columns in the Tribune. "I don't always agree with him, but his columns are always well-written."

Page entitled his lecture, "Media Ethics is Not a Contradiction."

"Many people consider the term 'media ethics' to be an oxymoron — like 'jumbo shrimp' or even 'cheerleader scholarship,' " Page said. "But it's a daily reality in a business made up of daily judgment calls."

According to Page, media ethics can be broken down to two levels. The first level consists of practices that are clearly either right or wrong, such as plagiarism or falsifying stories.

But he said the second level isn't always so black and white.

"What do you do when you think that you know what is best for others, even when others don't know what is best for themselves?" Page said.

Issues of public versus private interest, undercover journalism, culture clashes and the underlining influence of new technology are the main areas of second level media ethics Page addressed in his lecture.

"Media ethics change with the times," he said.

Page said that he, as well as many of his colleagues, thought the Chicago Sun-Times had a Pulitzer Prize all but locked up for the undercover reporting the paper did in the 1970s on political corruption in the city. But when Benjamin Bradlee, the former executive editor of the Washington Post, said it was unethical for reporters to misrepresent themselves, undercover journalism quickly faded away in the mainstream media — along with any Pulitzer Prize hopes the Sun-Times had for its undercover work.

"Today we also have a lot of problems with culture clashes," Page said.

Extreme media censorship in countries like China, violence resulting from the printing of religious figures in newspapers' cartoons in different countries and even domestic disputes between the liberal and conservative media in the U.S. are some of the culture clashes Page said affect media ethics.

But Page also said he gives FOX News credit just for breaking out of the pack.

"They've found a niche that works for them. Bill O'Reilly has been competing with and beating Larry King in TV ratings," Page said. "They report the news in a way to attract different viewers, without distorting the information."

David Thome, a journalism lecturer in the College of Communication, said it was nice to see that Page is an open-minded professional.

"I liked a lot of the comments he made, specifically on FOX News," Thome said. "He was much more tolerant and open than I was expecting."

Distinguishing the difference between efficacy and news reporting is extremely important for an ethical journalist, Page said.

"Show good taste, but then again taste is in the eye or ear of the beholder," Page said. "Audiences these days expect some degree of edginess from reporters. The worst thing you can be, besides from being inaccurate, is to be dull."

"Admit your mistakes and apologize for them," Page said. "And always hold yourself to the same standards that you hold other people to."