ABSTRACT
□One recent change in the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics emphasizes that journalists should consider minimizing harm to society. This emphasis follows more than a decade of thinking by educators who have called for teaching journalism students moral philosophy and moral reasoning decision making models—models that generally examine potential harm that surrounds newsroom decisions. This study, a quasi-experiment, examines pretest and posttest results of 210 students in 9 sections of a mass media ethics class taught over 6 different semesters. After taking the course, which emphasized moral reasoning, students were more likely to make decisions that minimized harm, while gaining certainty in their answers. Differences between news-editorial and public relations students are noted. Essays written by the students support the finding that education in moral reasoning can be effective in the development of student journalists and their sense of responsibility to society.
