Introduction

American society and democracy have long been beset by three fundamental threats to the nation’s future: climate change, racial inequity and economic disparity. In 2020, those threats were highlighted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the ensuing recession and the explosive racial furor ignited first by the police killing of George Floyd. Ethical journalism may be under attack and mistrusted by much of our divided population, but it still is the principal provider of verifiable facts—as opposed to unsupported emotion or malicious propaganda—to voting-age Americans. An embrace of the ethics of care can provide a moral, philosophical underpinning for journalists to initiate greater, continuing, persistent but still truthful and factual coverage and commentary on the climate and racial and economic ills that beset us. Ethical journalism has the potential influence to persuade the public that vigorous government action is mandatory to alleviate the systemic threats.