Solidarity in American journalism is a longstanding yet seldom discussed ideal, Assistant Director for Journalism & Media Ethics Anita Varma argues in her doctoral dissertation titled Solidarity in Action: A Case Study of Journalistic Humanizing Techniques in the San Francisco Homeless Project. On August 8, 2019, Varma received the first inaugural Penn State Davis Ethics award for this work at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) annual conference in Toronto.
Varma presented a 15-minute version of her dissertation as part of a session called “Humanism and Moral Reasoning in Media Ethics.” David Craig of the University of Oklahoma served as the session respondent, and praised her work for contributing “a clarification of terms in media ethics, particularly communitarian ethics.”
Varma, who joined the Ethics Center in June 2018, received her PhD in 2018 at Stanford University, where she was advised by Professor Emeritus, Department of Communication, Ted Glasser. This fall, she will deliver a guest lecture at the Bellisario College of Communications, Penn State University.
Also representing the Ethics Center at the conference were Managing Director Thor Wasbotten and Executive Director Don Heider. Wasbotten was moderator and panelist in a number of sessions, including one on pathways to academic leadership.