Kim Walsh-Childers, Ph.D., Ethics in Publishing
Dr. Kim Walsh-Childers has taught at the University of Florida since August 1990. Her primary teaching areas are journalism/mass media ethics, and a graduate seminar in mass media and health. Her research focuses on news coverage of health issues, mass media effects on individual health and health policy, and the relationship between mass media content and adolescent sexual beliefs and behavior. Her work has been published in Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Newspaper Research Journal, Communication Research, Pediatrics, AIDS Education and Prevention, and the Journal of Adolescent Health Care. Walsh-Childers earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia and completed her master’s degree in journalism and doctorate in mass communication research at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
She presented a session on “Why Publishers Should Have a Code of Ethics” at the 2016 AHP “May the Horse Be with You” Seminar in Orlando, Florida.
Her advice to publishers:
Few discoveries are as frustrating as the realization that you’ve published plagiarized material. Learn to spot plagiarism before it’s published. But more importantly, learn how developing your own code of ethics can help your staff, interns and freelancers produce ethically solid content. Work with your writers, marketing and sales staff to make sure native advertising/sponsored content adheres to high ethical standards to protect your publication’s credibility.