Ethics Aren't Automatic

An article recently published in the New York Times says one more time what we all thought might be true: "Doing the Ethical Thing May Be Right, but It Isn’t Automatic."

"As much as we would like to think that, put on the spot, we would do the right — and perhaps even heroic — thing, research has shown that that usually isn’t true, " the article says. The writing doesn't directly refrenece journalism, but by now we all know the inherent links between ethics and journalism, and can infer that these statements can also apply to our everyday journalistic quandries: to publish or not to publish? to give up the source or not? do we ask for that last detail, or leave it out?