The 5 most ethical professions, according to Americans — and the 5 least ethical; Quartz, February 2, 2026

Ben Kesslen, Quartz ; The 5 most ethical professions, according to Americans — and the 5 least ethical

A new Gallup poll finds that Americans believe car salespeople are more honest and ethical than members of Congress

"Every year, Gallup polls Americans on the most and least ethical professionals, asking people how they regard everyone from doctors to teachers to police officers.

The findings often reflect what’s happening in the country. Gallup said doctors and nurses scored all-time high ratings during the pandemic. Both have since fallen a little. Meanwhile, the poll's results show that Americans believe car salespeople are more honest and ethical than members of Congress, which certainly speaks to how everyday people regard politicians. 

Continue reading to see the five professions Americans deemed most and least honest and ethical."

What unites Greenland, Venezuela and Ukraine? Trump’s immoral lies and Europe’s chronic weakness; The Guardian, January 11, 2026

Simon Tisdall, The Guardian; What unites Greenland, Venezuela and Ukraine? Trump’s immoral lies and Europe’s chronic weakness

 "Donald Trump made 30,573 “false or misleading” claims during his first term, according to calculations published in 2021 by the Washington Post. That’s roughly 21 fibs a day. Second time around, he’s still hard at it, lying to Americans and the world on a daily basis. Trump’s disregard for truth and honesty in public life – seen again in his despicable response to the fatal shooting in Minneapolis – is dangerously immoral.

Trump declared last week that the only constraint on his power is “my own morality, my own mind”. That explains a lot. His idea of right and wrong is wholly subjective. He is his own ethical and legal adviser, his own priest and confessor. He is a church of one. Trump lies to himself as well as everyone else. And the resulting damage is pernicious. It costs lives, harms democracy and destroys trust between nations...

Disrespect for international law, the flouting of sovereign rights and territorial independence, and the ongoing replacement of the UN-backed rules-based order with neo-imperial spheres of influence are evident in all three crises. So, too, is a failure to defend the democratic rights of ordinary people. The US has presumptuously, illegally ruled out elections in Venezuela. Russia is trying to kill Ukraine’s democracy. Greenlanders say they alone must decide their future. But who’s listening to them?

Many of these broader trends were already well established. Yet Trump’s destabilising, unprincipled, lawless, chaotic and fundamentally immoral carrying-on in 2025 has undoubtedly acted as catalyst and accelerant. Of all these ills, his moral turpitude is the greatest. It corrupts, bedevils, darkens and poisons the humanity of the world. It is toxic to all it touches. Trumpism is a corrosive disease. Its latest victims are in Minneapolis and Portland. In truth, they are everywhere.

To mangle Mark Twain: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and Donald Trump.” Americans and their too-diffident friends in Britain and Europe must be more forceful in speaking truth to power – before, like the much-reviled George III, Trump does something really crazy."

Pentagon Fires the Defense Intelligence Agency Chief; The New York Times, August 22, 2025

Julian E. Barnes and Eric Schmitt, The New York Times ; Pentagon Fires the Defense Intelligence Agency Chief

"The Pentagon has fired the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, a senior defense official and a senator said on Friday, weeks after the agency drafted a preliminary report that contradicted President Trump’s contention that Iran’s nuclear sites had been “obliterated” in U.S. military strikes.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse is the latest senior Pentagon official, and the second top military intelligence official, to be removed since Mr. Trump’s return to office. Gen. Timothy D. Haugh, the head of the National Security Agency, was ousted this spring after a right-wing conspiracy theorist complained about him.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also fired Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore, who was chief of the Navy Reserve, as well as Rear Adm. Jamie Sands, a Navy SEAL officer who oversaw Naval Special Warfare Command, a Defense Department official said on Friday. The Pentagon offered no immediate explanation why.

Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the firing of General Kruse, who had a long career of nonpartisan service, was troubling.

“The firing of yet another senior national security official underscores the Trump administration’s dangerous habit of treating intelligence as a loyalty test rather than a safeguard for our country,” Mr. Warner said.

The Defense Intelligence Agency is in charge of collecting intelligence on foreign militaries, including the size, position and strength of their forces. The agency provides the information to the military’s combatant commands and planners at the Pentagon."

Connie Chung Says ‘Shame On’ Shari Redstone and the Ellisons: ‘I Fear the End of CBS as I Knew It’ | Video; The Wrap, July 26, 2025

 Josh Dickey, The Wrap; Connie Chung Says ‘Shame On’ Shari Redstone and the Ellisons: ‘I Fear the End of CBS as I Knew It’ | Video

Former “CBS Evening News” anchor Connie Chung said the impending sale of Paramount and “60 Minutes” skirmish with Donald Trump represent “the end of CBS News” as she knew it, blaming Shari Redstone and the Ellisons for the demise of “unbiased, fact-based journalism.”

“CBS was always a standalone network,” Chung said in a CNN interview with Brianna Keilar on Saturday. “The news division was autonomous. It was always unencumbered by pressures from politicians – including presidents – and unencumbered by bean-counters. But now I can see that the days [of] honest, unbiased, fact-based journalism is being tainted.

Chung placed the blame squarely on Redstone, chair of Paramount Global, and “Larry Ellison, and his son David,” who “seem to only know greed, avarice. I worry about the CBS I used to know.”"

Evangelical Report Says AI Needs Ethics; Christianity Today, July/August 2025

  

DANIEL SILLIMAN, Christianity Today; Evangelical Report Says AI Needs Ethics

"The Swiss Evangelical Alliance published a 78-page report on the ethics of artificial intelligence, calling on Christians to “help reduce the misuse of AI” and “set an example in the use of AI by demonstrating how technology can be used responsibly and for the benefit of all.” Seven people worked on the paper, including two theologians, several software engineers and computer science experts, a business consultant, and a futurist. They rejected the idea that Christians should close themselves off to AI, as that would not do anything to mitigate the risks of the developing technology. The group concluded that AI has a lot of potential to do good, if given ethical boundaries and shaped by Christian values such as honesty, integrity, and charity."

Harvard professor fired following claims she falsified ethics research data; The Guardian, May 27, 2025

 Ramon Antonio Vargas, The Guardian; Harvard professor fired following claims she falsified ethics research data

"A Harvard professor known for researching honesty before being accused of extensive data fraud has been fired, the first time the Ivy League institution has dismissed a tenured instructor in about 80 years.

Francesca Gino was initially put on administrative leave by the Harvard Business School (HBS) in 2023 after multiple allegations of falsifying data related to her research, which focused on ethical behavior. On Tuesday, a university spokesperson confirmed that Gino’s tenure had been revoked, terminating her employment."

Faith and Perfidy at the Washington Post; Columbia Journalism Review, October 28, 2024

 ROGER ROSENBLATT, Columbia Journalism Review; Faith and Perfidy at the Washington Post

"Graham was a monumental figure in journalism, not principally because she was a woman, and not because she was rich, but because she was principled and understood that a newspaper represents a tacit agreement between journalists and readers that the common good requires thought, honesty, and fair play.

So scrupulous was Kay, as most everyone called her, that whenever she sat in on our board’s daily meetings, she never said a word, or gave a nod, or tossed a glance that would indicate her opinion. She knew that her opinion was likely to be taken as law, and she was not about to abuse her authority. No one could have been more “in” the Washington Post than Kay, yet she stayed out of the ed board’s business because she understood the moral requirements of power.

To say such a thing these days is so antique as to sound ludicrous. The moral requirements of power? Tell that to Elon Musk, who has returned from outer space to attempt to buy a presidential election. Tell that to Donald Trump himself, who speaks of using the military against his opponents. And tell that to Jeff Bezos, who owns the Washington Post now and who has ordered the current editorial board not to support one candidate or the other."

Lawyers viewed as more ethical than car salespeople and US lawmakers; ABA Journal, January 30, 2024

DEBRA CASSENS WEISS, ABA Journal ; Lawyers viewed as more ethical than car salespeople and US lawmakers

"Only 16% of Americans rate lawyers’ honesty and ethical standards as "high" or "very high," according to a Gallup poll taken in December.

The percentage has decreased since 2022, when 21% of Americans said lawyers had high or very high honesty and ethical standards, and since 2019, when the percentage was 22%, according to a Jan. 22 press release with results of Gallup’s 2023 Honesty and Ethics poll.

Lawyers did better than business executives, insurance salespeople and stockbrokers. Twelve percent of Americans viewed those occupations as having high or very high ethics and honesty. The percentage decreased to 8% for advertising practitioners, car salespeople and senators, and 6% for members of Congress."

Ethics Ratings of Nearly All Professions Down in U.S.; Gallup, January 22, 2024

 MEGAN BRENAN AND JEFFREY M. JONES, Gallup; Ethics Ratings of Nearly All Professions Down in U.S.

"Americans’ ratings of nearly all 23 professions measured in Gallup’s 2023 Honesty and Ethics poll are lower than they have been in recent years. Only one profession -- labor union leaders -- has not declined since 2019, yet a relatively low 25% rate their honesty and ethics as “very high” or “high.”

Nurses remain the most trusted profession, with 78% of U.S. adults currently believing nurses have high honesty and ethical standards. However, that is down seven percentage points from 2019 and 11 points from its peak in 2020.

At the other end of the spectrum, members of Congress, senators, car salespeople and advertising practitioners are viewed as the least ethical, with ratings in the single digits that have worsened or remained flat."

When is it OK to lie?; NPR, August 22, 2023

 Frank Festa, NPR; When is it OK to lie?

"Knowing when a friend or loved one is seeking honest feedback can be difficult. The best way to find out is to ask them what they need — do they want your opinion? Or do they want you to listen to them vent?"

Trump Told Pence ‘You’re Too Honest’ When He Objected to Jan. 6 Scheme; Rolling Stone, August 1, 2023

TIM DICKINSON , Rolling Stone; Trump Told Pence ‘You’re Too Honest’ When He Objected to Jan. 6 Scheme

"The new indictment of Donald Trump on conspiracy charges related to his attempts to subvert the results of the 2020 election makes clear that the then-president not only made false claims about who won the presidency, but “knew that they were false.”

Trump’s tortured relationship with the truth is highlighted in an exchange he allegedly had with Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 1, 2021. Trump, the indictment says, called Pence and “berated him” because Pence opposed efforts to claim that he alone had the power, in his ceremonial role presiding over the counting of the votes of the Electoral College, to reject the official tallies from the states. 

As recounted in the indictment, Pence told Trump that — as he understood the laws of our land — there was no constitutional authority invested in the vice president to make such a move.

Trump then allegedly lit into Pence, telling him: “You’re too honest.”"

Managing the Risks of Generative AI; Harvard Business Review (HBR), June 6, 2023

Kathy Baxter 

and 

Yoav Schlesinger

, Harvard Business Review (HBR); Managing the Risks of Generative AI

"Guidelines for the ethical development of generative AI

Our new set of guidelines can help organizations evaluate generative AI’s risks and considerations as these tools gain mainstream adoption. They cover five focus areas."

About WBUR's Ethics Guide; WBUR, March 10, 2022

WBUR; About WBUR's Ethics Guide

"The committee approached the guidelines from the vantage point of WBUR journalists and journalism — while acknowledging the importance of the ethical guidelines and standards that need to be understood and embraced by everyone who works or is associated with WBUR.

The committee used the NPR Ethics Handbook as a structural model and source text, adopted with a WBUR voice. They also addressed ethics issues from a 2021 perspective, recognizing that much has changed in the public media and journalism field since the NPR Handbook was first written a decade ago."

WBUR Ethics Guide PDF: https://d279m997dpfwgl.cloudfront.net/wp/2022/03/WBUR-Ethics-Guidelines.pdf  

MapLab: The Case for a Cartographer’s Code of Ethics; Bloomberg, March 9, 2022

Marie Patino, Bloomberg ; MapLab: The Case for a Cartographer’s Code of Ethics

"In 2017, Kent spearheaded the drafting of the first and only known professional code of cartography ethics for the British Cartographic Society (BCS) while he was the president of the organization. The code upholds five principles: Honesty, integrity, competence, respect and responsibility. It also warns of potential sanctions that can be taken against members if they don’t follow these principles, including being banned from the BCS — though Kent says this hasn’t happened yet.

“There’s an increased sense of responsibility that goes with the idea of mapmaking.” Kent says. “I think cartographers have for too long not really grasped the idea that what they’re doing has immense power to change the way how people see the world.”

Now, momentum for ethical guidelines may be picking up...

Buckley, who created a user group at Esri to discuss best practices and ideas for mapmaking ethics, is planning ethics discussions at other map gatherings this year. “Having good examples, I think, is what we need to move towards next,” Buckley said. “After we come up with a code of ethics, the statements have to be supported by resources that people can look at to understand how to enact ethical practices.”"

Zoom classes felt like teaching into a void — until I told my students why; The Washington Post; March 11, 2021

C. Thi Nguyen, The Washington Post; Zoom classes felt like teaching into a void — until I told my students why

"In the end, I see this as a question of informed choice. Given who I am, it’s very predicable that my teaching will get worse as more cameras go off. Students deserve to know that, and take that into account, in their own choices. I suspect that honesty is the best we can do right now.

This experience has also changed how I behave when I’m on the other side of the exchange — in the audience of an online lecture. In that situation, I would almost always prefer to turn my camera off. But now I go camera-on most of the time, because of my understanding of the impact of my decision on the speaker.

Right now, our knowledge of one another’s lives is slim, gathered as it is through impoverished channels like Zoom. When our connections are so tenuous, a little trust can go a long way."

I used to hate Mister Rogers. Then I discovered how much I needed him.; The Washington Post, November 22, 2019

Martha Manning, The Washington Post; I used to hate Mister Rogers. Then I discovered how much I needed him.

"Mister Rogers gave comfort. He didn’t sell it. He didn’t knock us over the head with it. It wasn’t cool or sexy or easy. He considered the space between the television set and the viewer to be “sacred,” something millions of children understood — and that their parents forgot.

That’s a shame, because we were the ones who needed Mister Rogers’s wisdom most of all. The big words, long explanations and instructions about how to be and what to do that we favored often gave us little solace. Instead, we needed an honest voice who considered the darkness and met it with hope, who recognized self-hatred and met it with compassion.

As a child, Mister Rogers became extremely frightened by something on the news and wondered how he would ever be safe. His mother gave him simple but profound advice. “Always look for the helpers,” she told him, with the quiet certainty that they could always be found. Who are the helpers right here, right now, in our troubled lives?"

Olympic champion shares personal experience on the importance of ethics; NTVabc, March 5, 2019

Lauren Kummer, NTVabc; Olympic champion shares personal experience on the importance of ethics

"On Tuesday, it was Ethics Day at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Naber spoke to students on character and ethics in a way that's relevant to everyday life.

"I think it's important to talk about what's in the best common good. Not in what's in your best interest but what is in our best interest," said Naber.

Naber shared stories on his own, and one in particular that put him in a tough situation during the 1973 World Team Trials where ethics came into question.

"I won the race but I didn't touch the wall correctly. The official thought I should be disqualified. The meet referee wasn't sure and they let me decide. Did I intend to fight the call? I remembered I didn't touch the wall. I said "I deserve to be disqualified" and I was. For that, I lost the chance to win a gold medal at the world championships but I earned my own self-respect. Of all the decisions I made in my swimming and athletic career I think that might be the highlight," said Naber."

This sad, embarrassing wreck of a man; The Washington Post, July 17, 2018

George F. Will, The Washington Post; This sad, embarrassing wreck of a man

"Americans elected a president who — this is a safe surmise — knew that he had more to fear from making his tax returns public than from keeping them secret. The most innocent inference is that for decades he has depended on an American weakness, susceptibility to the tacky charisma of wealth, which would evaporate when his tax returns revealed that he has always lied about his wealth, too. A more ominous explanation might be that his redundantly demonstrated incompetence as a businessman tumbled him into unsavory financial dependencies on Russians. A still more sinister explanation might be that the Russians have something else, something worse, to keep him compliant.

The explanation is in doubt; what needs to be explained — his compliance — is not. Granted, Trump has a weak man’s banal fascination with strong men whose disdain for him is evidently unimaginable to him. And, yes, he only perfunctorily pretends to have priorities beyond personal aggrandizement. But just as astronomers inferred, from anomalies in the orbits of the planet Uranus, the existence of Neptune before actually seeing it, Mueller might infer, and then find, still-hidden sources of the behavior of this sad, embarrassing wreck of a man."

Confessions Of A Former Sinclair News Director; Huffington Post, April 2, 2018

Aaron Weiss, Huffington Post; Confessions Of A Former Sinclair News Director

"Only Sinclair forces those trusted local journalists to lend their credibility to shoddy reporting and commentary that, if it ran in other countries, we would rightly dismiss as state propaganda...

When Deadspin’s genius supercut of Sinclair’s latest promo went viral last weekend, my heart broke for the anchors who were used to make the equivalent of a proof-of-life hostage video. They know what they’re being conscripted to do, but most of them have no choice in the matter. They’re trapped by contracts, by family obligations and by an industry that is struggling to stay relevant in an era of changing media habits.

The anchors who were forced to decry “fake news” put their own credibility on the line, accusing “some members of the media” of pushing “their own personal bias and agenda,” when nothing could be further from the truth...

There’s nothing inherently wrong with journalism that wears its bias on its sleeve. At some point, local news may transform into something more like the cable news landscape, with hosts who are paid to share their perspective and commentary. But that requires honesty on the part of station owners, and it requires embracing a diversity of viewpoints on the air. That’s the exact opposite of what Sinclair is doing to local broadcasting today."

Bobby Sticks It to Trump; New York Times, August 5, 2017

Maureen Dowd, New York Times; Bobby Sticks It to Trump

"We are in for an epic clash between two septuagenarians who both came from wealthy New York families and attended Ivy League schools but couldn’t be more different — the flamboyant flimflam man and the buttoned-down, buttoned-up boy scout. (And we know the president has no idea how to talk to scouts appropriately.)

One has been called America’s straightest arrow. One disdains self-promotion and avoids the press. One married his sweetheart from school days. One was a decorated Marine in Vietnam. One counts patience, humility and honesty as the virtues he lives by and likes to say “You’re only as good as your word.”

And one’s president."