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Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics
Society of Professional Journalists ^ | 1996 | Society of Professional Journalists

Posted on 09/13/2004 4:06:55 AM PDT by John Thornton

Code of Ethics

SPJ Code of Ethics

Preamble

Members of the Society of Professional Journalists believe that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty.

Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist's credibility. Members of the Society share a dedication to ethical behavior and adopt this code to declare the Society's principles and standards of practice.

Seek Truth and Report It

Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.

Journalists should:

Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible.

Diligently seek out subjects of news stories to give them the opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing.

Identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources' reliability.

Always question sourcesmotives before promising anonymity. Clarify conditions attached to any promise made in exchange for information. Keep promises.

Make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional material, photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and quotations do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context.

Never distort the content of news photos or video. Image enhancement for technical clarity is always permissible. Label montages and photo illustrations.

Avoid misleading re-enactments or staged news events. If re-enactment is necessary to tell a story, label it.

Avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information except when traditional open methods will not yield information vital to the public. Use of such methods should be explained as part of the story

Never plagiarize.

Tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience boldly, even when it is unpopular to do so.

Examine their own cultural values and avoid imposing those values on others.

Avoid stereotyping by race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance or social status.

Support the open exchange of views, even views they find repugnant.

Give voice to the voiceless; official and unofficial sources of information can be equally valid.

Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.

Distinguish news from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two.

Recognize a special obligation to ensure that the public's business is conducted in the open and that government records are open to inspection.

Minimize Harm

Ethical journalists treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect.

Journalists should:

Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage. Use special sensitivity when dealing with children and inexperienced sources or subjects.

Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief.

Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance.

Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyones privacy.

Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.

Be cautious about identifying juvenile suspects or victims of sex crimes.

Be judicious about naming criminal suspects before the formal filing of charges.

Balance a criminal suspects fair trial rights with the publics right to be informed.

Act Independently

Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know.

Journalists should:

Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.

Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.

Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.

Disclose unavoidable conflicts.

Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable.

Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage.

Be wary of sources offering information for favors or money; avoid bidding for news.

Be Accountable

Journalists are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other.

Journalists should:

Clarify and explain news coverage and invite dialogue with the public over journalistic conduct.

Encourage the public to voice grievances against the news media.

Admit mistakes and correct them promptly.

Expose unethical practices of journalists and the news media.

Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others.

The SPJ Code of Ethics is voluntarily embraced by thousands of writers, editors and other news professionals. The present version of the code was adopted by the 1996 SPJ National Convention, after months of study and debate among the Society's members.

Sigma Delta Chi's first Code of Ethics was borrowed from the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1926. In 1973, Sigma Delta Chi wrote its own code, which was revised in 1984, 1987 and 1996.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ethics; sixtyminutes
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While everyone talks about "Journalistic Ethics," I had thought the term was an oxymoron. But, lo and behold, there is actually a Code of Ethics that journalists are supposed to follow. How many of these rules did Dan Rather and Sixty Minutes violate? How many do the NY Times and AP violate on a daily basis?
1 posted on 09/13/2004 4:06:56 AM PDT by John Thornton
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To: NYCVirago

Ping.


2 posted on 09/13/2004 4:08:34 AM PDT by John Thornton
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To: John Thornton
Expose unethical practices of journalists and the news media.

is it unethical for a journalist to be emotionally attached to one party?

3 posted on 09/13/2004 4:11:03 AM PDT by alrea (Help Wanted: New Jersey Director, Homeland Security. Must be willing performer, and good looking.)
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To: John Thornton
Professional ethics are nothing but a facade that is used as a shield to hide behind. Business ethics is its twin brother.

Examples, shysters, doctors, Enron, Adelphia, on and on.

4 posted on 09/13/2004 4:15:00 AM PDT by cynicom (<p)
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To: alrea
is it unethical for a journalist to be emotionally attached to one party?

I wouldn't say it's unethical for a journalist to be emotionally attached to one party. We should just never be able to figure out which party that is. Journalists could discipline themselves, if they wanted to. They just don't care - or, as Goldberg says, they really don't see the bias.

I think that's what frightens me most. There is a blindness in the ones who are supposed to reflect the events and the face of our society. The mirror is badly misshapen, though.

5 posted on 09/13/2004 4:16:43 AM PDT by Angry Enough
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To: John Thornton
The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources' reliability.

Dan, who the F**K gave you the documents?

6 posted on 09/13/2004 4:16:46 AM PDT by FesterUSMC
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To: John Thornton
Identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources' reliability.

Dan, Who the F**K gave you the documents?

7 posted on 09/13/2004 4:18:37 AM PDT by FesterUSMC
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To: John Thornton

This is satire, right?


8 posted on 09/13/2004 4:21:29 AM PDT by Lil'freeper (You do not have the plug-in required to view this tagline.)
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To: John Thornton
What we all must understand is that today the MSM journalist do not care about the TRUTH because they have been convienced the TRUTH is relative. Their selfish pursuit of "Their" cause trumps any aspect of honesty and integrity. CBS is just the latest example of the absolute ethical decline.

Who will hold them responsible for their defending a flagrant deception foist upon the public?

9 posted on 09/13/2004 4:24:24 AM PDT by sirchtruth (Do you just think I fell off a turnip truck?)
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To: John Thornton
Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible.

We ought to send this list to advertisers, and point out exactly how Dan Rather violated these ethics.

10 posted on 09/13/2004 4:25:01 AM PDT by NYCVirago
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To: John Thornton

"Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others."

The last journalistic ethic shown is used by most to trump all the others and justify their lies and distortions of the news. They have adopted the same standards as the DNC.


11 posted on 09/13/2004 4:25:06 AM PDT by moonman
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To: FesterUSMC
We're having a hard time tracking how we got the documents," says the CBS News producer. "There are at least two people in this building who have insisted we got copies of these memos from the Kerry campaign by way of an additional source. We do not have the originals, and our sources have indicated to us that we will not be getting the originals. How that is possible I don't know."

Read the above statement and tell me if they are going to reveal who their source are?

If there was ever to be an outcry for accountability, this should be at the top of that list!

These people are seriously flawed.

12 posted on 09/13/2004 4:30:10 AM PDT by sirchtruth (Do you just think I fell off a turnip truck?)
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To: John Thornton
As I remember, growing up, the Boy Scouts had a "code of ethics". It went something like this ...

Boy Scout Law

A Scout is:

* Trustworthy,
* Loyal,
* Helpful,
* Friendly,
* Courteous,
* Kind,
* Obedient,
* Cheerful,
* Thrifty,
* Brave,
* Clean,
* and Reverent.

Of course the Boy Scouts have been deemed a hate group by the most vile perverts in American society and are being eradicated as we speak.

Should anyone wonder that "journalists" of today have no morality?

Code of Ethics? Don't make me cry!

13 posted on 09/13/2004 4:31:20 AM PDT by G.Mason (A war mongering, red white and blue, military industrial complex, Al Qaeda incinerating American.)
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To: sirchtruth

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1214323/posts

...As related to my last post


14 posted on 09/13/2004 4:32:14 AM PDT by sirchtruth (Do you just think I fell off a turnip truck?)
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To: sirchtruth
We're having a hard time tracking how we got the documents," says the CBS News producer. "There are at least two people in this building who have insisted we got copies of these memos from the Kerry campaign by way of an additional source. We do not have the originals, and our sources have indicated to us that we will not be getting the originals. How that is possible I don't know."

did cBS really say this?

15 posted on 09/13/2004 4:33:59 AM PDT by FesterUSMC
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To: John Thornton

This should be sent out to every paper and every editor and every news outlet to remind them.


16 posted on 09/13/2004 4:34:32 AM PDT by donnab
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To: FesterUSMC
did cBS really say this?

Go see post #14.

17 posted on 09/13/2004 4:46:45 AM PDT by sirchtruth (Do you just think I fell off a turnip truck?)
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To: Lil'freeper
It is a glimpse of an America that existed in 1926, before the communists trashed a noble profession.
18 posted on 09/13/2004 4:54:51 AM PDT by JasonC
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To: John Thornton

Why don't we register a complaint!

To reach the Hotline, dial 317/927-8000 ext. 208, or simply ask the receptionist for the Ethics Hotline. You can also send e-mail messages to ethics@spj.org. The Hotline and the e-mail are monitored by SPJ staff members, and requests are directed to appropriate committee members. Requests for confidentiality will be honored.


19 posted on 09/13/2004 4:58:39 AM PDT by An.American.Expatriate (A vote for JF'nK is a vote for Peace in our Time!)
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To: John Thornton

Journalism, the peaceful occupation, has been hijacked by radical reporters.


20 posted on 09/13/2004 5:58:56 AM PDT by Noachian (in.ter.net n. Gatekeeper of the new media)
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