Ethics in Publishing

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Ethics in Publishing

• Canadian Church Press
• Annual Convention
• Cambridge, Ontario
• May 3, 2008
• Larry Cornies

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The issues

• The inherent tensions and conflicts between being
  a church administrator and a church journalist.
• Best practices on ethical issues as they relate
  to the context of church journalism.
• Resources for dealing with emerging ethical
  issues and problems.

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The inherent tensions

• Between being a bureaucrat/administrator and a
  journalist
• Between the instincts to shepherd and report
• Between mandate and reality
• Between being a parishioner and working
  journalist
• Between widely accepted journalistic practice and
  collegiality

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The challenges

• To embrace the role of journalist within the
  church, even when it feels like a lonely
  existence
• To remind the churchs power centres that the
  need for vigorous discussion, openness and
  transparency are as valuable to the health of the
  institution as the need for information,
  inspiration and authority
• To apply the apply the best of current
  journalistic practice to multiple media platforms
  in a redemptive way

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Best practices

• When is it okay to change quotes?
• When should an editor, who has done substantial
  rewrites on an inferior piece, put his/her name
  on it?
• Should we allow interview subjects to read
  advance copies of stories?
• What about sources who quote and byline
  themselves?
• What about editorial voices? How much editing is
  too much? Where does authority rest?

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Resources

• The Canadian Journalism Projectwww.j-source.caA
  clearinghouse for stories, ideas and
  dialogueAsk a Mentor feature in the left-hand
  menuCanadian religion journalists could form a
  community
• The Centre for Journalism EthicsUniversity of
  British Columbiawww.journalismethics.caA suite
  of useful resources

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Resources

• The Poynter Institutewww.poynter.orgClick on
  Ethics in the left-hand menuLots of ethics
  resources, including use of the ASNE/Poynter
  Ethics Tool (registration required)

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Photos by Sam Javanrouh topleftpixel.com Toronto,
Ontario Used by permission