Ethics

1
Ethics

• The rules for journalism and life

2
What are ethics

• A set of moral principles
• A theory or system of moral values
• Are ethics and morals different?
• Discuss

3
Journalists

• Society of Professional Journalists
• Seek truth and report it
• Minimize harm
• Act independently
• Be accountable

4
Seek Truth and Report It

• Avoid inadvertent error
• Seek out all sides of story (not just two)
• Identify sources when feasible
• Never plagiarize
• Examine own cultural values and impact they may
  have
• Help ensure government openness
• Question sources

5
Minimize Harm

• Show compassion
• Be sensitive
• Dont be arrogant
• Use good taste
• Be cautious
• Be balances
• Be judicious

6
Act Independently

• Avoid perceived or real conflicts of interest
• Refuse gifts
• Disclose unavoidable conflicts
• Hold those in power accountable
• Resist pressure from advertisers to distort news
• Be wary of favors

7
Be Accountable

• Invite public comment
• Admit mistakes and correct them promptly
• Expose unethical practices

8
It Comes from Inside

• Your ethics might be different than mine
• Thats OK (in some cases)
• Some rules apply universally
• Everyone has to come up with his or her own moral
  compass
• Big ethical breaches grow from small ones (see
  later)

9
What Would You Do?

• You finish a two-hour interview with the mayor
  about all the changes she wants to make to
  improve the city. She lets it slip that she
  thinks the police chief has bungled efforts to
  curb crime. After the interview, she asks you
  not to use that.

10
What Would You Do?

• You keep getting beaten by your counterpart at a
  competing news organization. Your boss has warned
  this must stop. You are about to file your story
  on a triple homicide, and you notice your
  competitor has details online that you dont
  have. What do you do

11
What Would You Do?

• You are covering a homicide, and you find out
  that three young children (under age 5) witnessed
  the homicide. The mother of the children agrees
  to have the children photographed, and agrees to
  let you interview the children. The suspect is
  still at large