Journalism Research and Random Meanderings

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

ASNE - Can you improve your code of ethics? 

Ethics Cookbook

Readers must know that the newspaper that arrives on their doorstep every morning is there to serve them — not politicians of a certain stripe, not special interest groups. That puts the burden on us — editors, reporters, copy editors, news researchers, photographers, designers, graphic artists and support personnel — to avoid conflicts of interest or even the appearance of such conflicts.

The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

Codes of ethics can help newsroom staffers make sound decisions about the many ethical problems they may encounter in their work. Ethics codes — some newspapers don’t call them that — are one avenue to building journalism credibility.

ASNE asked two leading thinkers to analyze 33 current codes of ethics assembled by the Ethics and Values Committee. Their goal was to highlight the most common — and useful — ingredients of these documents to help editors evaluate their own codes, if they have one, or help editors create one, if they choose. ASNE thanks editors who sent in their codes.

Diane H. McFarlin
executive editor, Sarasota (Fla.) Herald-Tribune
chair, Ethics and Values Committee