The committee that revised the Society’s Code of Ethics felt the document’s tenets and underlying principles apply to all journalism regardless of how it’s ultimately presented. Still, the committee knew people interested in ethical journalism may benefit from additional guidance from the Society and other people and organizations.
Below are several resources that the Society’s ethics committee compiled to help people with day-to-day decisions. These resources are not formally part of the Code. Also, these lists will grow and change as more resources are found, or as resources become obsolete.
For those people who still have questions, please email the Society’s Ethics Hotline: ethics@spj.org
- Katrina vanden Heuvel writes in the Washington Post about the danger of providing so-called false balance in news reports. “There are many sides to almost every story, but that doesn’t mean they are automatically equal,” she writes.
SOURCE: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/katrina-vanden-heuvel-the-distorting-reality-of-false-balance-in-the-media/2014/07/14/6def5706-0b81-11e4-b8e5-d0de80767fc2_story.html
- Mary Ann Weston writes in Nieman Reports about an incident where then-President George W. Bush was asked about the meaning of tribal sovereignty in the 21st Century. While many news organizations reported his answer, they often left out the actual meaning and significance. “Unconsciously journalists often replicate the distorted images and stereotypes of Native peoples that have been part of our culture since the first European contacts with peoples of the Americas,” she writes.
SOURCE: http://niemanreports.org/articles/attitudes-and-mindsets-hinder-journalists-in/
- Carolynne Burkholder writes for the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison about the online journalism ethics of photojournalism, including photo editing.
SOURCE: http://journalismethics.info/online_journalism_ethics/photojournalism.htm