journalistic standards

Journalistic standards and ethics in the United States and internationally are primarily governed by and centered on a journalists' committment to truthfullness, objectivity, impartiality, fairness, accountability, and accuracy in reporting news. One of the leading voices in the U.S. on the subject of Journalistic Standards and ethics is the Society of Professional Journalists. The Preamble to its Code of Ethics states:

...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.

The Radio-Television News Directors Association, an organiation exclusively centered on electronic journalism, mantains a code of ethics centering on -- public trust, truthfullness, fairness, integrity, independence and accountability.http://www.rtnda.org/about/rtnda.shtml RTDNA publishes a pocket guide (PDF file) to these standards. Across the globe, major news gathering organizations follow similar standards. These include:

Many news organizations maintain an ombudsman whose role is, in part, to keep organizations honest and accountable for the news they report. Omsbudsmen also try to foster self-criticsm and to encourage adherence to codified and uncodified ethics and standards. While no news gathering oranization can lay claim to perfection with regard to bias, the role of the ombudsman is a signficant factor urging continual improvement towards higher standards. History reveals any number of errors and abuses by the press, but there has also been abuse of the press by publicity seekers, public relations firms and government agencies all of which may seek to bias coverage in any number of ways; the ombudsman can be an aid to resolving conflicts involving to both internal and external pressures. Wikipedia itself (though it is an encyclopedia, not a news-reporting organization) maintains a number of journalistic standards as goals, including neutrality and accuracy. Other encylopedias have similar standards, and many non-fiction authors hold themselves to similar goals.

Journalistic Standards Ethics and Standards

The primary themes common to most Codes of Ethics include:

objectivity

Strong separation between opinion pieces (including editorials prepared by employees of the publisher) and news pieces, and news reporters and editorial staff.
Strong separation between news and editorial content and staff, and advertising content and staff.
Reports must avoid conflicts of interest - incentives to report a story with a given slant, including taking bribes, reporting on stories which affect material or financial interests,
Competing points of view are balanced
Persons who are the subject of adverse news stories are allowed a reasonable opportunity to respond to the adverse information before the story is published or broadcast.
Interference with reporting by any entity, as well as censorship must be disclosed

Sources

Confidentiality of anonymous sources (see news source)
Accurate attribution of statements made by individuals or other news media.
Pictures, sound, and quotations must not be presented in a misleading context (or lack thereof). Simulations, reenactments, alterations, and artistic imaginings must be clearly labelled as such, if not avoided entirely.
Plagiarism is strongly stigmatized and in many cases illegal (see copyright).

Accuracy and high standards for "facts"

Corrections are published when errors are discovered
Defendants at trial are considered only to have "allegedly" committed their crimes. After conviction, their crimes are generally reported as fact unless there is some controversy about wrongful conviction.
Events with a single eyewitness are reported with attribution. Events with two or more independent eyewitnesses may be reported as fact.
Independent fact-checking by another employee of the publisher is desirable
Opinion surveys and statistical information deserve special treatment to precisely communicate any conclusions, to contextualize the results, and to specify accuracy, including estimated error and methodological criticism or flaws

Slander and libel considerations

Reporting the truth is never libel, which makes accuracy and attribution very important.
Private persons have privacy rights which must be balanced against the public interest in reporting information about them. Public figures have fewer privacy rights.
Publishers vigorously defend libel lawsuits filed against their reporters

Harm reduction

Responsible reporters avoid publishing information would could cause serious human harm, such as timely tactical military information, information that would compromise an ongoing criminal investigation, or information that could lead to physical harm to the source or subject. This does not preclude disclosing classified information, publishing leaks, or reporting negative information about people, if it is in the public interest to do so.
Images or graphic details that may be upsetting to some audience members are handled responsibly. Some view any self-censorship on these issues to be a dishonest distortion of the news; others feel that in cases where the facts can be reported accurately and vividly without upsetting images or descriptions, the latter can be safely left out. Warnings to the audience about upcoming material are a common compromise.
Some media outlets refrain from reporting on early results while an election is actually taking place, so as not to unduly influence the outcome. Election results also generate intense public interest which acts as a strong pressure to limit any delays in reporting to the bare minimum, if not to report on events as they happen (for real-time media).

In addition to ethical standards, there are also common standards of quality of presentation, including:

Correctly spoken or written language (often in a widely spoken and formal dialect, such as Standard English)
Clarity
Brevity (or depth, depending on the niche of the publisher)

Journalistic Standards

Journalistic Standards Ethics and Standards

External links

See also