The following pages contain the current code of ethics; the proposed code of ethics sent back to committee; and a code voted down at Convention.
Thanks to Dan Bolton, who actually kept track of all the changes,and Peter Sussman, who forwarded an electronic copy. Please remember that the second section is a draft that was never voted on as a whole by Convention. It has not been recommended by the national board and is not necessarily the version that will be presented at the next national convention. Please consider it a starting point for what we hope will be a year of healthy debate at every level.
The Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi, believes the duty of journalists is to serve the truth.
We BELIEVE the agencies of mass communication are carriers of public discussion and information, acting on their Constitutional mandate and freedom to learn and report the facts.
We BELIEVE in public enlightenment as the forerunner of justice,and in our Constitutional role to seek the truth as part of the public's right to know the truth.
We BELIEVE those responsibilities carry obligations that require journalists to perform with intelligence, objectivity, accuracy and fairness.
To these ends, we declare acceptance of the standards of practice set forth:
The public's right to know of events of public importance and interest is the overriding mission of the mass media. The purpose of distributing news and enlightened opinion is to serve the general welfare. Journalists who use their professional status as representatives of the public for selfish or other unworthy motives violate a high trust.
Freedom of the press is to be guarded as an inalienable right of people in a free society. It carries with it the freedom and the responsibility to discuss, question, and challenge actions and utterances of our government and of our public and private institutions. Journalists uphold the right to speak unpopular opinions and the privilege to agree with the majority.
Journalists must be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know the truth.
1. Gifts, favors, free travel, special treatment or privileges can compromise the integrity of journalists and their employers.Nothing of value should be accepted.
2. Secondary employment, political involvement, holding public office, and service in community organizations should be avoided if it compromises the integrity of journalists and their employers.Journalists and their employers should conduct their personal lives in a manner that protects them from conflict of interest, real or apparent. Their responsibilities to the public are paramount. That is the nature of their profession.
3. So-called news communications from private sources should not be published or broadcast without substantiation of their claims to news values.
4. Journalists will seek news that serves the public interest,despite the obstacles. They will make constant efforts to assure that the public's business is conducted in public and that public records are open to public inspection.
5. Journalists acknowledge the newsman's ethic of protecting confidential sources of information.
6. Plagiarism is dishonest and unacceptable.
Good faith with the public is the foundation of all worthy journalism.
1. Truth is our ultimate goal.
2. Objectivity in reporting the news is another goal that serves as the mark of an experienced professional. It is a standard of performance toward which we strive. We honor those who achieve it.
3. There is no excuse for inaccuracies or lack of thoroughness.
4. Newspaper headlines should be fully warranted by the contents of the articles they accompany. Photographs and telecasts should give an accurate picture of an event and not highlight an incident out of context.
5. Sound practice makes clear distinction between news reports and expressions of opinion. News reports should be free of opinion or bias and represent all sides of an issue.
6. Partisanship in editorial comment that knowingly departs from the truth violates the spirit of American journalism.
7. Journalists recognize their responsibility for offering informed analysis, comment, and editorial opinion on public events and issues. They accept the obligation to represent such material by individuals whose competence, experience, and judgment qualify them for it.
8. Special articles or presentation devoted to advocacy or the writer's own conclusions and interpretations should be labeled as such.
Journalists at all times will show respect for the dignity,privacy, rights, and well-being of people encountered in the course of gathering and presenting the news.
1. The news media should not communicate unofficial charges affecting reputation or moral character without giving the accused a chance to reply.
2. The news media must guard against invading a person's right to privacy.
3. The media should not pander to morbid curiosity about details of vice and crime.
4. It is the duty of news media to make prompt and complete correction of their errors.
5. Journalists should be accountable to the public for their reports and the public should be encouraged to voice its grievances against the media. Open dialogue with our readers, viewers, and listeners should be fostered.
Adherence to this code is intended to preserve and strengthen the bond of mutual trust and respect between American journalists and the American people.
The Society shall -- by programs of education and other means -- encourage individual journalists to adhere to these tenets, and shall encourage journalistic publications and broadcasters to recognize their responsibility to frame codes of ethics in concert with their employees to serve as guidelines in furthering these goals.
Code of Ethics adopted 1926; revised 1973, 1984, 1987
Drafted Oct. 14, 1995, by Convention and referred to the National Ethics Committee for further discussion.
The Society of Professional Journalists recognizes that the people can govern themselves and guarantee their liberties only if they are accurately informed. Therefore, in order to strengthen democracy and ensure informed public dialogue about issues of public importance, we accept the sacred duty to serve the people by providing information and by guaranteeing a public forum in which issues of common concern can be addressed. We believe in public enlightenment as the forerunner of justice and in journalists' mandate to seek and disseminate the truth.
The achievement of these public purposes depends finally upon the personal commitment and integrity of individual journalists. It also requires adherence to practices most likely to serve the public need.
The Society of Professional Journalists adopts this Code of Ethics to declare the Society's principles and standards of practice.
Principles and standards
I. Truth. Truthfulness means "getting it right." Truth-telling and accuracy are absolute requirements. Therefore journalists must:
1(a) Test the accuracy, whenever reasonable or possible, of information from all sources. Recognize that many sources may provide self-serving and misleading information. (Unknown)
1(b) Exercise care to avoid inadvertent inaccuracy. Deliberate distortion is never permissible.
1(c) Deleted by friendly amendment.
1(d) Use undercover or other deceptive methods of gathering information only in circumstances where information vital to the public cannot be obtained by traditional methods, and only if they are explained at the time of publication.
1(e) Endeavor to ensure that quotations accurately reflect what the speaker said and that photo images, graphics and headlines are consistent with the other journalistic content. (Peter Sussman)
1(f) Distinguish and separate news reports and advertising, and avoid misleading the public when opinion or re-enactment is part of a story.
1(g) Afford organizations or individuals an opportunity to respond to charges made against them.
1(h) Make prompt and complete correction of errors.
1(i) Never plagiarize.
II. Comprehensiveness. The profession has the affirmative duty to report on all significant aspects of global society, including its constituent groups. We need to tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience boldly, even when it is unpopular to do so. Therefore, journalists must:
2(a) Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable, especially the media themselves.
2(b) Avoid stereotypes in covering issues of race, gender, age,religion, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation and social status.
2(c) Strive to give voice to all segments of society in public discourse.
III. Privacy. Responsible journalists respect individuals' need for a measure of control over information about themselves. They also recognize that the public needs to know private information about individuals when it relates in important ways to the common life.Only an overriding public need can justify unwanted intrusion into private affairs. Therefore, journalists must:
3(a) Exercise particular sensitivity when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those involved in tragedy or grief.
3(b) Recognize that standards on intrusion are more strict concerning ordinary citizens than for public officials and public figures.
3(c) Exercise sensitivity when dealing with children or other inexperienced sources or subjects.
IV. Loyalty. Responsible journalists possess a single- minded commitment to their audience. Any personal or professional interest that conflicts, or might appear to conflict, with the needs of the audience must be avoided or neutralized. Therefore, journalists must:
4(a) Tactfully refuse gifts, favors, speaker's fees or special treatment from sources, subjects, advertisers or others they may cover.
4(b) Search for potential conflicts with the journalistic role and avoid participation in organizations or events they may cover.
4(c) Where conflicts are unavoidable, disclose them.
V. Confidences. Responsible journalists keep promises and respect confidences. Failure to do so may put sources at risk. For that reason journalists must exercise care when promising anonymity to ensure that sources know what has and what has not been promised.Therefore, journalists must:
5(a) Identify sources wherever possible and explain any failure to do so. The public is entitled to know whether a source is reliable.
5(b) Question sources' motives and assess their risks before promising anonymity.
VI. Freedom. Journalists have a special obligation to preserve and strengthen freedom of speech and the press. These freedoms bring with them special responsibilities to keep the public fully informed about the issues of the day. Therefore, journalists must:
6(a) Make constant efforts to assure that the public's business is conducted in public and that public records are open to public inspection.
6(b) In exercising freedom, always seek the public good.
6(c) Assist the public in understanding the function and role of the journalist in a democratic state, encourage the public to voice grievances against the media, and maintain open dialogue with the public.
Adherence to this code is necessary to preserve and strengthen the bond of mutual trust and respect between journalists and the people. By programs of education and other means, the Society shall encourage individual journalists to adhere to these tenets, and shall encourage news organizations to recognize their responsibility to establish local codes of ethics to pursue these goals in concert with professional journalists and the public.
The following proposal was offered in its entirety as an amendment to the draft proposed by the ethics task force. Convention voted it down as an amendment but subsequent events -- i.e., the expressed desire of the convention to refer the task force draft back to committee and to reopen discussions -- have kept it alive as an alternative, a guide and/or a resource for those discussions. Casey Bukro is a reporter at the Chicago Tribune,former chair of the Ethics committee and a longtime member of SPJ.Words in brackets were added at convention. Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics
Respectfully submitted Jan. 12, 1995, by Casey Bukro to the SPJ ethics task force.
The 21st Century demands a higher order of ethics that will help journalism grow and prosper while serving the public interest fairly, accurately and without malice.
Journalists who gather, edit and report the news must be equal to the growing complexity in a new age of technological change in communications. They should be believed and trusted because they play a unique role in America--providing information needed to make intelligent decisions in a democracy.
They should do that in a professional way that includes admitting mistakes and correcting them, while encouraging criticism from communities they serve.
They should conduct themselves with good manners and dignity, with respect for the rights and views of others. Doing it right ethically honors our tradition of a free press and free speech, and paves the way for those who come after us. Ethics is the foundation of integrity and credibility.
The Society of Professional Journalists has a history of upholding such ideals, and of enhancing journalism in all its forms. We express an abiding faith in these beliefs:
Preserving public trust in journalism is necessary for credibility.Toward that goal, we observe these guidelines: Tell the truth and obey the law. Strive for balance. Avoid deceit and even the appearance of conflict of interest.Refuse gifts, favors [and speaking fees], as well as secondary employment or affiliations that compromise the integrity of journalists and their employers.
Ethics is a matter of where we draw the line, as individuals or members of news organizations. Healthy skepticism is appropriate in journalism, but not cynicism.
Standards by which journalists perform daily are noticed by colleagues and by the public. Reputations for honesty are hard- won and easily lost.
Plagiarism is unacceptable. Give proper credit to sources. Information from all sources should be verified for accuracy. Be objective. News reports should be free of bias. Analysis,comment and editorial comment should accurately reflect the facts.Advocacy should be identified.
Be careful with promises of anonymity. The public is entitled to know if a source of information is reliable.
Media should not pander to morbid curiosity about details of vice and crime, despite public demand for such information. Journalism should guard its role as a leading forum for public enlightenment--as an opinion-maker.
At the same time, journalism covers a broad spectrum from wisdom to trivia, always with the knowledge that one sometimes turns out to be the other. We should tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience boldly, even when it is unpopular to do so. But clear distinctions should be made between news and entertainment. So-called docudramas should be clearly identified as factually suspect. Be sensitive to the privacy, rights and well-being of everyone encountered in covering the news.
People or organizations accused of improper conduct should be given a chance to reply.
Newspaper headlines should accurately reflect the content of a story. Photographs and telecasts should accurately depict an event and not highlight an incident out of context.
Electronic images should not be altered. Deliberate distortion and technological manipulations are wrong.
Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interest groups. Display stories fairly and consistently. Use polls and surveys taken scientifically.
Avoid checkbook journalism.
Journalists should be accountable to their readers, listeners and viewers. They should encourage the public to voice grievances against the media, and foster dialogue to clarify and explain news coverage. These guidelines apply to members of the Society of Professional Journalists, who can advance the cause of ethics in journalism by example where they live and work.