Chapter 7: Using a Code of Ethics as a Decision Tool
Codes of Ethics in Journalism
Will Irwin, The American Newspaper: A Series First Appearing in Colliers January – July, 1911 (Ames, Iowa: University of Iowa Press, 1969).
The New York Times, Ethical Journalism: A Handbook of Values and Practices for the News and Editorial Departments, September 2004.
Craig Branson, “A look at the formation of ASNE,”April 25, 2002. History of the organization’s founding, which led to the adoption of the Canons of Journalism.
Jay Black, Bob Steele and Ralph Barney, DoingEthics in Journalism: A Handbook With Case Studies,3rd Ed. (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 1999). The authors discuss the SPJ’s debate over enforcement provisions in its code, 27.
American Society of News Editors. Texts of ethics codes adopted by national journalist organizations and by individual news outlets.
Bob Steele and Jay Black, “Can you improve your code of ethics?,” The American Editor,February 1999.
Ethics Guide for Public Radio Journalism:
Al Tompkins, “Paper creates interactive ethics guidelines,” poynteronline, June 16, 2006. An interview with Dean Miller, executive editor of the Idaho Falls Post Register, which has built an interactive page (hyperlink provided) to allow readers to see how ethics policy was applied in certain news stories.
The Debate Over the Value of Codes
Edmund B. Lambeth, Committed Journalism: An Ethic for the Profession (Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1986), 76.
Carol Reuss, “Media codes of ethics are impotent, and too often they are facades that imply ethical behavior,” Controversies in Media Ethics, 2nd Ed. (Gordon and Kittross, Eds.), 58.
Jay Black and Ralph D. Barney, “The case against mass media codes of ethics,” Journal of Mass Media Ethics, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Fall/Winter 1985–6), 27–36. The two professors write that codes “are probably of some limited value to the neophyte … [but] probably should be relegated to a framed wall hanging for any journalists who have advanced beyond their internships.” (Academic databases)
Bob Steele, “Inside The New York Times’ revised code,” poynteronline, Jan. 16, 2003. The Poynter Institute ethicist examines the Times code and also offers reasons why written ethics policies are a good idea.
Bob Steele, “Ethics codes: The lawyers’ take,” poynteronline, Jan. 30, 2003.
The Society of Professional Journalists’ Code
Seek Truth and Report It
John Herbers, “McCarthyism, 1950-1954,” in Tom Rosenstiel and Amy S. Mitchell (Eds.), Thinking Clearly: Cases in Journalistic Decision-Making (New York: Columbia University Press, 2003), 6–22.
Dick Polman, an essay written for the author’s journalism ethics course at PennsylvaniaStateUniversity, 2001. [may be found under Miscellaneous Resources]
Naomi Oreskes, “The scientific consensus on climate change,” Science, Vol. 306, Dec. 3, 2004, 1686. Reviews ten years of scientific studies of climate change and discusses the implications of journalistic presentation of scientific uncertainty.
Mallary Jean Tenore and Steve Myers, “Not dead yet: Reporting Castro rumor,” poynteronline, Aug. 31, 2007. When does a news organization report on rumors? Bloggers were saying the Cuban leader was dead, but he wasn’t.
Minimize Harm
The news blackout on Prince Harry’s combat assignment:
The Drudge Report, “Prince Harry fights on frontlines in Afghanistan; 3 month tour,”Feb. 28, 2008.
Kevin Sullivan, “Prince Harry’s seeing combat and British media kept quiet,” The Washington Post, Feb. 29, 2008.
Bob Satchwell, “Why we agreed to a media blackout on Harry,” The Guardian, Feb. 29, 2008.
CNN, “Prince Harry: My withdrawal is a shame,” March 1, 2008.
A news blackout on the kidnapping of a New York Times journalist:
National Public Radio, “Reporter’s escape from Taliban spurs ethics debate,” June 22, 2009. When New York Times reporter David Rohde escaped from his Taliban captors, few knew he had even been kidnapped, because for the seven months he and two Afghan colleagues were in the Taliban’s hands, The Times kept that information under wraps. Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute is interviewed.
Clark Hoyt, “Journalistic ideals, human values,” The New York Times, July 5, 2009. The Times’ public editor agrees with the blackout in the Rohde case, quoting executive editor Bill Keller as saying that the kidnappers had demanded silence.
Mirthala Salinas and media coverage:
Shawn Huber, “The mayor and his mistress,” Los Angeles Magazine, May 2008.
The death of Princess Diana:
Jacqueline Sharkey, “The Diana aftermath,” American Journalism Review, November 1997.
Charlton Heston, “The Second Amendment: America’s first freedom,” speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Sept. 11, 1997; accessed at:
Act Independently
Bob Steele, “A pledge of allegiance for journalists,” Sept. 20, 2001. Steele discusses reporters and news outlets’ expressions of patriotism in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
Two newspapers acknowledged errors in pre-Iraq invasion coverage:
The New York Times, “The Times and Iraq,” May 26, 2004. The editors acknowledged that the newspaper should have been more aggressive in its coverage of the run-up to the Iraq war. The article states in part: “[W]e have found a number of instances of coverage that was not as rigorous as it should have been. In some cases, information that was controversial then, and seems questionable now, was insufficiently qualified or allowed to stand unchallenged. Looking back, we wish we had been more aggressive in re-examining the claims as new evidence emerged or failed to emerge.”
Howard Kurtz, “The Post on WMDs: an inside story; prewar articles questioning threat often didn’t make front page,” The Washington Post, Aug. 11, 2004. The paper’s media reporter analyzes its pre-war coverage: “In retrospect,” said Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr., “we were so focused on trying to figure out what the administration was doing that we were not giving the same play to people who said it wouldn’t be a good idea to go to war and were questioning the administration's rationale. Not enough of those stories were put on the front page. That was a mistake on my part.”
Be Accountable:
Lisa Newton, Louis Hodges, and Susan Keith. “Accountability in journalism,” Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 19(3&4), 173-180. (Academic databases) Accountability is viewed as a civilizing element in society, with professional accountability formalized in most cases as duties dating to the Greeks and Socrates; journalists must find their own way, without formal professional or government regulation or licensing. Three scholars look at the process in a line from the formal professional discipline to suggesting problems the journalism fraternity faces without regulation to suggesting serious internal ethics conferences as one solution to the problem.
The New York Times, “The Times Answers Spitzer Scandal Questions,” March 13, 2008. An example of how a news organization uses a blog to respond to the audience’s news-coverage questions as the story is being reported.
The Spokesman-Tribune, “Ask the Editors” blog. An example of how a news organization uses a blog to respond to audience questions.
Louise Williams Hermanson, “The Minnesota News Council: The story behind the creation,” Oral History Review 21/1 (Spring, 1993), © Oral History Association, 23–47.
Rachel Smolkin, “Too transparent?”, American Journalism Review, April/May 2006. It’s healthy for news organizations to be much more open about their decision making than they have been in the past. But in response to relentless pounding from bloggers and other critics, is the transparency movement getting out of hand?
Mallary Jean Tenore, “Rebuilding trust: What newsrooms are doing,” poynteronline,Feb. 20, 2008. Some news organizations are seeking feedback from critical consumers of news to help build credibility and trust.
Andrew Alexander, “Another endangered newsroom species,” The Washington Post, May 17, 2009. At least 14 US news ombudsmen lost their jobs between January 2008 and May 2009.
John Hamer, “Anatomy of a news council complaint,” Media Ethics, July 1, 2009. A case study of the Washington News Council’s handling of a complaint about a Seattle television station.
Jennifer Dorroh, “Knocking down the stonewall,” American Journalism Review, December/January 2005. Discusses what a news organization should do when its reporting comes under fire.
Jake Mooney, “From simple story to major mess,” Columbia Journalism Review, September/October 2003. After a Virginia television station made errors in reporting on a drug case, it did not respond promptly to complaints about accuracy and fairness. (Academic datases)
Case Study: Turning a Difficult Situation into a Personal Triumph
When Jacqui Banaszynski of the St. Paul Pioneer Press wrote her series on “AIDS in the Heartland” in 1987, she had tough ethical decisions to make at every step in the reporting process. She followed three of what would become cornerstone principles of the Society of Professional Journalists’ code of ethics: seek truth and report it, minimize harm, and act independently. Bob Steele wrote about the case for the November/December 1992 issue of Quill:
Additional Case Study
Sago mine: “The first cornerstone principle of the Society of Professional Journalists code of ethics is “seek truth and report it.” This case study illustrates how elusive truth can be. [LINK TO WORD DOCUMENT] Related:Frank Langfitt, “Covering the Sago Mine disaster: How a game of ‘whisper down the coal mine’ ricocheted around the world,” Nieman Reports, Summer 2006.