Code of Ethics

Seek the Truth and Report it / Be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting, and interpreting information to make sure you have the truth. Promote justice wherever possible. Be “the watchdog of the government.”
Act Independently / Be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know.
Be Accountable / Answer to your readers, listeners, viewers and each other. Be a trustworthy surrogate.
Minimize Harm / Treat sources, subjects, and colleagues as human beings, deserving of respect. Be a humane truth-teller. “The job of the newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”

Important Terms

Attribution / Identify where the information came from so the audience can judge the value of the information.
Fair Comment / You may write your opinion about books, movies, etc. so long as the facts are true and you are clear it is your opinion
Objectivity / Journalists must be fair, neutral observers of events and issues. They should be balanced.
Simultaneous Rebuttal/Right of Reply / If you print or air criticism of someone, you must permit that person to respond in the same article/same interview.
Truth / Only report what you know as absolute certainty.
Accuracy / Everything must be correct, especially names and addresses
Libel / Printed false information and/or defamation of character.
Good Taste / Avoid sensationalism, nothing sexually explicit, never glorify bad behavior.
Admission of Error / You must immediately write a retraction or correction the next day.
Plagiarism / This happens when someone does not give credit when he or she uses someone's words or ideas.

Functions of a Journalist

Political / Be the watchdog of the government. Cover government activities. Fight attempts of “closed door business”. This has weekend in last 20 years with rise of “soft news”.
Economic / Inform public about products, goods, services, events, business, industrial, agricultural news. Advertising is also part of function as a means to end (funds paper)
Sentry / Present up and coming issues-potential problems. Problematic trends
Record Keeping / records of events on local, national, global level DATA on all public knowledge
Entertainment / comics, features-all ages audience interest

Social

/ In years past, news was carried by word of mouth in a community. Now the press gives information on events going on in a community.
Marketplace / forum to present ideas (editorials, columns, letters, opinions)-generate discussion
Agenda-setting- / what we should be thinking about (NOT WHAT TO THINK) power to highlight certain issues that media deems important to public(conserve water etc…) this agenda function can become problematic