Journalism Code of Ethics- Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics

Journalism Code of Ethics- Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics. Types of Journalism Different Types of Journalism are Print Journalism, Broadcast Journalism & Digital Journalism.

News Values in Journalism

Journalism Code of Ethics:

Question:  A journalist comes into possession of a private e-mail sent by a well-known person to an apparent lover and considers quoting the e-mail and the recipient’s name in a blog. Should the reporter use the e-mail and the recipient’s name?

Comments

According to my perception, the reporter should mention both the e-mail and the recipient’s name to cover a report in the newspaper. Personally, I do not support making a report with personal email information, and it is doesn’t matter who is the sender and receiver. Everyone has a personal life, and it is not good to bring personal issues into the public. People will not accept these types of news normally. I want to support publishing these emails when necessary to reveal everything. And, I support disclosing email and the recipient’s name when need to make professional news based on them. First of all, reporters need to write very clear and precise news for audiences.

Rini (2017) stated that audiences would not accept any ambiguous and fake news. In this perspective, the reporter will not convey a clear message if they don’t mention the e-mail and recipient’s name. News will lose its authenticity, and it can be considered fake news. In addition, audiences want to know who the well-known person sends the private e-mail to. Here, two factors are very important: who is sending the email and who is receiving it. Therefore reporters can publish both sender and receiver names in the newspaper that news-readers cannot term as fake news. Finally, the reporter has to be quoted as the email a well-known person has sent to make the news more trustworthy.

The comment of the question “A journalist comes into possession of a private e-mail sent by a well-known person to an apparent lover and considers quoting the e-mail and the recipient’s name in a blog. Should the reporter use the e-mail and the recipient’s name?” has been made by a student, and it is just an example of how to answer.

Journalism Code of Ethics: Question

Question: A reporter is on an assignment with a photographer who enters a house without permission and photographs the sale of illegal drugs. Should the reporter publish the photos?

Comments

According to my perception, the reporter should not publish the photos that enter a house without permission and photographs of the sale of illegal drugs. Firstly, the reporter didn’t have the permission of the house owner to enter the house or take photographs. As a person, the reporter should realize that entering someone’s house sneakily is unethical, wrong.

Secondly, as a responsible citizen of a nation, he must abide by some rules; he can’t do such things as trespassing. It is one kind of crime to do trespassing (Gillespie, n.d.). Only police can get into the house that too with a search warrant. The reporter could be punished for entering the house without taking permission. Finally, a reporter cannot publish the photographs whatever he wants to publish (Wang & Redwood-Jones, 2001).

The reporter can face many problems because of his foolish activities. For example, the house owner can file a defamation case against the publishing company. People will not accept such publishing that is collected in the wrong ways. Even the company can be got into legal issues if the publishing company allows the reporter. If he does something like this without a higher authority concern, the reporter can be fired from a job. He can be arrested if the house owner complains against him for breaking into his house.

For example: In 2002, on 5 March, a Pennsylvania reporter named Andrew Broman was arrested, charged with misdemeanor criminal trespassing for refusing to leave the private property while seeking the information at a nonprofit agency.

So, it is very safe to say that trespassing is a criminal offense, and reporters are not allowed to seek information in this way. And the information gathered in these ways is also not allowed for publishing for any publishers.  Therefore, the reporter should not publish the photos, let alone publishing; he also should not collect photographs or information in these illegal ways.

Journalism Code of Ethics: Question

Question: A reporter is covering a sexual assault trial in which a victim is a young man. The arresting officer tells the reporter that the crime is not a surprise because the victim “is queer.” Should the reporter use the officer’s quotation?

Comments

I think the reporter has permission to use quotations; therefore, he can use the quotation. Conrad (1999) states that “the best quotations reveal the reality about the person being quoted.” It helps reflect the speaker’s opinion on the subject of the story; even here, in this case of sexual assault trial, the quotation of the arresting officer is also important. First of all, it will help to know about the victim that is a young man. Moreover, it will also reflect the officer’s opinion on the context. It will clear the overall condition of the incident.

In addition, reporters have the privilege to use quotations about anyone, even if it is about a politician, businessman, the general public, or a queer. This is the same for everyone. In a sexual assault trial, this quotation from the office will clear the situation. So, the reporter should use the quotation.

But reporters often try hard to receive colorful quotations as per their wish to make the news more interesting. This is how the reporter shows people what they want to get. This is not appropriate, unethical, and it is also against the law.

The court will save the reporter as long as he uses the quotation, exactly as it was said. But, if the reporter tempers with the quotation and presents it in a way that gives the wrong conception about the situation, it damages the real image of the context. So, if the officer or speaker complains against the reporter, he will be punished cause it will be taken as a crime.

And the arresting officer said his words willingly to the reporter when the reporter was covering that sexual assault trial incident. That is why the reporter doesn’t require the permission of the arresting officer to use his quotation. It is legal to use an oral statement or quotation of a person. So there are also no legal constraints.

Therefore, as long as the quotation remains the same, the reporter should use the quotation of the arresting officer if it makes the sexual assault trial context clear.

The comment of the question “A reporter is covering a sexual assault trial in which a victim is a young man. The arresting officer tells the reporter that the crime is not a surprise because the victim “is queer.” Should the reporter use the officer’s quotation?” has made by a student. It is just an example on how to answer.

Journalism Code of Ethics: Question

Question: A team of reporters is working on a series of articles about possible corruption in the city agency responsible for zoning. One reporter gets an anonymous call from a senior official offering to give information about wrongdoing, but only on condition of anonymity. Should the reporter agree to anonymity for the source?

Comments

Reporters can use information in their news given in conditions for anonymity. But the reporter should agree to anonymity if it applies to any of the conditions given below:

The source is information, not personal opinion, and is important to the news article: The reporter must understand that the information provided by the senior official should be real Information. It is not the speaker’s personal opinion, thoughts, or suspicions. Cause the reporter cannot publish one anonymous person’s news without being sure that the information is true. And the information must be vital to the report.  If the reporter thinks that the information is an important link to that corruption and gives the right track to the article, the reporter should agree to anonymity for the source.

The information is unavailable without the condition of anonymity. If the reporter is told that the information can only be used if it is accepted as anonymity. And, the information is vital and tough to get, then the reporter should agree to anonymity.

The source is trustworthy and in a position to have true information.

The information provided should be reliable and in a position that he could really have the true news. Sometimes people try to distract the reporters from giving false information. So, the reporter must know if the information is accurate or not.  Here, the information provider is a senior official, so he could really have accurate information. The source is trustworthy and true.

The comment of the question “A team of reporters are working on a series of articles about possible corruption in the city agency responsible for zoning. One reporter gets an anonymous call from a senior official offering to give information about wrongdoing, but only on condition of anonymity. Should the reporter agree to anonymity for the source?” a student has made it, and it is just an example of how to answer.

Journalism Code of Ethics Question 5:

What should the editors and the newsrooms do to improve public trust in news media?

Answer

According to Heyamoto (2018), the editors and newsroom must play an important role in earning and improving public trust in news media. He also stated that newsrooms and editors should follow some conditions to improve public trusts, such as authenticity, transparency, consistency, positivity, and diversity.  Now, most people use social media widely, so it is a great responsibility to improve public trust. The general public will depend more on social media if they cannot earn public trust (Laws, 2015). These conditions that have been proposed by the “Heyamoto” must help the media to earn public trust.

References:

Heyamoto, L (2018). 6 ways to increase the public’s trust in journalism. Retrieve from https://digitalcontentnext.org/blog/2018/08/15/6-ways-to-increase-the-publics-trust-in-journalism/

Laws, A. S. (2015). Museum websites and social media: participation, sustainability, trust, and diversity (Vol. 8). Berghahn Books.

Journalism Code of Ethics Question 6:

If you should write one ethical rule to be implemented in the Code of Media Ethics, what would it be like?

Answer

According to Blanchard (1977), journalists and broadcasters have to become more responsible for journalism. The Hutchins Commission proposed five guidelines specifically for the media and press. These guidelines are present meaningful news, accurate and separated from opinion, serve as a forum for the exchange of comment and criticism and to expand access to diverse points of view, project “a representative picture of the constituent groups in society, clarify the goals and values of society; implicit was an appeal to avoid pandering to the lowest common denominator, give a broad coverage of what was known about society (Blanchard, 1998).

He also said that these guidelines are significant because the media is needed to maintain a neutral viewpoint, providing the basic facts and allowing readers to come up with their own opinions from the news they report.

References

Blanchard, M. A. (1977). The Hutchins Commission, the press, and the responsibility concept. Journalism and Communication Monographs, 49.

Blanchard, M. A. (1998). Reclaiming freedom of the press: A Hutchins Commission dream or nightmare?

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