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Ethics for Student Journalists. By: Ben Land. What are Ethics?. Ethics are learning the differences between right and wrong. Personal ethics – the standard one lives by to do the right thing in everyday life.
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Ethics for Student Journalists By: Ben Land
What are Ethics? • Ethics are learning the differences between right and wrong. • Personal ethics – the standard one lives by to do the right thing in everyday life. • You learn right and wrong from the examples set by the home, school, church, peers, and government.
Cont. • Different professions have different set of ethics • Medicine, law, and journalism have special ethics for members of those professions to follow. • For journalists, these ethics guide them in the pursuit of truth in the news-gathering process.
1st amendment • The first amendment to the U.S. Constitution is the basis for the laws and codes that guide journalists in the US in their work. • “freedom of press” • Congress has made some forms of gathering information illegal.
Benefits for following ethics • They help establish a sense of professionalism among all who work for one news organization. • Adherence to codes helps establish credibility with readers; the public is confident it can believe what it reads. • Codes provide a uniform measure for dealing with news-gathering problems. They make all training equal.
Individual Ethics Codes • An ethics code will only be effective if the journalists who work at the newspaper have a code and follow it.
Reporting • Want to make sure you focus on ethics when reporting. • A news anchor does not want to report a story unless all the information is gathered and the story can be proven. • Double check facts. • Make sure you know the facts your presenting
Ethics while writing and editing • Write a lead that doesn’t distort any information or slant the story in a deceptive way. • All facts, statistics, and the spelling of names need to be verified. • Review direct and indirect quotes
Code of Ethics for High School Journalists. • Don’t accept gifts • No special treatment for advertisers • Don’t use anonymous sources • Clarify • Confidentiality • Don’t have Conflict of interest • Corrections • crime news gets special care • Crime victims usually receive special care. • Don’t use Electronically altered photos • Fabrication is prohibited
Cont.… • False identity, concealed recording devices, stolen documents and eavesdropping are all illegal news gathering techniques. • Limit Identifying a person as a member of any group (race, religion, sexual orientation) • Don’t hamper law officials • Do not use negative stereotyping • News and commentary should be distinguishable. • When Reporting personal details about a public persons life be very cautious • Photo illustrations and posed photos are acceptable. • Plagiarism is prohibited • Don’t use profane or vulgar words • Don’t use sexist labels and descriptions • Sexually explicit words should only be used for accuracy in a health story.