Media Code of Ethics

A detailed Summary of Media Code of Ethics

Webster's New World Pocket Dictionary defines ethics as "moral standards" and as a "system of morals." Webster's then defines moral as, "of or dealing with right or wrong." Similarly, media ethics are moral standards that are applied to the media. An example of this is the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics(1), a standardized list of items that members of the SPJ use as a guide in their strides to be effective journalists. In a similar manner, media professionals sometimes use their code of ethics as a device to shield themselves from attacks that are often led by individuals from the public who are dissatisfied with the journalist's work. Just as codes of ethics are utilized in various ways, the definition of media ethics is multifaceted.

There is no single, ruling definition of media ethics. Instead, the concept of media ethics exists in many forms that are all based on a similar premise of acting as a blueprint from which media personnel can base their practices and their decisions. Ethics are not absolute rules, and individuals who work with codes of ethics are not legally bound to them. But, a media worker may be held professionally responsible for their actions if they a

re in conflict with their profession's code of ethics. For example, if a journalist was to include racist remarks in their newspaper story about an Asians American politician, that journalist would not likely be arrested, but they would certainly be fired from their job. Even though ethics are not as absolute as laws, individuals can still be held accountable both socially and professionally, if they intentionally or carelessly break the code of ethics that they work from.

Acting independently is something that all journalists must do. This is especially important for our campus publication because we have great freedom to act independently of big business and other interest groups, unlike the major publications in our area. The first change that I made to the SPJ's code was to move the fifth standard to the very top of the list. This is because if all journalists "Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable," then they will be taking a large step towards enacting all of the other six standards. The second change that I made was to change the fourth standard to read, "Disclose all unavoidable conflicts in a clear and effective disclaimer." This would help to free the publication from criticism that says that it is not doing all that it can to recognize and address all conflicts that may arise from the coverage or content of the paper.

My group has chosen to adopt the SPJ Code of Ethics as our model code of journalistic ethics. We based our decisions on the premise that we were building an ideal code that would be applied to our journalistic efforts as editors and reporters on a student-run campus publication

When I read the sub-heading to the SPJ's section of Be Accountable, I made a minor change that I feel is necessary to our code. I added the word "equally" to the phrase, "Journalists are equally accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other." This is a minor clarification but it does force the reader to change the way that they think about the five standards. The only other change that I made to this section was to move the second standard to the bottom of the list. This is because of the fact that if all of the other standards are emphasized and closely followed, the public will likely have fewer grievances against the news media that they would want to voice. I do think that encouraging the public to voice their grievances is importan

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Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

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