Ethics Resources
Ethical journalism strives to ensure the free exchange of information that is accurate, fair and thorough. An ethical journalist acts with integrity.
The Society of Professional Journalists emphasizes ethics in news gathering and reporting, as noted in the quote above, from the SPJ national website. As outlined in their code of ethics, the following four principles are necessary to maintain a high ethical standard in journalism:
- Seek truth and report it.
- Minimize harm.
- Act independently.
- Be accountable and transparent.
SPJ has an ethics hotline available for advice about ethics issues in journalism.
For more detailed information about ethics in journalism, here are a few sites to visit.
Quill ethics aggregate. From SPJ’s magazine, this site compiles relevant articles on ethics.
SPJ has several position papers on topics include:
- Reporting on Grief, Tragedy and Victims
- Anonymous Sources
- Accountability
- Plagiarism
- Checkbook Journalism
- Political Involvement
SPJ Houston Pro Chapter 