Journalism Standards

Standards of Professionalism Journalism

Society of Professional Journalist Code of Ethics

The primary purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with the information they need to be free and self-governing.

"Without facts, you can’t have truth. Without truth, you can’t have trust. Without trust, we have no shared reality, no democracy, and it becomes impossible to deal with our world’s existential problems: climate, coronavirus, the battle for truth." Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace Prize lecture, Dec. 10, 2021

Our founders understood the importance of truthful information when they wrote the first amendment. It states “Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom...of the press…” Now, 229 years later, this freedom is more vital than ever. It is well known that oppressive governments exercise control over their countries’ press.
Factual unbiased reporting is essential for citizens to vote wisely and exercise control over their government judiciously. Without confidence in the reportage citizens receive, we cannot do our jobs as citizens in a democracy, or conduct our own affairs effectively.

Journalism’s first loyalty is to citizens, loyalty that requires vigilance.

Reporting is affected by journalism or reporting is affected by numerous forces, so it must be clear what value rises above all. A number of outside sources impact journalists’ ability to report the news, so it is paramount that loyalty to the facts and their use to citizens be given first priority. Financial pressures on a news organization can lead it to cut corners or slant reporting to satisfy the organization’s owners or advertisers. Ideological, cultural, and political norms often impact a media organization. Loyalty to any of these pressures and temptations must be resisted if the citizen is to be well served.

The foundation of journalism is of verification.

Verification of the accuracy and thoroughness of information is fundamental to journalism. It can be time-consuming and costly, so the temptation to skip or skimp on verification is strong in today’s competitive environment. Competition for advertising dollars and other sources of financing makes cutting corners tempting. Pressures to beat competing news reporters to the punch can tempt reporters to cut corners, even if the accuracy of their reportage is in doubt.

Journalists must maintain an independence from those they cover.

Journalists are humans, and they have distinctive experiences, backgrounds, interests, and connections. However, a journalist must limit and police their ties to interest groups. Journalists need to admit to their connections or biases, and, if they wish to address an issue where those come into play, recuse themselves; or present their ideas as opinion pieces.

Journalists must serve as an independent monitor of power.

People in government can and do take actions that are wrong, even illegal. They have tremendous power - including the power to cover up their acts.
However, in our country, government officials are either elected by the citizens or appointed by people who are elected. So, the citizens are sovereign, and the media are in a position to help them watch for and shine the light of truth on misdeeds. Since citizens do not always have the time or resources to be such a watchdog, our media takes on an even more important role.

Journalism must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise.

Journalism has long been the place where much public dialogue took place. This process has become more complex and distorted with the speed of information flow, particularly with the advent of social media. Now, it is easy for huge numbers of people to put “information” into the public realm without checking its truthfulness, or without caring. Obviously, this can lead to a lot of erroneous information, and worse, lead to distrust and disinterest in public affairs.
Ideally, professional journalists would monitor and influence public debate, but that has become much more difficult in the era of social media. Anyone can post thoughts or opinions instantly without checking the facts. Postings can be extreme, degrading, inflammatory, and slanderous.

Journalism must make the significant interesting and relevant.

There is ever-increasing competition for the eyes and ears of the public as a result of the explosion of information and the speed at which it is delivered. In addition to news, opinion, and other serious public affairs reporting, we also have entertainment, sports, infotainment, advertising, and more. For critical information to reach and inform citizens, it must capture their attention and be easy to absorb.
Newspaper reporting traditionally used the “inverted pyramid”, a form of writing that put the most important facts at the beginning of an article. This had a purpose, but could be dry and uninteresting. In addition to all their other challenges, journalists now must make their work more appealing while still being informative to be competitive and to serve the consumer.

Bill Kovach & Tom Rosenthiel, The Elements of Journalism; What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect.