This presentation is on Chapter 7: Using a Code of Ethics as a Decision Tool from "The Ethical Journalist" by Gene Foreman. It was prepared by Professor Linda Austin for her JNL-2105 Journalism Ethics students at the National Management College in Yangon, Myanmar, in June 2015.

1. CODES OF ETHICS
Chapter 7, The Ethical Journalist

2. Codes as a decision tool
• Codes represent
an effort to define
best practices.
• Use them as part
of a step-by-step
decision process,
not as a
substitute for that
process.

3. A code on a wallet card
• “Don’t accept free stuff.
• Don’t cover friends, families – or enemies.
• Don’t use your position for personal benefit.
• Don’t make stuff up.
• Explain where you got your information.
• Don’t steal other people’s work.
• Don’t alter photographs.”
-- Manning Pynn, public editor,
Orlando Sentinel in Florida, United States

4. Don’t use your position for personal benefit.
Photo by Wendy Harman

5. SPJ Code’s 4 guiding
principles
1. Seek truth and
report it.
2. Minimize harm.
3. Act independently.
4. Be accountable and
transparent.

6. How the principles work
•They operate in tandem, not in isolation.
•Sometimes, they conflict.

7. How the principles work
Frequently, you have to balance truth-
telling against minimizing harm.

8. Your turn: Report donor’s prison record?
$
1. Seek truth and report it versus 2. Minimize harm
Arguments:
1. YES, I would report it,
and here’s why:
2. NO, I would not report it,
and here’s why:

9. 4 Classic Theories of
Ethics
1. Rule-based thinking.
Follow the rule.
2. Ends-based thinking.
Greatest good for the most people.
3. The Golden Rule.
4. Aristotle’s Golden Mean.
Avoid extremes. Compromise.
1. Seek truth and report it versus 2. Minimize harm

10. Your turn: Report donor’s prison record?
$
1. Seek truth and report it versus 2. Minimize harm
Arguments:
1. YES, I would report it,
and here’s why:
2. NO, I would not report it,
and here’s why:

11. Standards for the profession
• Below each of the
four guiding
principles are specific
standards of conduct.
• Each of these
standards represents
a consensus within
the profession.
Updated in 2014.

12. SPJ Code’s 4 guiding
principles
1. Seek truth and
report it.
2. Minimize harm.
3. Act independently.
4. Be accountable and
transparent.
1. Seek truth and report it

13. 1. Seek truth and report it.
• Truth starts with getting the facts
verified and accurate.
• Goes beyond transcribing what
someone in authority has to say.
BossBoss
StenographerStenographer
1. Seek truth and report it

14. 1. Seek truth and report it
“You are not
a stenographer.”
“Your job is
to get the
answers.”
“Your job is
to get the
truth.”

15. 1950s: U.S. Sen. Joseph
McCarthy
• Journalists reported his undocumented charges
of Communists in U.S. government.
• Great damage done to his targets
• ASK: HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?
1. Seek truth and report it

16. 1981 movie: Absence of Malice
“Suppose you picked
up this morning’s
newspaper, and your
life was a front-page
headline….and
everything they said
was accurate but not
true.”
1. Seek truth and report it

17. Lessons: Absence of Malice
• Can be accurate but
not true.
• Beware the motives of
anonymous sources.
• ASK: HOW DO YOU
KNOW THAT?
• Make more than one
phone call to the target
of an investigation.
• Should you identify a
target before arrest?
1. Seek truth and report it

18. SPJ Code’s 4 guiding
principles
1. Seek truth and
report it.
2. Minimize harm.
3. Act independently.
4. Be accountable and
transparent.
2. Minimize harm

19. 2. Minimize harm
• In reporting the truth, journalists
need to be aware of the harm that
can result.
• They should inflict as little harm
as possible while fulfilling their
duty to inform the public about
news of importance.
2. Minimize harm

20. Examples of minimizing harm
Not reporting:
•troop movements
• location of police-
assault teams
•Names of sex-
crime victims and
children accused of
a crime
2. Minimize harm

21. Examples of minimizing harm
Not reporting Prince Harry’s service
in Afghanistan
2. Minimize harm

22. Examples of minimizing harm
• Not reporting the kidnapping of a New York
Times reporter and two Afghans by the
Taliban for seven months
2. Minimize harm

23. Examples of minimizing harm
Interview with Kelly McBride, who teaches
journalism ethics at the Poynter Institute
2. Minimize harm

24. Examples of minimizing harm
Comments from
Joel Simon,
Committee to
Protect Journalists
2. Minimize harm
From New York Times “Covering Hostages, Without Becoming Pawns”
“Although he supported the
blackout on the coverage of
Mr. Rohde’s abduction at
the time,” Mr. Simon has
changed his mind. ‘I
support more coverage,’ he
said….”
“Lack of public attention
can increase danger, and…
‘governments tend to act’
when issues are getting
media attention.”

25. Your turn: what would you do?
• Arguments:
• 1. YES, I would withhold
news of the reporter’s
and his Afghan
colleagues’ kidnapping
by the Taliban, and here’s
why.
• 2. NO, I would not
withhold news of the
reporter’s and his Afghan
colleagues’ kidnapping
by the Taliban and here’s
why.
2. Minimize harm
• Rule-based thinking
• Ends-based thinking
• Golden Rule
• Aristotle’s Golden
Mean

26. Your turn: what would you do?
Arguments:
1. YES:
•Ends-based: minimizes harm
to the kidnapped
•Golden Rule: I wouldn’t want
it published if I were held.
•Golden Mean: ???
2. Minimize harm
2. NO:
•Rules-based: publish all true information
•Ends-based: greater good for NGOs, governments to
know how dangerous it is

27. Your turn: Would you print this
photo?
2. Minimize harm
Facts:
•Boy injured by falling
furniture.
•Mother waiting for
helicopter.
•Photographer on
public street.
•Mother objected.
Arguments:
1. YES, I would
publish it, and here’s
why:
2. NO, I would not
publish it, and here’s
why:

28. Your turn: Would you print this
photo?
2. Minimize harm
Arguments:
1.YES:
•Ends-based:
minimizes harm to the
mother
•Golden Rule: I
wouldn’t want it
published if I were the
mom.
•Golden Mean: ???
2. NO:
•Rule-based: I publish
all true info
•Ends-based: greatest
good to most – a
warning

29. SPJ Code’s 4 guiding
principles
1. Seek truth and
report it.
2. Minimize harm.
3. Act independently.
4. Be accountable and
transparent.
3. Act independently

30. 3. Act independently
•Journalists = observers, not players.
•Distance themselves from sources to
avoid apparent conflict of interest.
View from the press box at FedEx Field, outside Washington, D.C.
3. Act independently

31. Review vocabulary words
•Conflict of interest:
Putting concern for a person or group
other than the audience first in your
stories
•Apparent conflict of interest:
Something that the journalist does – or
says – publicly that causes the
audience to perceive a conflict of
interest or bias, even though the
journalist’s reporting is appropriate.
3. Act independently

32. Apparent conflict of interest
3. Act independently

33. Your turn: what would you do?
3. Act independently
Facts:
•The Eagles doing benefit
concert tickets to support a
U.S. Senate candidate
•Editor bans journalists
from buying tickets
Arguments:
1. YES, I would ban
journalists from attending,
and here’s why:
2. NO, I would not ban
journalists, and here’s
why:

34. SPJ Code’s 4 guiding
principles
1. Seek truth and
report it.
2. Minimize harm.
3. Act independently.
4. Be accountable and
transparent.
4. Be accountable and transparent

35. 4. Be accountable and
transparent
•Accountable:
Journalists
correct their
mistakes.
• Transparent:
Journalists
explain choices
and processes.
4. Be accountable and transparent

36. One day of
corrections
• 10 stories corrected!
• Invites corrections from readers
4. Be accountable and transparent

37. Told readers their
pre-Iraq war coverage was lacking
4. Be accountable and transparent

38. Independent public editor writes
about Times’ performance
4. Be accountable and transparent
• Reviewer had lunch with author
• Reviewer of book on
psychotherapists had bad
experience in therapy

39. SPJ Code’s 4 guiding
principles
1. Seek truth and
report it.
2. Minimize harm.
3. Act independently.
4. Be accountable and
transparent.
3. Act independently

40. Next: Codes as a decision
tool
• How similar and
how different is
the Myanmar
Media Code of
Conduct from
the U.S. Society
of Professional
Journalists’
code?