Codes of Ethics

2. Content
• What is reporting
Forms of reporting
Code of ethics
Do’s and don'ts
• Beat reporting
Definition
How to cover a beat
Why report crime?
Crime reporting technique
How we find information about a
person connected to a crime?
Important things

3. General Reporting
• What is reporting?
• Reporting means, to
report, to tell, to
inform.
• Information is the
oxygen to think or to
form an opinion or to
react.
• Forms of reporting
• Two forms of reporting
are:
• General assignment
reporting
• Beats reporting or special
reporting

4. Code of ethics
• Do your utmost to give a
fair opportunity for reply.
• Do not place unnecessary
emphasis on personal
characteristics
• Aim to attribute
information to its source.
• Do your utmost to ensure
disclosure of any direct or
indirect payment made for
interviews, pictures,
information or stories.
• Use fair, responsible and
honest means to obtain
material.

5. Code of ethics
• Do not allow personal to
undermine your accuracy,
fairness or independence.
• Do not improperly use a
journalistic position for
personal gain.
• Any manipulation likely to
mislead should be
disclosed.
• Do not plagiarize
• Respect private grief and
personal privacy.
• Do your utmost to achieve
fair correction of errors.

6. Do’s and don'ts
• Where give pace ever possible
abbreviations should be avoided,
avoid roman numbers.
• Mr. & Mrs. Dr are permissible but
MS, Prof, Asst and Dir are not.
• Six thousand and 23 (ok) 6,023 (not
good)
• Three Million eight hundred (ok)
3,008,00 (Not good)
• Eight Billion, 600
thousand (ok) 30
8,600,000,000 (Not good)
• Use figure for 10 to 999,
but after that write
thousands, millions and
billions.
• Principles of good writing
• Write in words not in
figures or digits

7. Do’s and don'ts
• Put action into your words.
• Use terms which your reader
can understand
• Tie in with your reader’s
experience
• Make full use of variety.
• Keep sentences short, on the
average.
• Write the way you talk
• Write to express, not to
impress.
• Prefer simple on the
complex
• Prefer the familiar words.
• Avoid unnecessary words

8. Beat reporting
• Definition
A beat reporter is a type of reporter that exclusively covers
one field of interest, like politics, business, crime, fashion, sports
or music. Beat reporters are often very knowledgeable in their
specific coverage areas, and may be given license to come up
with the ideas for their stories rather than take assignments from
editors.

9. How to cover a beat
Be Organized
Be Prepared
Be Alert
Be Persistent
Be There
Be Accurate
Be Wary

10. Crime Reporting
• Crime Reporting is a written account of an incident observed
from one or more sources It can also be defined as the
communication of information arranged in an accurate, concise,
clear and complete manner, which then becomes a record of a
given incidents to an interested party for decision to be made.

11. Why report crime?
There are several reasons why people want to read about or listen to
stories of crime
• Readers or listeners often want an explanation of why crimes happen.
• Your readers and listeners need to know how laws are broken, and how
people who break laws are caught and punished.
• Most people obey the law, so crime stories are about unusual events - one
of the criteria for news.
• Some people are interested in the way criminals get something without
much effort.
• Criminals take risks and face punishment if they are caught. This may
make them fascinating to read about.

12. Crime reporting technique
• Making and keeping contacts
• Police contacts
• The police press conference
• Observation and monitoring
• Documents and reports
• Keep a filing system and diary

13.  How we find information about a person
connected to a crime?
• On the ground
• Government records, data
• Your news organization
• Social media
• Other internet resources
• More things to try

14. Important things
• Gather all the facts
• Know your patch
• Dealing with criminals
• Dealing with sources
• Keep your hands clean
• Do not sensationalize
• Dealing with the victims
of crime
• Dealing with suspects
• Handling news blackouts
• Taste and decency
• Trend or one-off?