The document discusses the importance of social and cultural awareness for journalists. It notes that journalists often write about groups they may not be familiar with, so it is important they do not create biased representations. The National Union of Journalists has prepared ethical guidelines for journalists covering topics like terrorism, race, disability, and others. Journalists must consider how their writing may influence readers' perceptions of different groups.

1. NUJ Presentation

2. Social and cultural awareness
A lot of the time journalists will write about groups of people that their readers may not have much first
hand experience with. This means that the way in which the journalists write about this group can
greatly influence the way in which the readers feel about a certain group. It is important that journalists
do not create representations of people which are biased or unhelpful, this is particularly important in
news reporting.
There are a wide range of groups that can be vulnerable to being badly represented in the media. The
National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has prepared for its members a range of ethical guidance sheets to be
used by its members when writing about groups of people. The guidelines have been prepared for the
reporting of:
Terrorism
Race
Asylum and immigration
HIV
Age
Disability
Suicide
It is extremely important that journalists have social and cultural awareness due to the fact that they are
constantly writing about a large amount of different types of people who are diverse in their
backgrounds and beliefs and it is important that they do not write anything that discriminates against
peoples or creates a bad image of a group of people.

3. Connotation
Connotation is where something suggests something. For example using certain
language can connote power. Journalists especially must be very careful with the
connotations which might be perceived of the work they produce. Language can be a
powerful tool and journalists use this to get across their point or convey a message.
What journalists write and the way in which they write can be extremely powerful in
the way readers view what they are talking about. This is why they must be very
careful in order to ensure that what they are writing does not carry with it any strong,
unnecessary connotations, which can often be bias and unhelpful.

4. Alternative readings
When a journalist writes something they have an audience in mind, however this does
not mean that other people wont read what they are writing. Due to this they must be
careful and think about any possible misinterpretations or misconceptions which
people may have if the piece was not written with them in mind.
Some people may have different opinions on subjects due to their experiences. For
example subcultures, minority groups and victims of crime may need to be considered
when writing about some subjects.

5. Credibility
It is extremely important for journalists to be trustworthy and reliable. If they are not
and have a bad reputation people will question the credibility of everything they
write, whether its true or not. That is why they must consistently be credible,
otherwise it may invalidate all their other writing in the eyes of some people.
For journalism to be credible it should be accurate, fair, balanced, truthful and
objective.

6. Objective
If journalists have an agenda they will look for and select things which support their
ideas and beliefs and are likely to ignore or not use things which go against their ideas
and beliefs. This means that the work that they produce is not going to provide an
independent view of an event or story and is going to be bias and heavily influenced
by the journalists ideas.
In order for journalism to be truly credible it must be impartial, unprejudiced and
unbiased. This is the ideal, however it is quite unrealistic and far from reality. The vast
majority of newspapers have a political agenda which means that the lean more left or
right on the political scale, which has a huge effect on what they produce.
Editors will will push stories which align with the newspapers political stance or ideas,
while pushing away those which oppose it.
The language used and the way in which a story is covered will also follow the political
agenda, comparing papers on the left and the right is interesting as there is a huge
difference in the way they are constructed and the sort of stories which they cover.

7. Accurate
Another things which factors in to the credibility of journalism is how accurate it is. It
must be accurate in order for it to be credible. Important information such as names,
dates, times, quotes etc. must all be correct.
Additionally the stories themselves need to be accurate. They need to be a report of
facts instead of opinions. Failure to do this can cause harm and distress to the people
that are being written about and could damage their reputation or people opinions of
them.
If someone feels that a report is inaccurate then they may complain to the Press
Complaints Commission who will then investigate the case and if it I required they will
force the publication to print a correction or a retraction. This can greatly affect a
journalists (or publications) reputation so it is best to report accurately in the first
place.

8. Truthful
One of the most important aspects of journalism is being truthful.
Due to the fact that journalism is about facts and the truth, being truthful is arguably
the most important aspect for a journalist. Presenting the truth is key to being seen as
credible.
If journalists stop writing truth then they veer more towards writing fiction, which isn’t
journalism. Furthermore, producing work which is not truthful can have serious legal
and ethical consequences.
It is not uncommon for facts and statistics to be twisted to attempt to make a point
which coincides which a publications viewpoint. Allegations can be made about
people which are completely false and have no basis in reality.

9. Fair and
Balanced
Writing should always be approached in an open-minded and non-discriminatory
manner.. It is specifically stated in the NUJ code of ethics that their journalists should
not produce work which is likely to lead to hatred or discrimination.
In order to produce credible journalism writing should be even-handed. By this I mean
that it should give balance to both sides of the argument and allow the reader to
make their own decision based on the fact which have been presented on them, as
opposed to forcing your opinion on them.
Like some of the previous issues this is often overlooked or ignored. This is an
idealistic view and in reality publications and journalists on all sides are likely to break
this rule.

10. Legal Obligations
There are many legal aspects which are involved in journalism.
Defamation:
Defamation is basically false or unjustified damage of the reputation of someone else.
It could be a false accusation of an offense or a malicious misrepresentation of
someone words or actions. Defamation goes against being truthful, fair or accurate as
a journalist. Defamation can lead to a libel case.
Many of these cases occur every year as politicians, celebrities and members of the
public feel they have been libeled by a newspaper
Copyright:
Copyright is essentially the exclusive right to make copies, license and otherwise
exploit work. Journalists must be careful not to break copyright law by reproducing
work which is not theirs without permission from whoever has copyright. Additionally
journalists must ensure they do not plagiarize the work of others. Plagiarism could
lead to a copyright infringement.

11. Children and young persons:
The editors code of practice is very clear on the way things should be handled when
dealing with children or young people or stories concerning them.
The rules concerning children and criminal cases a particularly clear, but they also
cover consent for contact with and photographs with children.

12. Confidentiality:
Sometimes journalists may attend illegal events or speak to people who are breaking
the law as part of an investigation.
In these situations journalists are protected by laws which means they don’t have to
reveal the identities of their sources of information or names of people involved in
these activities.
It is stated in the editors code of practice that “journalists have a moral obligation to
protect confidential sources of information”.
Official secrets:
There is a piece of law called the Official Secrets Act that protects state secrets and
national security.
People who go through a period of employment that involves access to secrets
commonly have to sign the official secrets act before and after the period of
employment.
In the past the Official Secrets Act has been used in an attempt to force journalists to
reveal their sources, if the authority believes that it is a matter of national security.

13. Ethical
Codes of practice:
There exists codes of practice, such as the NUJ codes and the Editors Code of Practice,
which give guidelines to journalists in regard to how they should conduct their work
and how they should write.
These codes being in place mean that journalists, editors and the public are given a set
of standards to look up to, particularly when things go wrong.
These codes are self-regulated by the industry so that their use and interpretation is
viable. Recently it has been revealed that the codes of practice have been broken, in
some cases extremely often and even daily, by some editors and journalists.
If someone thinks that a journalist or newspaper has acted inappropriately then they
can complain to the Independent Press Standards Organisation

14. Privacy:
Privacy is one of the sections in the editors code of practice. Is basically states that
everyone is entitled to respect for their private and family life, home, health and
correspondence. This includes digital communications.
In the code of conduct the NUJ states that journalists should not ‘intrude into
anybody’s private life, grief or distress unless justified by overriding consideration of
the public interest’
In reality people privacy may be disrupted (and often is) if the editor is able to prove
that it is in the public interest.
There is a fine line between the public interest and interest of the public, and it is
often crossed.

15. Intrusion:
According to the editors code of practice journalists must not intrude in to grief or
shock. Enquiries and approaches must be made with sympathy and discretion in cases
which involve grief or shock and the publication must be handled sensitively. However
this should not restrict the right to report legal proceedings, such as inquests.
Additionally the NUJ Code of Conduct covers intrusion and states that journalists do
nothing to intrude into anybody’s private life, grief or distress unless justified by
overriding consideration of the public interest.
Harassment:
It states very clearly in the Editors Code of Practice that journalists are not meant to
intimidate, harass or persistently pursue people, and must stop contacting or
photographing a person once they have been asked to do so.
Similarly to some of the other issues, in reality this line is often crossed. The defence
of this is usually centered around the idea of ‘public interest’.