Written. Our final exam will be a take-home written exam similar in format to the midterm. I will post it to The Mackerel Wrapper next week, and it will be due during the scheduled exam period, Dec. ___. As with the midterm, you have the option of writing the exam in D220 during the scheduled period.
Since I strongly believe a firm grounding in professional ethics is basic to dealing with issues of media law, we will begin our student of the chapters on law and ethics by looking at the codes of ethics for journalists and public relations professionals. They are linked below.
Today's in-class assignment: Group up with the people sitting next to you and read the ethical canons of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Public Relations Society of America. Brainstorm these questions and post your answers to the class blog. What do you think are the most important points of each? How difficult do you believe they would be to follow? How can you be guided by them now as students? What do they have in common? How are they different? How do they apply their principles to new media? Post your answers as comments to this item on the blog, and be sure to put all your names on the comment so you all get credit for posting.
1. The Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists:
Members of the Society of Professional Journalists believe that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist's credibility. Members of the Society share a dedication to ethical behavior and adopt this code to declare the Society's principles and standards of practice.
Seek Truth and Report It
Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information. ...
Minimize Harm
Ethical journalists treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect. ...
Act Independently
Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know. ...
Be Accountable
Journalists are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other. ...
2. The Code of Ethics of the Public Relations Society of America
The Code, created and maintained by the PRSA Board of Ethics and Professional Standards (BEPS), sets out principles and guidelines built on core values. Fundamental values like advocacy, honesty, loyalty, professional development and objectivity structure ethical practice and interaction with clients and the public.
Translating values into principles of ethical practice, the Code advises professionals to:
- Protect and advance the free flow of accurate and truthful information.
- Foster informed decision making through open communication.
- Protect confidential and private information.
- Promote healthy and fair competition among professionals.
- Avoid conflicts of interest.
- Work to strengthen the public’s trust in the profession.
9 comments:
The SPJ code is basically protecting people form the fear of Libel. It states that journalist must obtain their information fairly and only use the facts when writing a story. They make a promise to be accurate and to be responsible, meaning "Admitting mistakes and correct them promptly".
Ethical Guidance talks about the ethical values of journalism. It reduces conflicts of interest, makes for fair and concise competition between other journalists, and works to gain the public's trust.
Though both SHOULD BE FOLLOWED, it is hard to abide by these when you are trying to get a good story and doing it by whatever means needed to do so.
I think the most important in SpJ is being honest and the most important in PrS is confidential information. I don't think it would be difficult to follow at all. We can be guided by following these codes in our writing. Minimizing harm is something they both have. They are different because the Pra says to promote healthy and fair competition, the Spj says to act independently. They apply to principles with values such as honesty, advocacy, loyalty, professional development and thoroughness.
Group, Cali, Amr
Chris Day
Nick Jachino
Dave Maziarz
We feel the most important aspects of the Code of Ethics is seeking the truth and reporting it, and being accountable. These two aspects fall hand in hand, because a part of being a reliable reporter is finding the truth and then sharing the information. It is not moral to print false information, as well as it can be damaging to a reporter’s career. If you print false information, then you are likely to lose your job along with your followers and readers. It may sometimes be difficult to follow the codes of ethics when seeking the truth, because it is not always easy to find truth. It can be easy to be opinionated when writing instead of sticking to the pure truth. As students, the code of ethics provides us with structure and a set of guidelines to get started with reporting or covering events. We feel that they are similar in the sense they both basically stick to the same theory that “The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues, and professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist's credibility.”
The most important points in my opinion are 1.) Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information. 2.) Protect and advance the free flow of accurate and truthful information. 3.) Work to strengthen the public's trust in the profession. Certain aspects of both of these Code's of Ethics would be very hard to follow, especially when trying to obtain information while treating sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect. Many journalists will take whatever means necessary to get the information they are seeking, regardless of who it taints or harms while obtaining it. Protecting private and confidential information would also be very hard to do, considering that is usually the information journalists are out to get to make headlines. As a student, it's important to start learning and practicing these codes now so that once in the professional circle, we are better able to report. Both codes have in common the fact that they try to get the most truthful information in the most honest and professional ways possible. The SPA code allows more room for private information being exposed, whereas the PRSA strictly enforces keeping all information in this category private. I have to say that I don't feel journalists uphold this code as well as they could. Many do whatever means necessary to get the story they want, no matter what rules they break to get it. Both codes are well written, but I don't feel that they're followed as well as they could be.
What do you
think are the most important points of
each?
1) The most important point of the SPJ is
to Seek Truth and Report It because if a
journalist seeks only the truth and reports
only the truth, then the rest of the code
will fall into place. All of the other parts
of the code are part of seeking the Truth.
2) The most important point of the PRSA Code
is to "protect and advance the free flow
or accurate and truthful information." As with the other
code, if a PR person follows this point, the rest of the
points should be followed by default.
How difficult do you believe they
would be to follow?
I believe it's easy to write unbiasedly if a reporter/PR person
is biased soley toward the truth. It's certainly
not impossible to follow this code, but sometimes
reporters might slip up and not notice it.
How can you be guided by them now as students?
Whenever writing a paper, especially one where there
is conflicting opinions, I should always do research into
both sides and find the truth and write from that perspective,
being willing to change my thesis if the facts point in a
direction other than the one I initially believed. I should
also be sure to cite sources, avoid plagarism, and be capable
of writing about things from a neutral perspective when it is
required.
What do they have in common?
The first point of both relates to the truth. Both call for
an avoidance of conflict of interest, though in slightly different words.
"Protecting confidential and private information" basically
means the same as "Minimize harm."
"Work to strengthen the public's trust in the profession" falls
under "Be accountable."
How are they different?
The PRSA code has one point that does not fall into
the category of the SPJ, and that is to "Foster informed
decision making through open communication."
How do they apply their principles to new media?
Journalists still have to maintain the code with online publications
and PR people still have to maintain the code with websites
that they maintain for their client. If journalists want to
look good even outside of their publications, they will
follow the code on their personal blogs, Twitters and Facebook
accounts. The same goes for the PR person.
1. The Code of Ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists:
The most important points of the Code of Ethics in my opinion would to be accountable. To get the general public involved. And by allowing the general public to be involved you must have key facts that are accurate and state the truth. And as much as possible disclose unavoidable conflicts.
2. The Code of Ethics of the Public Relations Society of America:
The most important points of Public Relations in my opinion would be to be honest, always state the truth about the topic. And like Society of Professional Journalists, avoid conflicts of interest. Working to strengthen the public’s trust in profession is also a key component to Public Relations.
They shouldn’t be too hard to follow. All of the main points that are listed above are really fairly easy.
These codes of ethics can help me in a lot of my communication and writing classes. To always state the truth about facts and also to avoid things that may get you caught in bad situations.
They both have some primary points that are in common. Avoid conflicts of interest; always state the truth and honesty.
fightforthefuture.org/pipa
act.demandprogress.org/sign/protectip_docs
leahy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/BillText-PROTECTIPAct.pdf
www.opencongress.org/bill/112-s968/showCached
http://www.youtube.com/vlogbrothers#p/u/5/Keg6it0g2wY
Both of these canons seem to be spouting the same things to me. Basically, your methods of gathering information should be respectable, you shouldn't take sides when presenting a story, and keep any confidential information confidential.
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