ethics


hical journalist 7


A journalist protects the identity of sources who supply information in confidence and


material gathered in the course of her/his work Journalists are in the business of finding things out and informing people about them and, in nearly all cases, the best way of doing that is by attributing the information to its source, on the record. On rare occasions, though, a source may ask for their identity to be kept secret. If a journalist agrees to this, there is a moral imperative to protect the source, but promises should not be made lightly.


Considerations include whether the source is a genuine whistleblower or merely someone being mischievous or misleading, and what practical steps you will need to take to keep any promise.


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A journalist resists threats or any other inducements to influence, distort or suppress


information and takes no unfair personal advantage of information gained in the course of her/his duties before the information is public knowledge This again comes down to issues of honesty and trust. How can members of the audience trust that you are providing them with an honest account, and that you have not been either bought off or scared away from covering something? This is where the reputation and track record of individual journalists and entire newsgathering operations come into play. Reputations can be hard won but easily lost.


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A journalist produces no material likely to lead to hatred or discrimination on the grounds


of a person’s age, gender, race, colour, creed, legal status, disability, marital status or sexual orientation It is sad that a clause such as the above is still


felt to be necessary, but stereotyped coverage, sexism, discriminatory or ignorant use of language, and sometimes even racist hate speech all continue to make appearances in sections of the news media – and all need to be challenged, ideally before publication. The issue of representation is important here, both how representative newsrooms are (or are not) of the wider population, and of how some sections of the community tend to be represented within the output of those newsrooms.


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A journalist does not by way of statement, voice, or appearance, endorse


by advertisement any commercial product or service save for the promotion of her/his own work or of the medium by which she/he is employed Trustworthiness is once again the key here, with a fear that blurring the boundary between commercial and editorial activities will erode


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trust in the integrity of the latter. The NUJ would like to see a firewall between advertising and journalism. However, given the challenging economic conditions under which much journalism is produced today – and is likely to be in the near future – that is easier said than done.


A journalist shall normally seek the consent of an appropriate adult when


interviewing or photographing a child for a story about her/his welfare Children and, by implication, other vulnerable


people are offered special protection in many ethical codes, in recognition of the reality that they may not always be in a position to give informed consent. However, the word ‘normally’ leaves some room for interpretation here. For example, if a group of 15-year-olds walk out of their school on strike, would it be better to ask them why and report their reasons, or not to report their action unless an appropriate adult agrees? Even if a decision is made to go ahead with such a story, the code’s other clauses relating to fairness, honesty and accuracy should also be borne in mind, with particular care taken not to exploit naïvety or encourage potentially dangerous behaviour.


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A journalist avoids plagiarism That’s the idea, anyway, although


there can be a thin line between following up another journalist’s story and lifting it wholesale. Quite apart from the fact that it is plain unethical to claim somebody else’s work as your own, there is also the very practical consideration of – how can you know that they got it right? Incidentally, although both the NUJ code of conduct and the Impress standards code have exhortations against plagiarism, to date there is no similar clause in the editors’ code of practice.


This is an extract from the updated fourth edition of Tony Harcup’s book Journalism: Principles and Practice (Sage), which is a standard text on many university journalism courses in the UK and beyond. For further details, see: https://tinyurl. com/mrxjba3b


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