Julianne Mobilian
jm544910@ohio.edu
Why
They’re Important
As
journalists, we have ethical rules that we must follow to better distinguish
ourselves as morally trusted storytellers and reliable information gatherers to
the public. These codes and guidelines are without a doubt the sturdiest of
foundations in which our work is based upon.
Why We Need Them
Without codes, where we would be? We would have absolutely
no direction or guidelines when it came to reporting. We need them to point us
in a direction that will give way to truthful stories and dependable
backgrounds.
Differentiations of Codes Still Send the Same Message
Certain codes dictate certain rules across different outlets
of news sources. The codes we looked at, which included Radio Television Digital
News Association, Society of Professional Journalists and Public Relations
Society of America (just to name a small few of the many out there) all had
varying types and degrees of what each section deemed ethical aspects of
journalism, but they still had the same clear message, which was to be truthful and honest in your work.
Preambles
Each one of these organizations have preambles which dictate
what each organization stands for.
The RTDNA’s preamble stresses fairness, integrity, truth and probably the most important one, in my opinion, that each journalist be accountable for their actions. This is extremely important because it all comes down to the reporter relaying the events to the public. They must be responsible for the facts and stories they put out there. If in any way these facts and stories are wrong, they must come clean and make it right. Maybe they got a false scoop, used a quote that was supposed to be off the record or didn’t fact check—whatever the case, if they did something wrong, they must be accountable. Good journalists admit their mistakes, make them right, and learn from them so they do not happen again. Accountability is absolutely crucial in this field.
SPJ’s preamble
stresses, “public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation
of democracy.” As well as focusing on being a moral journalist, they really
stress the fact that educating the nation through this profession is a
journalist’s civic duty. They aim to give journalists a goal in which, through
following these codes, they will create a more educated public. Many journalists
are familiar with SPJ as it is a huge organization meant to teach professional
journalists how to act in times when the lines of ethics are blurry or unclear.
The PRSA’s preamble,
similar RTDNA’s and SPJ’s, also talked about ethics and morals, but it differed
from the other two in a way I thought was very interesting. PRSA brought up the
fact that, “Each of us sets an example for each other—as well as other
professionals—by our pursuit of excellence with powerful standards of
performance, professionalism, and ethical conduct.” They recognize that
everyone needs to learn from each other and act as their fellow coworker is
acting so that these codes will be upheld.
Conclusion
If journalists ignore or disregard these codes, then the
public will ignore and disregard their work. People want stories with integrity
and honesty. They want, and deserve, factual and enlightening material. As
journalists, it is our job to deliver this kind of grade-A material to the
public.
These were just a summary of these codes. For more information on other organizations and their codes, visit this website.
Also, I feel it should be stressed that every profession
deals with ethical codes, not just journalists. This article does a wonderful
job explaining why ethics matter in business. It’s a great insight as to how all careers can be tied together with ethical code.
graphic via activerain.com
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