The Importance of Ethics and Values

Kelsey Lauriel
kl343216@ohio.edu

The code of ethics is a set of principles of conduct within an organization that plays a factor in decision making and behavior. Some of the widely used codes of ethics include truth, independence, diversity, and public interest. 

NPPA Code of Ethics

The National Press Photographers Association is a society that promotes high standards in visual journalism, according to nppa.org.  The NPPA emphasizes the importance of being fully aware and informed of current events going on around the world.

Theconversation.com says out-of-context-pictures are a powerful low-tech form of misinformation. Photos that do not fit in with the context or photos that are captioned incorrectly are the most common types of misinformation.

Statistica.com shows the way that misinformation is spreading, the second highest source of misinformation being the mainstream news

PRSA Code of Ethics

The Public Relations Society of America is an association that is known for its ethical practices. The PRSA values consist of, advocacy, honesty, expertise, independence, loyalty, and fairness.

The intent of the PRSA is to maintain the integrity of relationships with the media, government officials, and the public. The PRSA also wants to aid informed decision-making, according to www.prsa.org.

SPJ Code of Ethics

The Society of Professional Journalists promotes acting with integrity. The society has four principals that they encourage journalists to follow.

The four principals include, seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, and be accountable and transparent. Seek truth and report it encourages journalists to gather information and verify the facts before reporting it.

Minimize harm encourages journalists to balance the public need for information against potential harm or discomfort. It also says to show compassion towards those who may be affected by the information coming out.  Act independently tells journalists to avoid conflicts of interest, refuse gifts, be cautious of being offered information for favors, and deny special treatment.
Being accountable and transparent means taking responsibility for one's work and explaining one's decision to the public,

The SPJ code of ethics is voluntary due to the fact that society believes that establishing a mandatory code of ethics would lead to government involvement, eventually limiting their freedom of speech and free press.

Values

Values are individual beliefs that motivate people to act one way or another. Values serve as a guide to human behavior, according to ethicsunwrapped.   As a journalist, having a strong set of values helps enforce that you share real and truthful news so the audience is not pushed into believing false information.