Enforcing the Code of Ethics is like Censoring Thoughts in the Classroom, it's Difficult.

 Jaiden Tabor 

jt283118@ohio.edu 

We all attend classes, do our readings, and in today's classroom it is more crucial now than ever to share and report our ideas about assignments. Through this, students can collaborate, share, and reflect opposing ideas. This creates diversity and versatility of requirements. If a professor were to punish a student's thoughts or critique a colleague's ideas, they might be deemed unprofessional due to the fact that we are encouraged to express ourselves, within appropriateness of course. Similarly, enforcing and punishing for not following the code of ethics in journalism is extremely difficult. 

According to the Society of Professional Journalists, "Ethical journalism should be accurate and fair. Journalists should be honest and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information." Their entire idea of reporting is to seek truth and report it. They recognize the difficulty of enforcing their code but strongly encourage writers to follow it. Questions also arise with the word enforcement. Who is responsible? Will laws be put into place? Instead of answering these, the SPJ leaves in up to the writer. 

From a journalist's perspective, maintaining professionalism is inevitably something you should do. Not only does your reputation depend on it, but future network connections as well as career opportunities can be effected by mistakes made in early work. It goes without saying that leaving out personal beliefs, racism, and avoiding stereotypes as well as micro aggressions are only a fraction of topics to steer clear of. But news goes on daily and following a code of ethics is strongly encouraged in order to cover difficult topics in an appropriate fashion. 

When considering the importance of early writings of a student, it is a good idea to implement a code of ethics into your editing procedures. If you are unsure about a topic, checking back to a code can be a great idea to avoid a future problem arising with employers. Being fair, avoiding plagiarism, writing out of independence, standing accountable and truthful, and minimizing harm within your writing, are all great ideas to consistently follow when writing. 

Allowing yourself to speak accordingly in a classroom and write behind a screen go hand in hand. As journalists it is our job to report fair and truthful to the issues going on around us. We are responsible for following a code of ethics because we owe it to our readers. Reporting difficult topics will remain a challenge; sometimes pieces will inevitably offend someone. Freedom of expression is the main reason news is still a thing. 

Photo taken from SCU.edu