Journalism Ethics are the Foundation of Good Reporting

 Ben Firrell

bf652218@ohio.edu

Throughout history, people have always had the need to know what was going on not only around them and their community, but with other places around the world as well. Since everyone wants to be in the know with things that are going on around the world, of course there are going to be times where stories get questioned on whether everyone should be able to know said information or not, or if that information is trustworthy or not.

This can be for a number of reasons, whether the story would bring harm to any one or thing if published,  if the information within the story contained details that could derail the journalist's career, or if the writer got some of their information for the story wrong and that insufficient information goes on to give the writer and the main article of the story a bad reputation. 

All these things and more need to be taken in to account for whether a story is ready to be published or not to make sure that the people reading the story don't read something that they shouldn't be, and that the readers are not getting a bunch of misleading and false information.

Good journalists use good journalism ethics to help them make sure that none of this happens so that readers don't have to worry about being misinformed and the journalist doesn't have to worry about people calling them out and trying to destroy their credibility, which in turn could break their career.

(Source: news24)

One of the most popular code of ethics that journalists go by is the Society of Professional Journalists code of ethics. It has four main principles: to be honest, to minimize harm, to act independently, and to hold yourself accountable for your mistakes. These are widely viewed as some of, if not the most important set of rules to follow as a journalist to continue to ensure your readers are getting the best and most correct information out there.

Journalists who hold themselves to a good set of ethics are able to stay around longer because their audience trusts them and their credibility. Without that connection and trust between the reader and the writer, it makes any journalist's job almost obsolete because nobody is going to read anything that they don't view as honest work. 

There have been plenty of unethical journalists though, and it forces the whole industry to adapt and have to fight even more of an uphill battle. The more unethical journalists there are, the more the distrust grows between the public and the journalism industry. That's why ethics are the foundation of good reporting.