Post adopts ethics code for news staff
Connecticut Post (Bridgeport, CT)
October 22, 2006
Today we introduce our ethics code patterned on the national journalistic ethics codes. Many newspapers have their own set of ethical principles for their reporters, photographers and editors. We felt it was time to write our own. You can read the full code on the next page. Soon it will be posted on our Website, ConnPost.com.
I've learned after 37 years in journalism that the free press remains a mystery to many of us living in a free society. Frankly, I still marvel at the minor miracle of a newspaper coming off a printing press each day.
Since Benjamin Franklin penned some of the first newspaper columns in the American colonies in the 1720s, the free press was a highly partisan press for a solid 200 years. Many papers were merely mouthpieces for one political party or the other. And I dare say those newspapers served an emerging and growing nation very well.
In the early 20th century newspaper editors and publishers pulled away from political affiliations and reserved their opinions for the editorial pages. In 1922 the American Society of Newspaper Editors established "A Statement of Principles" which proclaimed that "Good faith with the reader is the foundation of good journalism. "Every effort must be made to assure that the news content is accurate, free from bias and in context, and that all sides are presented fairly."
This was a fundamental change from the practices of the partisan press that Americans had read for generations. And it is significant that the press itself decided to demand "A clear distinction for the reader between news reports and opinion."
With that first ethics code came standards of conduct that prevent journalists from pursuing "any activity that might compromise or seem to compromise their integrity," according to the ASNE principles.
Later, other national journalism organizations adopted codes.
The National Press Photographers Association code says that pictures "are indispensable means of keeping people accurately informed." They help people "better understand any subject in the public domain" and so "It is the individual responsibility of every photojournalist to strive for pictures that report truthfully, honestly and objectively."
NPPA calls on it s members to "serve the public" and "to maintain high standards of ethical conduct free of mercenary considerations of any kind."
We take these ideals seriously. A Post newsroom committee, chaired by Assistant Metro Editor Tucker McCormack, worked for four months writing our own code of ethics. News and editorial staffers John Burgeson, Ed Crowder, Pam Dawkins, Johnathon Henninger, Linda Levinson, Phil Noel, Gary Rogo, Joel Thompson and Keith Whamond studied other newspapers' codes and the national codes and hammered out our own. News department management and Publisher Robert H. Laska have endorsed their efforts.
"Among our core values are truth and accuracy. Our allegiance is to our readers and to the newspaper, not to any special or vested interest seeking to influence coverage. The readers' trust in our work - our most important asset - depends on our meeting this high standard," is a particularly central sentiment in the Preamble to our ethics code.
And we get specific:
"Quotes should accurately reflect what a person said & Care must be taken to present quotations in context, without altering the original meaning...
"Anonymous sources: Every effort should be made to use on-the-record information as the basis of stories. Reporters should grant anonymity only if there is a compelling, articulable reason - fear for the source's personal safety or livelihood - and only after making an effort to convince the source to remain on the record...
"Staff members should not accept or request for their own use tickets, passes, discounts for plays, concerts, sporting events, etc., that are not available to the general public or the newsroom at large, e.g. Connecticut Post night at the Sound Tigers. Staffers should only accept passes, free tickets and credentials to events they are covering for the newspaper."
We invite you to read our new code and to hold us to these standards.