Ethics

Our ethics section examines the professional standards that guide responsible journalism. Explore principles of impartiality, fairness, accuracy, and journalistic integrity while also learning to navigate challenging ethical dilemmas journalists face in their daily work. All our material is free to download, adapt and use. Scroll down our site map for all the content in this and other sections.

Image by Randen Pederson released via Creative Commons CC BY-SA 2.0

Is your journalism ethical?

Reliable journalism is based on applying strict editorial ethics to all we do so that we can examine the issues that have the most impact on the lives of our audience.

Image by Hloom Templates released via Creative Commons CC BY 2.0

Integrity and journalism

Without integrity your journalism is untrustworthy and suspect. Integrity is essential if a journalist wants to investigate issues, shine a light in dark places, and to dig where others don't.

Image by Péter Smets released via Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Accuracy in journalism

A piece of journalism should have many admirable qualities but one is more important than all the rest: accuracy. Rule Number One is: get it right. If you cannot appreciate and respect that rule, there is no point in going into journalism.

Image by Mushki Brichta via Wikimedia Commons

Unconscious bias and journalism

Bias is a prejudice or favour for or against an individual or group. It is often an inaccurate and unfair judgement. We are all biased. It’s normal, although it is not desirable.

Image by Tori Rector released via Creative Commons CC BY-SA 2.0

Fairness in journalism

Fairness in journalism means exploring all sides of an issue and reporting the findings accurately.

Image to illustrate conflict of interest - created using Imagen 3 by David Brewer of MHM

Conflicts of interest

In journalism, public trust is essential for credibility. One of the most significant threats to that trust are the many possible conflicts of interest that might confront journalists.