Ethics

The Media Helping Media ethics section is designed to help journalists navigate some of the challenges they might face as they go about their work.

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

Journalists face a difficult balancing act. They must respect privacy, but they must also investigate issues that are in the public interest.

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.

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.

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.

Journalists must ensure that the material they use in coverage has a clear editorial purpose. Where that material is likely to offend, there need to be clear warnings of what is coming up.

The following are commonly accepted ethical guidelines for photojournalists adopted by most mainstream media.