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.

Ethics

Unconscious bias and journalism

Ethics

Integrity and journalism

Ethics

Is your journalism ethical?

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Unconscious bias and journalism

Bias is a prejudice for or against a group, often leading to unfair judgements. While it's a normal human trait, understanding our biases is vital for fairness.

Image of the Impartial reporter pub by Kenneth Allen released via Creative Commons CC BY-SA 2.0

Impartiality in journalism

For journalists, being impartial means presenting information without demonstrating favouritism towards any specific viewpoint or party.

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Why editorial ethics are important

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.

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Respecting privacy as a journalist

Journalists must balance privacy rights with the need for rigorous, robust investigation into matters of public interest.

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.

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Offence and journalism

Rigorous journalism inevitably offends some audiences. Global broadcasters must cover all aspects of human experience to reflect world affairs accurately.

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Accuracy in journalism

Precision is the soul of journalism. Rule one is simple: get it right. If you can't respect the absolute need for accuracy, this isn't the career for you.

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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.