Ethics

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.