Ten Commandments

of Journalism
MSJ 11402 Ethics is Media and Communication
Lecture 6
1. Thou shalt not steal
• Don’t lift other people’s posts. Or quotations. Or photographs.
• Intellectual property is intellectual property. If you don’t have
the right to reproduce a photo or an article – even with
attribution – don’t do it!
• Make sure to properly attribute any quotation you pull from
another source. Every single time!
• If the original published source of your item turns out to be
incorrect, you can be held liable for civil penalties in courts of
law if you republish the falsehood.
2. Thou shalt get it right
• 24/7 deadlines are no excuse to get it wrong.
• Carefully attribute all facts you cannot confirm.
• Just because somebody else published it on the Internet or
sent it out by social media doesn’t make it true.
• Just because somebody told you something doesn’t make it
true. As the old journalism saying goes, even if your mother
told you, check it out.
• Better to wait a few minutes to confirm or disprove a post
than to get it wrong, wrong, wrong.
• As the Pew Research Journalism Project wrote: “Even in a
world of expanding voices, accuracy is the foundation upon
which everything else is built.”
3. Thou shalt repent with
speed and sincerity
• If you get something wrong, or link to another source who got it
wrong, make sure you correct the mistake. Pronto. Your
credibility is on the line.
• Make sure to send corrections to your followers via social
media. Falsehoods can go viral and it’s very hard to reel them
back in.
• If you made a mistake and others linked to your post, inform
them of your mistake. Pronto.
• Apologize.
• Learn from your mistake.
• Because of the instantaneous nature of digital communication,
correcting errors is more important – and difficult — than ever.
4. Thou shalt avoid
gratuitous personal attacks
• Multimedia journalism provides you a basketful of
communications options. Don’t use them to be childish,
petulant or rude.
• The same rules of fair play apply online as apply in traditional
media.
• Don’t mistake “snark” and “attitude” for wit and cleverness.
5. Thou shalt be fair and
balanced
• It’s not a partisan slogan. It’s our goal as journalists.
• Fairness should never be sacrificed at the altar of an artificial
deadline.
• Efforts should be made to contact public figures referred to or
criticized in multimedia reports.
• Avoid sensationalism or distortion that is designed to win you
“clicks” or “page views.”
• “Make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional
material, photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and
quotations do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify
or highlight incidents out of context.”
• “Never distort the content of news photos or video.”
 6. Thou shalt not use unnamed
sources to attack others
• It’s a sure sign of a journalism amateur or poseur.
• People have a right to know who your sources are, with rare
exceptions.
• People have a right to know your sources’ motives.
• If someone is too cowardly to attach their name to an attack
quote, it tells you something about the person.
• As SPJ writes, “The public is entitled to as much information as
possible on sources’ reliability.”
7. Thou shalt live in a glass
house
• Don’t do anything you would criticize someone else for doing.
• Journalists are public figures. Hypocrisy is news, whether the
hypocrite is a politician or a reporter.
• From National Public Radio’s Ethics Handbook: •“We hold
those who serve and influence the public to a high standard
when we report about their actions. We must ask no less of
ourselves.”
8. Thou shalt never give false
witness about who you are
• It is always unethical to pose as someone else to collect
information for stories.
• You should identify who you are and for whom you work.
• You should never identify yourself simply as a “citizen,” a
“constituent” or a “consumer.”
9. Thou shalt not pay sources
for information
• Or interviews.
• It’s unethical. It separates infotainment sites from journalism
sites. Let TMZ.com get the paid-for celebrity scandal scoop.
Better to keep your soul.
•
10. Thou shalt not be paid off
• Don’t take money to post, publish or air something.
• Don’t show favoritism toward sponsors, advertisers or donors.
• Disclose any conflicts of interest you or your publication may
have.
• Transparency allows your audience to weigh your credibility.
• As SPJ’s code of ethics declares, “Professional integrity is the
cornerstone of a journalist’s credibility.”