Journalists may be acting unethically when they ignore questions and criticism, former SPJ President Lynn Walsh wrote on SPJ’s Ethics Central discussion of the Code. “We expect others to be accountable for their ethics, their staffs and their decision-making, and we should be willing to do the same. Try not to ignore members of your community who may be critical of your coverage. Try to answer questions and explain how journalism works instead.”
Source: https://ethicscentral.org/ethicscode/
►In an online world where content and design look the same, doing the right thing is important—and so is explaining and showing audiences that you have ethical standards. Trusting News provides practical tips for highlighting your standards.
►This piece of the Code essentially is about hypocrisy—of holding those we cover to minimum standards that we don’t follow ourselves. For example, journalist Erik Sherman writes about concerns of hypocrisy in business coverage, and the Center for Media Engagement at the University of Texas at Austin offers a case study raising questions about how “activist journalism” can lead to concerns about hypocrisy in coverage.
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