Journalism ethics or journalistic ethics refers to a set of rules or morals adopted by news organizations or members of the news media.
Aside from prohibiting fabrication or plagiarism of news stories or other obvious examples of journalistic fraud, generally accepted ethical rules include:
Not injecting one's own opinion into a news story, in other words striving to maintain a neutral point of view, unless the story is clearly labeled as "news analysis" or "commentary";
Attributing all alleged facts, not witnessed directly by the reporter, to someone else ("Police say...."). See also: Attribution (journalism)
Writing in a fashion that avoids possible defamationliability by clearly labeling allegations as such ("The defendant allegedly committed the crime");
Avoiding the use of misdirection, for example, in television news, by "staging" events that occur within view of the camera, or in news photography, by "doctoring" or altering photographic images;
Allowing persons who are the subject of adverse news stories a reasonable opportunity to respond to the adverse information before the story is published or broadcast.
For example, two journalists are currently staring down contempt of court charges for their failure to divulge the name of the Valerie Plame leakerÂ…you remember: that dastardly mystery source that Robert Novak could clear up any time he feels like it, the administration official who supposedly let the cat out of the bag about Ms.
Journalisticethics, as I understand it, requires reporters to promise confidentiality to sources who break the law and their own duty of confidentiality by passing on classified or otherwise secret information to the media.
The truth is that CBS is hiding behind supposed journalisticethics to avoid the fair and natural consequences of its previous lack of standards and professionalism.
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