Ethics basics
- Do not lie or misrepresent yourself. Be clear about your purpose.
- Diligently seek out all sides of a story.
- Do not write about friends, family members or people with whom you have a personal or financial relationship.
- Disclose to your editors any influences or associations that could compromise your independence.
- Accept no favors, freebies or special privileges.
- Avoid making agreements to conduct parts of an interview “off the record.”
- Explain that your publication’s policy is that all sources are named.
- Do not use any words in a news story that are not your own, unless they are attributed to a named source and are within quotation marks.
- Do not overstate your reporting. Be clear about the number of people you have interviewed in reaching any conclusions about a consensus of opinion.