Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Wow.

So a couple of weeks ago, I posted the SPJ's Code of Journalism Ethics to disprove Altschull's outdated assertion that no set of ethical standards exist. I thought the SPJ was thorough, until I came across the code of ethics created by the New York Times for their entire staff here: http://www.nytco.com/press/ethics.html#A2.
It is the most thorough code you will probably find anywhere, ever. It is obviously too exhausting to read, but just skimming it will give you an idea. It is probably also good to have as a source for any ethical questions.

1 comment:

....J.Michael Robertson said...

I have in some ethics classes handed out big chunks of the NY Times code. It is very restrictive on its employees, apparently because the NYTimes understands that, given its high reputation, it has more to lose than most news organizations if it appears to have lost its credibility. You probably are familiar with the phrase "Caesar's wife" when it comes to ethical discussions. That seems to be the attitude at the Times, a little arrogant but quite practical given how much grief it gets when it stumbles.