The Ethical Journalist. Gene Foreman

       Accuracy and fairness are journalism’s fundamental ethical values.

       The digital era, with its emphasis on speed, entices reporters to take shortcuts and, thus, to risk mistakes.

       Journalists have to be alert for hoaxes, especially on the web.

       Problematic trends in the newsroom: less specialization, less editing.

       Recognizing that the truth can hurt, journalists should weigh the information they are reporting against the harm it can be expected to cause. Sometimes that calculation might lead to a decision not to publish a detail of marginal relevance or possibly an entire story or photograph.

       Requests from the public to “unpublish” archival content create an ethical dilemma: a desire to protect the historical record versus consideration of the people hurt by that record, especially when it is flawed.

       Reporters should take particular care when interviewing children and survivors of a tragedy, or when reporting on suicides.

       Journalists should be aware that their presence can be viewed as intrusive.

       In an actual conflict of interest, journalists allow self‐interest, or a loyalty to any other person or organization, to take precedence over their duty to the audience.

       Because a conflict of interest gives the audience reason to doubt the journalist’s loyalty, it undermines credibility.

       An appearance of a conflict of interest can damage credibility even if the journalist’s reporting is honest.

       By following reasonable guidelines, you can avoid most conflicts, actual or apparent.

       Identifying situations that commonly lead to conflicts.

       News organizations should correct their mistakes promptly, prominently, and clearly.

       News organizations should have a system to invite, receive, and act on inquiries and complaints about news coverage.

       News organizations should be willing to explain and discuss how they cover the news.

       The audience can be a partner in reporting the news, but journalists have a duty to verify all user-generated content.

       There are limits to journalistic transparency, including the question of whether reporter’s personal opinions should be revealed.

       Using social media helps journalists report their stories and promote them. However, journalist’s comments about people and events in the news can damage their credibility and that of their news organizations.

       Social media policies are a common source of tension in newsrooms, and enforcement of those policies has led to staff protests.

       Covering society’s diversity is an ethical responsibility, because news organizations have a duty to cover the entire community.

       Careful, sensitive reporting is required to analyze the complex issues of racial and ethnic conflicts.

       Journalists face challenges in their efforts to provide knowledgeable coverage of cultures other than their own.

       Reporters who cover new immigrants are confronting ethics issues such as protecting the identity of sources who are not documented.

       Point of View: Gaining Respect by Showing Respect (Joann Byrd)

       Ethics issues arise in reporter’s efforts to cultivate sources while maintaining independence from those sources.

       If a journalist agrees to protect a source who provides information on condition of anonymity, honoring that agreement is a solemn ethical duty.

       Journalists must avoid placing their sources in any kind of jeopardy.

       Beat reporting requires reporters to balance their relationships with newsmakers whom they depend on for information but also may have to report on critically.

       Showing copy to sources and other situations in which ethics issues arise in source relationships.

       Journalists often must decide