The Journalist's Code of Ethics

I've been reading this book, Pieces of my Mind by Andrew Rooney. It's a compilation of his essays, giving us a piece of his mind about everything.

I came across one of his essays titled The Journalist's Code of Ethics and, although I'm not a journalist (I have some journalist friends, though), I want to share it with everyone because it really is insightful.

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    To what standards do newsmen and women adhere and how should everyone be made to adhere to them?

   It is unlikely that reporters and editors are any more or less honest and ethical than doctors but I envy doctors their Hippocratic Oath, the creed they swear to when they become physicians. It's a little our of date but it has a grandeur to it that is timeless.

   "I swear by Apollo, the physician," it begins.

   That's not much of a beginning, but it improves even though it need rewriting.

   The Hippocratic Oath asks the young doctor to take care of the physician who taught him as he would take care of his own parents. Most young reporters don't feel all that kindly toward the editors who taught them their profession.

   The Hippocratic Oath also asks the young doctor to do only what is right for his patients and to do nothing that is wrong. He promises to give no patient deadly medicine and not to induce an abortion for any pregnant woman.

   The young doctor promises not to seduce any males or females and not to reveal any secrets.

   If journalists had an oath of their own, it would differ from the doctor's.

   The journalist certainly wouldn't start by swearing to Apollo and probably not even to Walter Lippmann or Ed Murrow. The Oath should be simple and direct. I was thinking of some things that ought to be in it.

   Here are some suggestions for "The Journalist's Code of Ethics":

• The word "journalist" is a little pompous and I will only use it on special occasions.
• I am a journalist because I believe that if all the world had all the facts about everything, it would be a better world.
• I understand that the facts and the truth are not always the same. It is my job to report the facts so that others can decide on the truth.
• I will not try to tell people what they ought to know and avoid telling them what they want to hear, except when the two coincide, which isn't often.
• I will not do deliberate harm to any persons, except to the extend that the facts harm them and then I will not avoid the facts.
• No gift, including kind words, will be accepted when it is offered for the purpose of influencing my report.
• What I wish were the facts will not influence what investigation leads me to believe them to be.
• I will be suspicious of every self-interested source of information.
• My professional character will be superior to my private character.
• I will not use my profession to help or espouse any cause, nor alter my report for the benefit of any cause, no matter how worthy that cause may appear to be.
• I will not reveal the source of information given to me in confidence.
• I will not drink at lunch.

   It needs work but it's a start on an oath for reporters and editors.

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