On April 28, 1923, the American Society of Newspaper Editors adopted a set of ethical rules called the Canons of Journalism. Journalists all over the world adopt the canons. The are seven different canons; 1) responsibility, 2) freedom of press, 3) independence, 4) sincerity, truthfulness, and accuracy, 5) impartiality 6) fair play, and 7) decency. Each canon has a specific reason on why it was passed. Each canon will be described and explained with examples below in the following paragraphs.
The first canon is responsibility. The definition of responsibility under the code of ethics is “The right of a newspaper to attract and hold readers is restricted by nothing but considerations of public welfare. The use a newspaper makes of the share of public attention it gains serves to determine its sense of responsibility, which it shares with every member of its staff. A journalist who uses his power for any selfish or otherwise unworthy purpose is faithless to a high trust.” This means that the newspaper needs to have responsibility for what it writes and what goes out in its paper. The writers also have to have the ethical standards of writing and take responsibility for being a great journalist, not become a flaky one.
The second canon is freedom of the press. The definition of freedom of the press under the code of ethics is; “Freedom of the press is to be guarded as a vital right of mankind. It is the unquestionable right to discuss whatever is not explicitly forbidden by law, including the wisdom of any restrictive statute. This ethical code is more for the editors of the newspaper or whoever is in charge of the news going out. Those people in charge are ethically bound to provide the truth and let everyone speak. Let every person have their voice heard in articles. They cannot just throw something out because they do not agree with it. They are supposed to let everything that is news get published.
The third canon is independence. The definition of independence under the code of ethics is freedom from all obligations except that of fidelity to the public interest is vital.” Independence is broken down into two parts; the first part is “Promotion of any private interest contrary to the general welfare, for whatever reason, is not compatible with honest journalism. So-called news communications from private sources not be published without public notice of their source or else substantiationn of their claims to value as news, both in from and substance.” The second part is partisanship. “Partisanship in editorial comment which knowingly departs from the truth, does violence to the best spirit of American journalism, in the news column it is subversive of a fundamental principle of the profession.” This is saying that the newspaper or journalist needs to be coming from its own source. It does not need to have someone behind it pulling the strings on what happens. If its independent the more likely no bias news articles get out, making it a better paper for the public.
The fourth canon of journalism is sincerity, truthfulness, and accuracy all rolled into one. The definition according to the code of ethic is,” Good faith with the reader is the foundation of all journalism worthy of the name. 1. By every consideration of good faith a newspaper is constrained to be truthful. It is not to be excused for lack of thoroughness or accuracy within its control, or failure to obtain command of the essential qualities. 2. Headlines should be fully warranted by the contents of the articles which they surmount.” In other words a paper needs to do its best to make sure everything it prints is actually what has happened. Especially if it isn’t true they need to be able to back up their claims and try to prove why they thought it was true. A nightly news anchor got into serious trouble for this because he supposedly ran a story without checking all the facts and the story turned out to be false. He lost people’s trust and it eventually got him fired.
The fifth canon of journalism is impartiality. According to the code of ethics the definition of impartiality is “Sound practice makes clear distinction between news reports and expressions of opinion. News reports should be free from opinion or bias of any kind. This rules does not apply to so called special articles unmistakably devoted to advocacy or characterized by a signature authorizing the writer’s own conclusions and interpretations.” All this canon is saying is that everything written unless it is an editorial should just be focused on the news and not anything else. It should not focus on a certain side, a certain person, leaving multiple people out. The whole story needs to be written without any parts left out swaying the article in certain ways.
The sixth canon of journalism is fair play. The definition of fair play according to the code of ethics is “ a newspaper should not publish unofficial charges affecting reputation or moral character without opportunity given to the accused to be heard. 1) A newspaper should not invade the private rights or feelings without sure warrant of public right as distinguished from public curiosity. 2) It is the privilege, as it is the duty, of a newspaper to make prompt and complete correction of its own serious mistakes of fact or opinion, whatever their origin.” Again this is like the fourth canon. The news anchor that got in trouble also broke this canon. He may have not meant to but he did not check what he should have.
The seventh and final canon is decency. The definition of decency according to the code of ethics is, “A newspaper cannot escape conviction of insincerity if, while professing high moral purpose, it supplies incentives to base conduct, such as are to be found in details of crime and vice, publication of which is not demonstrably for the general good. Lacking authority to enforce its canons, the journalism here represented can but express the hope that deliberate pandering to vicious instincts will encounter effective public disapproval or yield to the influence of a preponderant professional condemnation.” The paper has to make sure what it writes is decent. It cannot write about bad things that can scare people. This cannon today is not widely followed.
These canons were placed into effect a long time ago. So naturally the interpretations of these ethical standards get revised. There are many newspapers and other media sources that do not follow the seven canons. They pry into people’s lives, they do not supply the full truth in an article, and they try to sway the publics opinion. The canons have evolved and in some instances have become obsolete but other media outlets do still try to follow them. They were placed into effect because they were to regulate how journalist writes. It definitely has helped how journalism itself has evolved. Journalists do all they can to get a good name for themselves because that is how they get promotions or get known by the public in most cases. If I become a journalists I will try to follows the seven canons as close as possible and be a good journalists.
