Independence and Journalism

Matt Stroud, a writer for the Society of Professional Journalists said this: It's a tough time for freelancers and staffers alike. Does that mean we should sacrifice professional ethics for a paycheck?

I think that is a great question we should all ask ourselves. In my opinion, anyone who is planning on being a journalist should answer that question before he or she enters the field. No matter what the economy is like, one should have a personal code of conduct that is set so they don't have to ponder on that question when a tough situation comes up. I recently watched Absent of Malice starring Paul Newman and Sally Field. She plays a newspaper reporter who is faced with a story that would get readers and attention but would also hurt a woman's reputation. She writes the story and places the decision/blame on the editors, not herself. I think this is a way to get out of responsibility.

In our most recent class we discussed independence and journalism. To me, it's just another form of ethical considerations a journalist needs to take as they are reporting the news. As journalists we need to be independent of the government, of our sources, and especially of our advertisers. We should deny favored treatment to those advertisers.

Bob Steele, director of Poynters Ethics Program, recently wrote a blog about independence and journalism. He recalls that Nelson Poynter (the man who established the Poynter Institute), "believed that those who run news organizations and those who practice journalism have a 'sacred trust' to serve communities and citizens."

Independence and journalism is not a new practice. A New York Times article from 1873 also points out the importance of independence, "The best exhibitions of genuine, honest independence have come from journals that are not in the habit of boasting of their self-righteousness . . . They criticize fairly and honestly, speaking of individuals and parties in a just and candid spirit. This is true independence."

To again quote Bob Steele, "Let us be guided by that spirit and by the principle of independence as we carry out our duties." We should let that principle guide us, not our upcoming paychecks.