code of conduct. #comms239

Code of Conduct

            Throughout the course of Comms 239 I have learned many things about journalism itself, and about the kind of journalist I want to be. The book, presentations, Professor Campbell, and other course material has been very helpful in setting guidelines for how a journalist should carry his/herself. This was all great information to me. I didn’t realize how many ethical problems could potentially arise in the world of journalism. In fact, I learned over the semester, that problems are much more likely to arise than not, and it all sorts of shapes and forms. This class helped me realize that unless I set myself a code of conduct I will most likely not be prepared to deal with these issues. So I am very grateful for this assignment. It reminds me of a million lessons I’ve had in Young Women’s/Relief Society. If you make your decisions beforehand they will be much easier to hold true to when a situation is presented before you. I hope, and have faith that, my code of conduct will allow me to make decisions that will make getting out of tough spots in my career one million times easier. I will list and go over why each principle of journalism is so important to me and my code of conduct. They are not in any specific order because I hope that if I rank them all at the same in importance, I won’t settle or make exceptions for any of them. From Loyalty to Religion to being the Fourth estate, I hope to establish a code that makes me a journalist that has integrity and dignity. Once again, I am so grateful for this course which has taught me these things and so much more about being a journalist.

            Loyalty: This idea came to me first because it is what my group presented on. That was a really good opportunity to go in depth on a topic in the book. What I gained from all of our presentation preparation, the book reading, and whatever else, was that I need to pick a side. This might sound dorky but it reminded me of that song, Who’s on the Lord’s side, Who? Not necessarily in such a firm gospel sense, but kind of. Just like we have to decide if we are on the Lord’s side or not, we have to decide whose side we are on when reporting, and there are many sides to be on. We could be loyal to our employers, ourselves, our families, or to the citizens… But I learned that it is pretty much impossible to be loyal to all of them at the same time. All of them want different things. Your employee may want you to do whatever you need to do to get in more revenue, whether that means using a false source, or something else. You may want to accept a gift from a company trying to promote itself. Your family may not want you to report on the controversial abortion story. But all the citizens want is the truth—to know exactly what is going on. That is why, in my code of conduct, concerning loyalty, I will always be loyal to the citizens. To the people I am presenting my information to. I will not work for someone who asks me to do otherwise. And as much as I will love my family and they will always come first, I’m confident that they will respect my need to give the public information—all information, no matter what the cost. I think they will be okay with it and the reason why is the next point in my code of conduct.

Truth: I will always and only report truth. From the presentation on truth in journalism I realized how impossibly easy it would be to fabricate truths for a story. If you are doing a story on something that seems kind of boring or low key then it might seem completely okay to stretch the truth a little but it is definitely not. To me, the sole purpose of journalism is to report the truth. Let me say that again. The sole purpose of journalism is to report the truth—the whole truth, nothing but the truth. That is what I intend to do. In the field I want to go into, sports, I vow to never over or under exaggerate a players injury or a conflict with players and coaches. I think about all of this drama at Penn State with Jerry Sandusky. Say one of the ESPN reporters has a preference for Penn State, it’s their alma mater. They could be tempted to downplay all that has happened at Penn State, with the loss of jobs, the sexual abuse, just all of the things going on over there. That is absolutely not fair to the public. It is distorting the truth. And let me say a third time for emphasis. The sole purpose of journalism is to report the truth. I know that no matter what a journalist is going to have opinions. Or sometime a journalist might convince themselves that they are doing the public a favor by hardening or softening the truth. But I vow to never do that. I hope in times when I am tempted I look back and read my code of conduct. I hope I remember the golden rule, which comes into play in journalism. Do unto others what you would have them do unto you. I want the truth. If I don’t want it, I won’t watch the news. It will never be my responsibility as a journalist to mess with the truth. I hope to always remember that.

Religion: My religion is without a doubt the biggest part of my life. It makes me who I am. It is by my churches guidelines that I live my life. However, I don’t see this being a problem in my journalism career. When we talked about Faith and Journalism in class I wasn’t even worried. The thought that kept popping into my head was just that I need to use discretion. People don’t need to know that I’m a Mormon. I will not hide it by any means because I am not ashamed. I just don’t want my religion in any way shape or form to distort the truth. I don’t want to be interviewing someone, having told them just to tell them that I’m a Mormon, then have them withholding information from me that they don’t feel comfortable sharing because of my religion. Even though I would never do that to anyone of any religion, it is not safe to say that someone else wouldn’t. It’s a very likely possibility. That’s why it’s not information I will just randomly share freely. If I feel like someone needs to know, I will tell them. If they ask, I will tell them the truth. But other than that I will not say anything unless it is necessary. While journalism and faith have their similarities they are two different fields. In public school we did not pray. Separation of church and state. I believe that should uphold for journalism—Separation of journalism and faith. They shouldn’t have anything to do with each other unless they have to. For example, with Mitt Romney running for President, if I were a reporter, I might see it fit to share correct knowledge about the church and back it up by saying I know because I am a member of the church, so people know they are getting information from the source, but at the same time, I will have to use my discretion for very specific circumstances because this ties in with my last point on my code of conduct.

Objectivity: I think that if one can remain objective then everything else falls into place. That’s probably the thing that has become apparent to me over and over again throughout comms 239. It ties into everything. In order to report truth we must remain objective and it is as simple as that. As a human being I have many opinions. But like I was saying about separation of church and journalism… There also needs to be a separation of self and journalism. This is what I hope to practice as a journalist. I hope to remain objective enough to never let my biased come through in a story. The public does not care about nor need to know my opinion unless it’s an editorial. All they need to know is the truth. And the truth is not biased at all. The truth is 100 percent objective. Being objective means disregarding personal feelings and embracing the truth. I vow to do that. And this is my code of conduct. Thank you.