Ethical Journalism In Practice - Editorial
This weekend, Enterprise staff will be leading a workshop at Falmouth Academy’s second regional social justice conference.
The theme of the conference is Rights & Responsibilities, which reflects the desire to bring students in grades 7 through 12 from across the region together to inform one another about personal and collective rights and responsibilities and to inspire community engagement.
Calli Remillard, editor of The Bourne Enterprise, and Noelle Annonen, reporter for The Falmouth Enterprise and producer of the “Upper Cape Catch” podcast, will be conducting a workshop around creating and consuming ethical news.
The goal of this workshop is to introduce students to the concept of journalism ethics and provide them with the tools necessary to identify ethical news sources and stories. The presentation will introduce students to the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, which can be broken down into four key points that will be individually explained and discussed. They are: seek truth and report it; minimize harm; act independently; and be accountable and transparent.
These concepts are at the crux of the Enterprise’s mission, as they should be for any media outlet claiming to produce professional journalism. They should not be taken lightly, nor should they be viewed as controversial; these concepts are founded on the basis that members of the public are worthy of both the truth and of being treated like human beings.
Perhaps today more than ever, ethics in journalism should be at the forefront of all news consumers’ minds. We are embedded in an age of a 24/7 instantaneous news cycle riddled with misinformation, fear-mongering and a certain lack of responsibility.
In leading this workshop for the next generation of minds and sharing it here, we hope to remind readers and journalists alike of the seemingly long-lost code of ethics that exists to help guide us, not limit us. After all, good practices create good journalism.