Journalism & Professional Ethics

Leading parallel lives: journalism and professional ethics by Ian Richards

Abstract Although all decisions by journalists have an ethical dimension, lapses in journalistic ethical standards cannot be explained simply in terms of the moral failings of individuals. Deeper insight is required, yet for a number of reasons little wider understanding has emerged from within journalism. At the same time, analysis of journalism ethics is largely absent from the field of professional ethics. This paper argues that, while this neglect can be understood in terms of journalism’s uncertain relationship with the notion of professionalism, journalism justifies far more attention from those who are concerned with professional ethics than has so far been the case.

Paper submitted for IIPE/AAPAE 2002 Conference Reconstructing `The Public Interest ' in a Globalising World: Business, the Professions and the Public Sector

Dr Ian Richards is Director of the Postgraduate Journalism Program at the University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia. A former newspaper journalist, he has worked and studied in Australia and the United Kingdom. . Contact details: Dr. Ian Richards Director Postgraduate Journalism Program University of South Australia St Bernard’s Road Magill SA 5072 E-mail [e-mail] Phone: (61) – 08 -8302 4526 fax: (61) – 08 - 8302 4745

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Introduction Journalism is a cut-throat business, the unsavoury practicalities of which do not lend themselves to academic study. (Blackhurst 1997, p.23) There is a widely-shared view among journalists that the daily routines of their calling render it unsuitable for academic study designed to improve journalistic practice. Such assessments are particularly strongly held when the focus of that study is journalism ethics, even though many countries, including Australia, have developed journalistic codes of ethics and codes of conduct. While there is little resistance among journalists in general to the notion that ethics is a legitimate field of academic study, there is no great support for the notion that the academic study of journalism ethics has anything useful to contribute to the practice of journalism. Such views are indefensible for, whether those engaged in journalism realise it or not, all of their professional decisions have an ethical dimension. This is obvious in, for example, editorial discussions about whether to publish material which is especially graphic or explicit. However, an ethical component is also present in the plethora of less dramatic decisions which journalists are required to make every day – who to interview and who not to interview; who to quote and who not to quote; what angles to emphasise and which to play down; what to include and what to leave out; how much to reveal to an interviewee regarding the real purpose of an interview; and so on. In short, there is an ethical dimension at all stages in the journalistic process, from initial decisions regarding what to report, through decisions about the gathering and processing of whatever information is acquired, to decisions as to how the information will be presented and to whom. Logically, then, whether they realise it or not, journalists do not have any choice between considering ethics or excluding it from their practice. In other words, journalists can consider ethics as applied in practice – or they can avoid the issue. If they do the former, they are at the very least demonstrating the responsibility many claim to be implicit in the notion of professionalism. Alternatively, if they adopt the latter approach, their practice becomes a matter of personal responsibility and liability as they position their own judgment as final arbiter. In Australia, journalists are sharply divided between the minority who belong to the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), and agree to abide by that organisation’s code of ethics, and a majority who do not belong to the MEAA and so are not bound to abide by this code. Many

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media organisations have developed their own codes of practice, but these are not necessarily all consistent or well thought out, and in practice there are difficulties with the content and application of many of them. The net effect of this situation, combined with a traditional workplace culture which has emphasised practice over reflection, is that many Australian journalists give little if any consideration to ethical issues in their daily work. As a result, approaches to ethical dilemmas are often determined by individual decisions based on such immediate considerations as what was done last time, what a colleague suggests, what the editor wants, and what is considered possible ‘to get away with’. Such responses are generally inconsistent, poorly thought out, idiosyncratic and difficult to defend. Whether ethical concerns about such practices can be laid entirely at the door of the individuals directly involved is an important underlying question. It is frequently assumed that the state of journalism ethics can be largely explained in terms of the moral failings of individual journalists, editors and proprietors, and certainly it is the case that there are individuals who prefer an action that is wrong to one that is right, who reject the appropriate ethical principles in a given situation, and who lack sufficient motivation or concern for the well-being of others to behave ethically. Such attitudes lead to unethical behaviour and their existence and potential impact needs to be acknowledged, even though they are often ignored in general accounts of professional ethics. Martin (2000) contends that individual character flaws are significant and attributes their down-playing in the wider field of professional ethics to a ‘host of prejudices’ and an obsession with positivism (p.174). But while his critique reminds us that individual character accounts for a proportion of unethical behaviour in journalism, such explanations are not sufficient in themselves. Deeper understanding is required, and the logical place to begin the search for it is within journalism itself. Yet such a search is likely to prove unrewarding. Historically, any movement within journalism towards focusing on ethical issues has been undermined by a consistent thread of anxiety about the possibility of external regulation, in particular a concern among many journalists that their participation in robust public discussion of ethical issues might prove to be ‘the thin end of the wedge’ with regard to such regulation. This anxiety appears to have been intensified by the very public nature of the activity in which journalists are engaged. Journalism is one of the most public of professional or quasi-professional

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activities; indeed, there is an old saying in journalism to the effect that: ‘Doctors bury their mistakes, lawyers jail their mistakes and journalists publish their mistakes for all the world to see’. One result of this is that journalists often seem to be especially vulnerable to criticism and correspondingly wary of public discussion about the workings of their calling in general and their ethics in particular. Ethical reflection has been further inhibited by the culture in which most journalists work. This culture has emphasised the immediate and the practical over the reflective and the theoretical and, in this country at least, been marked by a strong strand of anti-intellectualism. This helps explain why in Australia: Anyone who’s worked in a newsroom knows that the Code of Ethics is generally put up on the wall. There’s a lack of a culture where it’s actually talked about or discussed. (Elgar 1997) Underlying all of this is the narrow and intensely practical way in which ethics has been defined by those journalists who have concerned themselves with the subject. As a result, it is generally possible for a journalist to adhere closely to the guidelines outlined in one of the journalistic codes of ethics or of professional practice, yet still produce journalism which at best leaves many ethical questions unanswered and at worst compromises some key ethical principles. To take but one example – accuracy in reporting. In Australia, as elsewhere, basic journalism texts (Hurst and Provis 2000; Oakham 1998; Conley 1997; White 1996; Granato 1991; Jervis 1985, 1988) echo the view that: ‘no journalism can be effective if it is inaccurate’ and that ‘a single error, however small, can undo everything’ (Conley 1997, p.45). Implicit in such statements is the view that journalists have an ethical obligation to their audiences and to those whose activities they report upon to be as accurate as possible, and that failing to be accurate is ‘professionally culpable and…constitutes a moral failure to live up to the responsibilities of one’s job’ (Kieran 2000, p.157). Yet in practice a reporter can be scrupulous about reporting accurately what someone has said and still compromise basic ethical values. This can happen intentionally – for example, if a reporter chooses to report only those sources whose views reflect his or her own views – but it can also happen to the reporter who conscientiously follows standard journalistic practice.

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Journalists regularly correct poor grammar and clumsy expression, omit fragmented or incomplete sentences, and ignore dull remarks in favour of the liveliest quotes. While this is done to prevent these aspects from distracting or irritating readers and viewers, it can be at the expense of information which is significant or relevant to those same readers and viewers. Thus, while on one hand journalists strongly emphasise the need for the greatest degree of accuracy in order to be faithful to their audience, on the other hand they are quite prepared to compromise that accuracy in order to maintain audience attention. Journalism and professional ethics It’s a journalist’s job to be a witness to history. We’re not there to worry about ourselves. We’re there to try and get as near as we can, in an imperfect world, to the truth and get the truth out. (Fisk 1998, p.36) Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows what he does is morally indefensible. He is a confidence man [sic], preying on people’s vanity, ignorance or loneliness, gaining their trust and betraying them without tremor. (Malcolm 1989, p.38) While not fundamentally inconsistent, such divergent assessments of the ethical core of journalism by two practitioners of international stature – the first an acclaimed Middle East correspondent for London’s “The Independent” newspaper, the second a prominent American journalist and writer – reflect a polarity which is endemic in contemporary journalism. To some extent such contradictions are found across the spectrum of professional ethics, in part because of a wider societal confusion over ethical values. MacIntyre (1981) has argued that such confusion is a product of a range of competing and incompatible philosophical traditions, a situation which almost inevitably leads to a degree of conflict and, indeed, incoherence in discussions of professional ethics. But in journalism the situation is exacerbated because so few philosophers have addressed ‘that branch of philosophy that helps journalists determine what is right to do in their journalism’ (Itule and Anderson 2000, p.443). Although the focus of professional ethics is ‘the making of moral judgements on ethical issues related to the profession, according to professional standards’ (Singer 1990, p.18), journalism ethics has been largely ignored by those who have concerned themselves with professional ethics. Yet much of the practice of journalism can be described and

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analysed ‘in terms of a set of concepts which are essentially ethical, terms like freedom, objectivity, truth, honesty, privacy’ (Belsey and Chadwick 1992, p.xi). While there is a small body of relevant work grounded in applied ethics, even in the wider fields of communication and media ethics little attention has been devoted to the specific ethical quandaries of the journalist. By far the greatest contribution to the study of journalism ethics has come from reflective practitioners and former practitioners, who have generally taken an intensely practical approach, which helps explain why ‘neither journalists nor philosophers know how to talk about journalism ethics and, as a result, conversation on the topic is merely evasive and dispiriting’ (Carey 1987, p.42). The net effect is that Merrill’s observation that ‘when we enter the area of journalistic ethics, we pass into a swamp of philosophical speculation where eerie mists of judgement hang low over a boggy terrain’ (Merrill 1974, p.8) remains as valid today as when he made it almost three decades ago. Part of the explanation for journalism’s absence from the centre stage of professional ethics is ongoing uncertainty over whether journalism can legitimately be called a profession in the first place. Traditionally, professionals have been distinguished according to at least five criteria (Stichler 1992): the possession of specialised knowledge or skills; the acceptance of ethical standards higher than those expected of other members of society; self-regulation in terms of entrance to the profession and the monitoring and enforcing of ethical standards; a general acceptance that those engaged in the activity provide a greater good or benefit for society; and the enjoyment of certain rights and privileges usually denied to other occupational groups. There is an ongoing debate as to whether additional criteria are required, and whether some criteria are more important than others. Thus Allison (1986), for example, argues that positioning an occupation as indispensable to society is fundamental to its being accepted as a profession: The occupation is most likely to be successful in its effort if it is conceived to be a role that is not only a practical necessity for smoothly functioning society, but one that also is instrumental in guaranteeing life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness. (p.15) A fundamental question in professional ethics is whether being a professional involves different ethical standards and obligations from those of non-professionals. It has been argued that being a

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member of a profession commits one to ethical obligations which are different from those which apply to non-professionals. What Gewirth (1986), for example, terms the ‘separatist thesis’ is supported by such claims as that made by Tur (1996) with regard to lawyers that: lawyers are not morally accountable for the results of their efforts and cannot be made accountable without destroying their essential function. Lawyering thus appears to involve an institutional exemption from the normal dictates of moral conscience. (p. 87) Against this view is the position that the ethical obligations of professionals are no different from those of the rest of society. Koehn, for example, argues that professional ethics is ‘an institutionalised expression of prevailing public morality’ (Koehn 1994, p.150). If one agrees with this position then, logically, one must also accept that ‘the autonomy of professional ethics …is strictly limited’ (Gewirth 1986, p.300). Determining journalism’s position in relation to this debate is not easy, in part because conventional models of professions are not necessarily appropriate to journalism. Journalism is different from such standard professions as medicine or law for a number of reasons and, as a result, the idea of professionalism in journalism is ‘a vague and contradictory one’ (Meadows 2001a, p.73). Journalists do not need to acquire a systematic body of knowledge in order to practice, and they do not enjoy anything like the doctor-patient or lawyer-client relationship with members of the public as represented by either their sources or their audience. While journalists might respond that their clients are ‘the public’, this concept is ‘not as vividly particular as a person in trouble: a defendant in the dock, a patient on the operating table, a sinner in moral confusion’ (Carey 1987, p.46). Accordingly: The public is not part of the working culture of a journalist. Someone is out there, undefined, someone who shows up in a letter to the editor, who may even call once or twice, but is not the vivid, continuous, understandable presence that the client is to the other professions. (Carey 1987, p.46) In the face of this ignorance as to who is watching, reading or listening to their reports, most journalists revert to feedback from their colleagues and managers in the newsroom, whose opinions are shaped by forces similar to those which have shaped the individual journalist’s own views. As a result, many journalists feel indifference, ignorance and, indeed, contempt for their

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audience, even though – according to classic press theory and social responsibility theory – members of the audience should be their prime concern. Conclusion Most models of professional ethics are derived from areas such as medicine and the law in which, at least until very recently, largely independent practitioners served individual clients and any public benefit accrued as a by-product of the primary one-to-one relationship with the patient or client. These relationships are not without their difficulties, such as the dependency which is a hallmark of relationships between doctors, lawyers or social workers and their clients. That professions often are characterised by such dependency is one of the key reasons why James Carey (1980), for example, is strongly opposed to the very notion of professionalism in journalism: The great danger in modern journalism is one of a professional orientation to an audience: the belief, usually implicit, that the audience is there to be informed, to be educated, to be filled with the vital information and knowledge whose nature, production and control rests with a professional class. This knowledge is defined, identified, presented, based upon canons of professional expertise over which the audience exercises no real judgment or control. And in this new client-professional relationship that emerges, the same structures of dependency are developed that typify the relations of doctors, lawyers and social workers to their clients. (p.6) Journalists’ ‘clients’ are largely those who happen to read or view or listen to their work, although from time to time they are also those individuals upon whose behalf investigative journalists, for example, take up cudgels. Accordingly, any greater good that journalists claim to perform on behalf of the public – such as informing the general populace, assisting the democratic process, acting in the wider interests of the public – accrues to an amorphous and illdefined audience rather than a specific ‘client’. At the same time, it may be that the very notion of professionalism in journalism has negative ethical consequences. Thus Meadows (2001b), for example, argues that professional ideology in the media ‘privileges routine structures and practices that tend to frame events within dominant paradigms’ and that the ideology and notion of professionalism ‘in their present form provide a sanctuary for those unwilling or unable to examine their key role in shaping reality’ (p.175). In

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support of his case, he points out that in Australia ‘examples of overt and implied racism remain, despite the Journalists’ Code of Ethics, myriad codes of practice, and complaints procedures of the Australian Press Council and the Australian Broadcasting Authority’ (p.175). (For fuller consideration in an Australian context see, for example, Meadows 2001a, 2001b, 1998; Schultz 1998, 1994; Henningham 1990; Bowman 1988; Lloyd 1985). While it is not the purpose of this paper to resolve the debate over professionalism in journalism, it is important to acknowledge the consequences for journalism ethics of the protracted debate engendered by the uncertain nature of the relationship between journalism and professionalism. Perhaps the most notable of these is that the professional understandings which inform the deliberations and behaviour of members of many professions are weak or absent from journalism. Partly because of the conflict between those who insist that journalism is a craft or a trade, and those who seek to position journalism as a profession, journalists have frequently failed to respond to ethical discussion in ways which conventional professionals would regard as standard (Carey 1987). This debate has also distracted attention from the ‘on the ground’ unethical conduct of journalists even though the ethical basis of journalism is of far more significance than whether journalists call themselves professionals or not. What is important is not a precise definition of a profession, which is bound to be too restricted to apply to the variety of groups that have some fair claim to be professional these days, but rather the quality of the conduct of members of these groups, whether it be in medicine or journalism, so long as it has a potential for good or harm. (Belsey and Chadwick, p.12) More seriously, at least in terms of the argument being mounted here, the debate over the relationship between journalism and professsionalism has contributed to journalism’s relegation to a peripheral position in the field of professional ethics. This is unfortunate because it seems clear that, regardless of how well it might or might not fit standard interpretations of professionalism and regardless of the possible risks inherent in viewing it through the lens of “the professions”, journalism would benefit from the understandings which have informed other areas of professional ethics. So, too, would the wider society. After all, not only is the ethical dimension of fundamental importance to the moral legitimacy of journalism, but journalists and journalism continue to be of fundamental importance to contemporary life:

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At the level of the city, state or nation the best of the news media is able to explain us to ourselves, highlight our shortcomings and provide the insights that enable new solutions to emerge. (Schultz 1998, p.7) Quite simply, for all the flaws of journalism, ‘no one has come up with a better arrangement’ (Carey 1997, p.250). As such, journalism warrants far more serious ethical analysis than it has so far received.

References Allison, M. (1986) A literature review of approaches to the professionalism of journalists. Journal of Mass Media Ethics 1(2), Spring/Summer: 5-19. Belsey, A. and Chadwick, R. (eds.) (1992) Ethical issues in journalism and the media. London: Routledge. Blackhurst, C. (1997) First, ask the right question. The Independent June 8: 23. Bowman, D. (1988) The captive press. Melbourne: Penguin. Carey, James (1997) The press, public opinion and public discourse. In Munson, E.S. and Warren, C.A. (eds.) James Carey: A critical reader. Minneapolis: University of Minnestoa Press, pp.228-257. __________ (1987) Journalists just leave: The ethics of an anomalous profession. Reprinted in Baird, R., Loges, W. and Rosenbaum, S. (eds.) (1999) The media and morality. New York: Prometheus. (1980) The university tradition in journalism education. Carleton University _______ Review 2(6) Summer: 3-7. Conley, D. (1997) The daily miracle: An introduction to journalism. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. Elgar, K. (1997) The Media Report. Radio National. March 13, 1997. Fisk R. (1998) Interview with Matthew Rothschild. The Progressive 62(7) 36 July. Gewirth, A. (1986) Professional ethics: The separatist thesis. Ethics 96: 282-300. Granato, L. (1991) Reporting and writing news. Sydney: Prentice Hall. Henningham, J. (1990) Is journalism a profession? In Henningham, J. (ed.) Issues in Australian journalism. Melbourne: Longman Cheshire. Hurst, J. and Provis, M. (ed.) (2000) Community journalism. Carlton, Victoria: Country Press Australia. Itule, B. and Anderson, D. (2000) News writing and reporting for today’s media. 6th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.

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Kieran, M. (2000) The regulatory and ethical framework for investigative journalism. In de Burgh, H. (ed.) Investigative journalism. London: Routledge, pp.156-176. Koehn, D. (1994) The ground of professional ethics. London: Routledge. Lloyd, C. (1985) Profession: Journalist. Sydney: Hale and Iremonger. MacIntyre, A. (1981) After virtue. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. Malcolm, J. (1989) Reflections: The journalist and the murderer. The New Yorker, March 13. Martin, M. (2000) Meaningful work: Rethinking professional ethics. New York: Oxford University Press. Meadows, M. (2001a) A return to practice: Reclaiming journalism as public conversation. In Tapsall, S. and Varley, C. (eds.) Journalism: Theory in practice. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ___________ (2001b) Voices in the wilderness: Images of Aboriginal people in the Australian media. Westport: Greenwood. Merrill, J.C. (1974) The imperative of freedom New York: Hastings House Oakham, M. (ed.) (1998) Don’t bury the lead: Australian news gathering and reporting. Geelong: Deakin University Press. Schultz, J. (1994) The paradox of professionalism. In Schultz, J (ed.) Not just another business. Melbourne: Pluto Press. ________ (1998) Reviving the Fourth Estate: Democracy, accountability and the media. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Singer, P. (1990) Practical ethics. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Stichler, R.N. (1992) On reforming the ALA’s Code of Ethics. American Libraries 23(1) January: 40-44. Tur, R. (1996) Accountability and lawyers. In Chadwick, R (ed.) Ethics and the professions. Aldershot: Avebury. White, S. (1996) Reporting in Australia. 2nd edition. Melbourne: Macmillan.

References: Allison, M. (1986) A literature review of approaches to the professionalism of journalists. Journal of Mass Media Ethics 1(2), Spring/Summer: 5-19. Belsey, A. and Chadwick, R. (eds.) (1992) Ethical issues in journalism and the media. London: Routledge. Blackhurst, C. (1997) First, ask the right question. The Independent June 8: 23. Bowman, D. (1988) The captive press. Melbourne: Penguin. Carey, James (1997) The press, public opinion and public discourse. In Munson, E.S. and Warren, C.A. (eds.) James Carey: A critical reader. Minneapolis: University of Minnestoa Press, pp.228-257. __________ (1987) Journalists just leave: The ethics of an anomalous profession. Reprinted in Baird, R., Loges, W. and Rosenbaum, S. (eds.) (1999) The media and morality. New York: Prometheus. (1980) The university tradition in journalism education. Carleton University _______ Review 2(6) Summer: 3-7. Conley, D. (1997) The daily miracle: An introduction to journalism. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. Elgar, K. (1997) The Media Report. Radio National. March 13, 1997. Fisk R. (1998) Interview with Matthew Rothschild. The Progressive 62(7) 36 July. Gewirth, A. (1986) Professional ethics: The separatist thesis. Ethics 96: 282-300. Granato, L. (1991) Reporting and writing news. Sydney: Prentice Hall. Henningham, J. (1990) Is journalism a profession? In Henningham, J. (ed.) Issues in Australian journalism. Melbourne: Longman Cheshire. Hurst, J. and Provis, M. (ed.) (2000) Community journalism. Carlton, Victoria: Country Press Australia. Itule, B. and Anderson, D. (2000) News writing and reporting for today’s media. 6th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill. 11 Kieran, M. (2000) The regulatory and ethical framework for investigative journalism. In de Burgh, H. (ed.) Investigative journalism. London: Routledge, pp.156-176. Koehn, D. (1994) The ground of professional ethics. London: Routledge. Lloyd, C. (1985) Profession: Journalist. Sydney: Hale and Iremonger. MacIntyre, A. (1981) After virtue. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. Malcolm, J. (1989) Reflections: The journalist and the murderer. The New Yorker, March 13. Martin, M. (2000) Meaningful work: Rethinking professional ethics. New York: Oxford University Press. Meadows, M. (2001a) A return to practice: Reclaiming journalism as public conversation. In Tapsall, S. and Varley, C. (eds.) Journalism: Theory in practice. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ___________ (2001b) Voices in the wilderness: Images of Aboriginal people in the Australian media. Westport: Greenwood. Merrill, J.C. (1974) The imperative of freedom New York: Hastings House Oakham, M. (ed.) (1998) Don’t bury the lead: Australian news gathering and reporting. Geelong: Deakin University Press. Schultz, J. (1994) The paradox of professionalism. In Schultz, J (ed.) Not just another business. Melbourne: Pluto Press. ________ (1998) Reviving the Fourth Estate: Democracy, accountability and the media. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Singer, P. (1990) Practical ethics. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Stichler, R.N. (1992) On reforming the ALA’s Code of Ethics. American Libraries 23(1) January: 40-44. Tur, R. (1996) Accountability and lawyers. In Chadwick, R (ed.) Ethics and the professions. Aldershot: Avebury. White, S. (1996) Reporting in Australia. 2nd edition. Melbourne: Macmillan.