Columnists Approve Conduct Code

By: The National Society of Newspaper Columnists adopted a "Code of Conduct" Sunday at its conference in Tucson, Ariz. Parts of the six-paragraph text include:

* "I will never take advantage of my position to achieve unwarranted personal gain not available to others or use my column to settle personal scores. I will disclose potential conflicts to readers whenever possible."

* "I will never make up a quote, a source or a story when depicting true events. But I will reserve the right to engage in parody and satire."

* "I will never plagiarize. Whenever possible, when I make a mistake, I will correct it."

* "I will listen to my critics and, in person, treat them with dignity and respect because they pay me the high honor of reading me, even if they disagree. Similarly, I will treat with personal courtesy those whom I may criticize in writing before and after writing about them."

The code was drafted at a "Seminar on Ethics and Excellence in Column Writing" last November in Fort Walton Beach, Fla.
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