Ethics codes out of the closet

By: Mark Fitzgerald Warnings against written policies fading

Not so long ago, the conventional wisdom was that newspapers should be ethical ? but they should never, ever write down their ethics policies.
The idea was that, in the event of litigation, an ethics code could easily be used as evidence that a newspaper failed to follow its own standards.
"I think most media lawyers would still be a lot happier if newspapers never published anything about a code in journalism standards or ethics," said Neil Shapiro, a media lawyer in San Francisco.
Times are changing, though. Stung by the public's sinking trust in their work and by the highly publicized missteps of some of its reporters, newspapers are increasingly adopting and publicizing ethics codes to underscore their commitment to fairness and integrity. Last June, for instance, the Gannett Co. adopted a 2,700-word set of ethical guidelines for all 73 of its daily community papers.
The most recent example is the Tampa (Fla.) Tribune, which introduced an ethics policy with an unusually chatty tone in a long column by Executive Editor and Vice President Gil Thelen. The full text of the code is posted on the Trib's Web site at http://www.tampatrib.com/ethics.htm.
"People ought to trust us," the policy begins. "It irks us when they don't ? Readers don't know our sacrifices. We suffer through elections without benefit of bumper stickers. We know which politicians are idiots but can't scream it in a crowded room. We lunch with millionaires but can't let them pick up the check.
"Meanwhile, our siblings, who drive better cars, expect us to shower them with Bucs tickets and Disney passes. Our neighbors, who boast of knowing us, want publicity. We fail, unable to profile their tire stores on Page One."
The policy was written by a committee of newsroom employees, who originally drafted a traditional, serious-sounding code, says Thelen.
"We decided we wanted to make it a lot more colloquial, and we wanted to give some sense of the spirit of what this newspaper is and how it relates to the community," Thelen said.
Despite its tone, the code addresses the many potential pitfalls of journalism. It bans gift-taking, plagiarism, political activity, misrepresentation, and favoritism. It commits the paper to prompt and full corrections.
Thelen, a self-described "member of the ASNE [American Society of Newspaper Editors] credibility crowd," said he believes the Tribune needs to open its policies and procedure to public view.
"Crudely put, the risk we run on the downside of readership credibility is a bigger risk to me than the risk of having an ethics policy used against us in court," Thelen said.
There's evidence that media lawyers, too, are adopting that attitude.
Attorney Shapiro, for instance, says he is less concerned with policies that talk about ethics than those that mandate journalistic practices.
"They talk about wonderful practices ? and no one can fulfill them," he said. "But an ethics code is something that is attainable. You can avoid writing about someone you do business with."
The old warnings from lawyers are also losing some of their power for another reason, says Bob Ballow, name partner in the Nashville media firm King & Ballow.
"I would have to say, based on my experience, I don't know any place where it's been used against [newspapers]," Ballow said.

(Editor & Publisher Web Site: http://www.mediainfo.com) [Caption]
(copyright: Editor & Publisher October 16, 1999) [Caption]