JOUR 001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Chequebook Journalism
28 Oct 2020
School
Department
Course
Professor
William B.
College of the Sequoias
Journalism 101
Writing for New Media
MORE ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA
● Try to build your social media following
● More exposure to your work
● Enhances “brand” and reputation for you, your organization
● Choice whether to maintain separate professional and personal accounts/pages
● Either way, your personal posts should never be unprofessional or violate
employer or newsroom policy
● Don’t share on social media any news that isn’t ready for publication on all platforms
● Publication standards should be the same
● Do not, do not, DO NOT believe everything you read
● Confirm news with other sources
● Confirm controversial posts with original poster if possible (problem of
hacked accounts, impersonator accounts)
ETHICS IN JOURNALISM
● Ethics: Morally right decisions, practices, and policies
● Ethics = reputation and credibility
● You can’t write about the ethical failings of others if you don’t practice ethics
yourself. Otherwise, you’re a hypocrite
● Individual journalists can have their own internal ethics
● But every news organization should have its own ethics policies for all employees to
follow
● An ethics policy is a learning point; every ethical dilemma must be decided based on
its own particular facts
● The journalism profession has several codes of ethics that news organizations can
choose to follow
● These codes are non-enforceable guidelines
SPJ CODE OF ETHICS
● Major principles:
● Seek truth and report it
● Minimize harm
● Act independently
● Be accountable and transparent
“SEEK TRUTH AND REPORT IT”
● Journalists should:
● Verify information; put accuracy before speed
● Identify sources; use anonymous ones only when sources face retribution for
revealing vital info not available by other means
● Diligently seek response from targets of criticism, allegations
Document Summary
Try to build your social media following. Enhances brand and reputation for you, your organization. Choice whether to maintain separate professional and personal accounts/pages. Either way, your personal posts should never be unprofessional or violate employer or newsroom policy. Don"t share on social media any news that isn"t ready for publication on all platforms. Do not, do not, do not believe everything you read. Confirm controversial posts with original poster if possible (problem of hacked accounts, impersonator accounts) Ethics: morally right decisions, practices, and policies. You can"t write about the ethical failings of others if you don"t practice ethics yourself. Individual journalists can have their own internal ethics. But every news organization should have its own ethics policies for all employees to follow. An ethics policy is a learning point; every ethical dilemma must be decided based on its own particular facts. The journalism profession has several codes of ethics that news organizations can choose to follow.
