Standards Of course, many times journalists will disagree about what these standards mean, or how to carry them out in a given situation. They should not be used as an absolute rule, or a measuring stick for sitting in judgment or controlling the media. They are more akin to goals – ideals that we aspire to, knowing that we may never perfectly attain them. We try to offer here some guidelines for the underlying basis of these standards, and from that, how to think about and act upon them. Within each of these standards we refer back to the audience, and we offer some questions you can use when reporting and writing, to ensure you are serving the needs of your audience. In addition to the standards, we’ve given a framework for a code of ethics – ways to think about ethical principles and apply them. We also include other examples of professional principles, standards and codes of ethics. Further resources are in the Appendix.
Principles The essential mission of professional journalists is to serve the people of the audience we reach – whether local or international – by providing information that they need and want, and by listening to and amplifying the voices of all people. For journalists in a democracy, this relationship helps citizens to carry out their
responsibilities and to hold government officials accountable. Whether or not there is a full-fledged democracy, journalists can give their respective audiences a chance to be heard by their leaders, and a medium to communicate with and learn about each other. In this way we address the needs of the ordinary people who most depend on us. The relationship that a media outlet has with its audience depends upon their trust. All our professional ethics and work standards flow from that foundation, from giving careful thought to how we earn and keep that trust over time. Professional journalists know that our first priority is the audience we reach – the people who depend on us for reliable information. We do not strive to serve the interests of our sources, the government, the elite, or any political party or interest group, but instead do our best for the greater audience of the ordinary people. As Olfa Gamal El Din Tantawi pointed out, it is important to understand that the role and practices of a journalist who works for a multi-language wire service “who knows that his report will travel all over the world” will be different than one who works for a small opposition magazine, “who feels accountable only to the people in this particular geographic area.” In addition, she said, “most Western media speaks to Western audiences, with some repercussions in the Arab and Asian FIGHTING WORDS 105