Thirteen Journalists on How They Are Rethinking Ethics
Columbia Journalism Review asked newsroom leaders and ethicists what they’re keeping or changing in an era of Trump, “fake news,” AI, and industry decline.
Subbu Vincent, director, media and journalism ethics, joined a panel of distinguished contributors in answering the questions, and offered the following perspective.
Every news organization has what’s called the “house brew,” like the house-brew coffee when you go to a coffee shop. The “house brew” is what I call the built-in code of ethics. The Economist has one; if you go to the New York Times, they have one. Codes of ethics are usually articulated at the level of the article—things like: “No conflicts of interest,” “You will diversify your sourcing,” and so on and so on. But news organizations are almost never asking: “What are our news values? How are we as a news organization determining factions? How are we determining what are the sides to a dispute? What is the purpose of diversifying sourcing?”
Subbu Vincent, director, media and journalism ethics, quoted by the Columbia Journalism Review.