Last Updated: February 17, 1999
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Asbury Park Press, N.J.
Our code of ethics
The Press adheres to the highest ethical standards.
We believe that it is the duty of journalists to serve the truth. As
practitioners of the press freedom that is essential to democracy, we believe
that journalists have a higher duty than others to avoid the appearance
of conflicts of interest in their professional and private lives.
We strive to be fair, accurate, honest, responsible, independent and
sensitive to the feelings of our readers. We respect individual rights
to privacy. We strive for balance. If we represent a point of view, we
want it to be the public interest.
The Press and its staff should be free of obligations to outsiders,
especially news sources and special interests. We accept nothing of value
from anyone outside the profession, with the exception of review copies
of new books, video tapes and other recordings, and reviewers' admissions
to theaters and other working-press passes to sporting events, etc. In
the case of books, tapes and other recordings, we donate surplus items
to local libraries or to the annual charity raffle when it is impractical
to return them to the originator.
When it is impractical to refuse or return gifts, we notify the giver
of our policy of contributing them to our annual raffle and discourage
further gifts.
We guard against the appearance of bias and partiality in our coverage.
No one should hold any public elective or appointive office except in the
rarest of instances as approved by the executive editor.
Our news staff does not advise or work for politicians or political
organizations. We encourage good citizenship by exercising our right to
vote in referenda, primaries and general elections, but we do not engage
in partisan activity beyond that.
We are not employed by news sources or potential sources.
We recognize that it may be a conflict of interest for any reporter,
editor or correspondent to write promotional material or press releases
for any organization that may appear in our news pages. If any staff member
receives such a request, the organization may be given material prepared
by The Press as assistance in writing releases and offering information
on submitting them.
Our news staff does no public speaking when such an appearance can be
construed as benefiting a commercial enterprise or a point of view of any
organization.
We do not treat our advertisers differently than other sources of potential
stories. We may use the advertising department as a source of news. If
an advertiser has a legitimate story, we research and report it ourselves.
No reporter, editor or correspondent with a personal or financial interest
in a story should be involved in any aspect of coverage of that story,
from development to layout and headline writing to follow-up editorial
and Op-ed pieces. While we encourage all employees to give tips on newsworthy
stories, no staff member should use this as a vehicle to promote a favored
project or person.
We do not seek and we try to avoid special favors and treatment. We
do not use our positions at The Press to seek any benefit or advantage
in personal business, financial or commercial transactions not afforded
to the public generally.
We disclose our news sources unless there is a clear and ethical reason
not to do so. When it is necessary to protect the confidentiality of a
source, we explain the reason to a supervising editor who is then entrusted
with the responsibility to grant permission to publish without attribution.
We do not plagiarize. We do not use the words or phrasing of other publications
without attribution. We do not manufacture direct quotes.
We always balance with the facts those public statements we know to
be inaccurate or misleading.
We do not write or edit stories primarily for the purpose of winning
awards. We avoid blatantly commercial journalism contests and others that
reflect unfavorably on the newspaper or the profession.
We recognize that it is not unusual for corporate officers of a newspaper
to be involved in civic activities. However, that involvement should never
color the news coverage of those activities and staff members should be
no less vigilant in that coverage.
No set of guidelines can cover all situations that could face a journalist.
We rely on the professional judgment of our staff members to recognize,
and to discuss in advance with supervisors, a situation that in any way
could affect the fairness or credibility of our news report.
