The Society of Professional Journalists has issued the first in a series of position papers on significant ethical issues for the craft. One of its first two counsels how to use the existing and venerable ethics code of the organization, but the other is more ground-gaining on political involvement.
The short-form message is: Don't. As in, run, donate, organize, campaign. , But the longer message in the paper, written by veteran journalist Fred Brown, is that public perception is such that a journalist has to demonstrate impartiality. Political involvement won't do that, he argues.
Brown is not impractical. He notes that objectivity isn't possible but impartiality is.
Brown, who covered politics for the Denver Post for four decades, asserts the importance of noting when publishers and proprietors weigh in to politics. As for editorial positions by newspapers, he says it's fine as long as there is a sharp and defined line between news and opinion for the public to see.
One thing he finds "unnecessarily prim": not voting. "The proof of a reporter's impartiality should be in the performance."
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