A National Study of Ethics in Television News

Abstract

Television station assignments editors were surveyed to determine the presence and impact of both written and universal codes of ethics. Written codes were found in more than half of the surveyed stations. The source for these codes was management rather than professional organizations. Stations that had official, written codes used them to solve difficult problems and disciplinary actions resulting from ethics violations. No relationships were found between having a written code and discussions of ethical issues, nor the number of times an assignments editor objected to an ethical decision. Universal ethical codes were also investigated. Two sets of data suggested that universal codes exist. A factor analysis of universal issues produced two factors: the separation of business and news (Factor 1) and legal issues or care about ethical codes (Factor 2). Traditional universal standards such as plagiarism and checking sources were not part of the factor solution. However, editors, when asked about unwritten codes, did reflect on universal ethical standards that include trust, respect, and so on. There was no statistical evidence that universal and written codes were related. The findings suggest that television journalists might be different from their print colleagues in some ways. For example, the frequent charge from pundits that television journalists are more eager to “get the story at all costs” was not reflected in these findings.