Honesty And The Spj Code Of Ethics

=The world of journalism is a constantly changing place. New information can be sent to anyone in the world with the click of a button. There has never been so many different means by which one can receive news. However, with a massive amount of news comes a massive amount of responsibility. Professor Rich Martin mentioned in lecture that it is essential for journalists to be fair and accurate. It is their job to elicit facts and report them to the public. Journalists are also expected to follow the Society of Professional Journalists’, Code of Ethics, when they are extracting these facts and broadcasting them.

The problem is all journalists don’t always follow what professor Martin teaches, or what the Code of Ethics preaches. Honesty and

These four principles culminate to form the foundation of journalism. Though all four principles are essential to journalism, ESPN continually defies one of these principles. “The worldwide leader in sports,” does not act independently. The Code of Ethics explicitly states journalists should “avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.” The code also states, “the highest and primary obligation of ethical journalism is to serve the public.” During ESPN’s “The Decision”, a one-hour-special on then free agent LeBron James, ESPN failed to serve the public or avoid conflicts of interest. The entire broadcast caused many to question the integrity of ESPN, including Washington Post staff writer, Leonard Shapiro. Shapiro called out the multimillion-dollar corporation as it failed to meet the journalistic expectations one would have for “the worldwide leader in sports.” Shapiro stated, “The most troubling aspect of the whole ill-conceived mess was ESPN's willingness to hand over an hour of prime-time television to an egomaniacal athlete the network should be covering as a news story.” ESPN had the opportunity to serve the public and cover actual news, rather than take up an hour to wait for an announcement that took no more than five seconds. What makes ESPN’s decision to broadcast this

Reporters have the ability to take quotes out of context to alter the tone of their story. In September of 2013 SportsIllustrated.com published a five part investigative report on the football program at Oklahoma State University. The report talked about the several NCAA violations the university committed since the early 2000s. The article used extensive research and numerous interviews with former Oklahoma State players, coaches and other individuals associated with the football program. At first glance the article seems like an ethically sound article, as it uses all three legs of the reporting stool: interviewing, research and observation. Although those things seemed to provide an accurate story, that was not the case for former Oklahoma State quarterback, Aso Pogi, who was quoted in the article. Pogi played for the Cowboys from 1999 until 2002. The article’s author and Sports Illustrated reporter, Thayer Evans, showed up unannounced to conduct an interview at the church where Pogi is a youth minister. According to an article from Jimmie Tramel, Pogi was never told that his meeting with Evans would occur or be recorded. The article also mentions that Pogi said Evans never took a note. When the SI article was published, Pogi was in shock, because he was a big part of the article. Pogi was never told he was being interviewed for a Sports Illustrated article and now he was quoted saying things he