Spj Code Of Ethical Standards

I am very aware that you are a journalist. It is your job to gather information and present new and exciting news stories. Whether for the good, bad, or ugly it is your duty to keep society updated. With that being said it is also important to seek the truth and report it, try to minimize harm, and act independently if you want to live up to the SPJ code of ethical standards.
In recent news of Bill Cosby, the national enquirer released a frightening article written by you. It references a book by the aunt of Bill’s daughter Autumn Jackson that claims he had his son murdered after his son threatened to reveal sickening details about Bill’s life. When stating that a journalist should always speak the truth and then report it, your information

should always be as accurate as possible. Especially when labelling someone’s character. It is best to verify information before putting it out to the public eye. Without Bill’s son being alive to confirm the allegation or a confession from Bill we will never know if this story is 100% true.
Sometimes journalist fail to realize how much harm their doing by releasing a news story. They write what they think they know about someone else’s life. In this article you insinuated that Cosby was responsible for the murder of his own son. This article is not doing more good than bad, in that case also is not minimizing harm. Most articles written about Bill Cosby are currently about his rape allegations, now you are adding a murder allegation as well.
The reference source of your article was a book “Cosby’s Love Child” by the aunt of Bill Cosby’s daughter Autumn Jackson, Jewel Star. Bill Cosby is the author’s niece’s father, and you ignored that when avoiding a conflict of interest. Also sources offering money you should stay away from who knows how many people went out and bought Jewel Stars’ tell all after you released your article.
A good journalists’ holy grail is the SPJ code of ethics. It troubles me that we not as journalist but people fail to have morals in our everyday lives and jobs. As much as I know that you were just doing your job as a reporter to gather information, it worries me because if society will destroy you for something as simple as a story we obviously feel like we have nothing to lose.