UNDER THE THEME:

The responsibilities related to this theme are addressed in the context of more general principles throughout the Rights and Responsibilities of the Press code of conduct.

UNDER THE THEME:

Journalists whose work is published on the Internet or by means of other new technologies are expected to adhere to the same professional and ethical norms as those whose work is transmitted by more traditional media.

The principles of impartiality, accuracy and truthfulness must be respected during research, writing, editing and publication so as to produce high-quality work.

The deluge of information available on the Internet makes it important that news content be clearly identified as such, to avoid confusion. As well, information must be clearly attributed and sources identified, as per the norms of traditional print journalism. This includes the sources of articles that are reprints or rewrites of material originally published elsewhere.

Start-up costs and capital outlays for online news media are considerably smaller than those for traditional outlets. While this provides a clear advantage to the would-be publisher, the small size of many such operations also has a downside. In a one-person news organization, a single person must assume two fundamentally incompatible roles: acting on the one hand as editorial staff, and on the other, as advertising salesperson. Traditional journalistic ethics dictate that these roles not be played by the same person, regardless of the size of the business, so as not to compromise the integrity of the news operation.

Similarly, the editing and publishing of online news and magazine sites must be entrusted only to journalists and never to specialists in information technology or marketing. This would compromise the work itself and present at the very least the appearance of conflict of interest.

For more information, you can visit the section entitled Publications – Statements and Memorandas.