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Ethics Code Revision Project

The work of revising SPJ's Code of Ethics began in earnest following the 2013 Excellence in Journalism conference in August 2013. The 18-member committee wasted little time getting philosophically engaged. How much should we change, if we change it at all? Shorter? Longer? More specific? More general? The revision project is ongoing. We continue to seek input from the journalism community and hope you will take part in the process.

Read the Final Draft • What's Changed? • FAQ • Leave Feedback • Detailed Process [PDF]

Explore SPJ Ethics: Current Code of Ethics • Meet the Committee • Quill • News/Articles • Help and Expertise

Ethics Code: Read the Final Draft

– Read the final draft
– What's changed? Third draft guidelines
– Code Revision Q&A
– Watch the third draft come together
– Ethics Committee Blog: Unveiling a New Code

Tell us what you think!

Do you think the code needs updating? What would you like to see added or changed? Your feedback is invaluable. Share your thoughts here.

Code Revision timeline

What's happened so far, and what lies ahead.

Thoughts on the Code

See what others are saying via comments collected from our feedback form and across various posts on SPJ's Blog Network.

Related Documents

– Detailed SPJ Code of Ethics revision process [PDF]
– SPJ/ONA DePaul’s Review and Feedback on Code of Ethics Changes [PDF]

Quill: Stories About Journalism Ethics

– Wrestling with trust vs. attention when breaking news
– Focusing on photography ethics
– Conduits of misinformation
– Texas shooting renews debate about trauma journalism practices 
– Beyond the Zucker headlines, another ethics issue

Related Articles
From Quill and around the web.

– Karen Peterson: A new day, a new set of journalism ethics [The News Tribune]
– Podcast: SPJ's Code of Ethics Adapts to the Digital Age [Press.org]
– Steve Buttry: SPJ’s ethics code ‘update’ proposal: just a few tweaks
– A New Code: SPJ Struggles to Define Rules of Online Journalism [ajr.org]
– Considering Ethics for Anyone Who Commits Acts of Journalism [PBS]
– Citizen Code [Quill]

 

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