Law 2: Regulation and Codes of Conduct

Breaking codes of conduct won't get you in to hot water with the law, but it'll certainly not endear you to anyone else.

Codes of conduct exist as a set of guidelines for journalists to follow during the course of their career, as guidelines for safe broadcasting, or guidelines for what amounts to house style.


The main codes come from:

• The National Union of Journalists
• The now defunct PCC
• OFCOM
• BBC Editorial Guidelines

We'll start with the National Union of Journalists' code of conduct, as every single journalist should stick to the NUJ code as well as the over governing bodies that might apply to them:

NUJ

1. A journalist has a duty to maintain the highest professional and ethical standards. - Obey the code
2. A journalist shall at all times defend the principle of the freedom of the Press and other media in relation to the collection of information and the expression of comment and criticism. He/she shall strive to eliminate distortion, news suppression and censorship. Eliminate distortion 
3. A journalist shall strive to ensure that the information he/she disseminates is fair and accurate, avoid the expression of comment and conjecture as established fact and falsification by distortion, selection or misrepresentation. Fair, accurate, no comment as fact
4. A journalist shall rectify promptly any harmful inaccuracies, ensure that correction and apologies receive due prominence and afford the right of reply to persons criticised when the issue is of sufficient importance. Rectify harmful inaccuracies 
5. A journalist shall obtain information, photographs and illustrations only by straightforward means. The use of other means can be justified only by over-riding considerations of the public interest. The journalist is entitled to exercise a personal conscientious objection to the use of such means. Obtain photographs only by straightforward means unless absolutely necessary
6. Subject to the justification by over-riding considerations of the public interest, a journalist shall do nothing which entails intrusion into private grief and distress. Don't intrude into death - private
7. A journalist shall protect confidential sources of information. Protect your sources
8. A journalist shall not accept bribes nor shall he/she allow other inducements to influence the performance of his/her professional duties. No bribes
9. A journalist shall not lend himself/herself to the distortion or suppression of the truth because of advertising or other considerations. No lying for advertisements
10. A journalist shall only mention a person's age, race, colour, creed, illegitimacy, marital status (or lack of it), gender or sexual orientation if this information is strictly relevant. A journalist shall neither originate nor process material which encourages discrimination, ridicule, prejudice or hatred on any of the above-mentioned grounds. No gratuitous mention of a person's race/gender/creed
11. A journalist shall not interview or photograph children in connection with stories concerning their welfare without the permission of a parent or other adult responsible for their welfare. Don't interview children
12. No journalist shall knowingly cause or allow the publication or broadcast of a photograph that has been manipulated unless that photograph is clearly labelled as such. Manipulation does not include normal dodging, burning, colour balancing, spotting, contrast adjustment, cropping and obvious masking for legal or safety reasons. Do not broadcast manipulated images
13. A journalist shall not take private advantage of information gained in the course of his/her duties, before the information is public knowledge. Do not use information gleaned through investigation for unfair, personal gain
14. A journalist shall not by way of statement, voice or appearance endorse by advertisement any commercial produce or service save for the promotion of his/her own work or of the medium by which he/she is employed. No endorsement

OFCOM

Ofcom's guidelines are thorough and far-reaching, but worth paying attention to as OFCOM literally have the power to take you off the air in addition to slapping you with a heavy fine. I've mangled them in to the following summary:

1. Protect under 18s from viewing unsuitable material
2. Protection continued - observing the watershed
3. Prevent offensive language from being broadcast on the radio, especially when children are likely to be listening
4. Do not publish material that deliberately misleads the audience so as to cause harm and offence
5. Do not publish material that is likely to encourage crime and disorder
6. Protect listeners and viewers from the failure of a proper degree of responsibility, improper exploitation and abusive treatment of the religious views and beliefs of those belonging to a particular religion or religious denomination. 
7. Promote impartiality and accuracy and prevent undue prominence 
8. Observe election guidelines - impartialityPublishers should make sure that their reports are fair, balanced, that contributors have informed consent and that subterfuge is only ever used appropriately
9. Know when the public have an expectation of privacy and ensure that Section 8 is not infringed. Do not intrude on grief, distress, and young and vulnerable people.
10. Limit the extent to which references to products, services and trade marks can feature in programming
11. The same consumer protection as above, but as applied to radio.

BBC Editorial Guidelines

The BBC are not commercial and instead of worrying about the value of their ad space, they have to worry about a thing called Audience Appreciation which is a measure of how successful the BBC is as a publicly funded output.

Here are their 'Editorial Values', taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidelines-editorial-values-editorial-values/

1 Trust
Trust is the foundation of the BBC: we are independent, impartial and honest.  We are committed to achieving the highest standards of due accuracy and impartiality and strive to avoid knowingly and materially misleading our audiences.   

2 Truth and Accuracy

We seek to establish the truth of what has happened and are committed to achieving due accuracy in all our output.  Accuracy is not simply a matter of getting facts right; when necessary, we will weigh relevant facts and information to get at the truth.  Our output, as appropriate to its subject and nature, will be well sourced, based on sound evidence, thoroughly tested and presented in clear, precise language.  We will strive to be honest and open about what we don't know and avoid unfounded speculation. 

3 Impartiality

Impartiality lies at the core of the BBC's commitment to its audiences.  We will apply due impartiality to all our subject matter and will reflect a breadth and diversity of opinion across our output as a whole, over an appropriate period, so that no significant strand of thought is knowingly unreflected or under-represented.  We will be fair and open-minded when examining evidence and weighing material facts.   

4 Editorial Integrity and Independence

The BBC is independent of outside interests and arrangements that could undermine our editorial integrity.  Our audiences should be confident that our decisions are not influenced by outside interests, political or commercial pressures, or any personal interests.   

5 Harm and Offence

We aim to reflect the world as it is, including all aspects of the human experience and the realities of the natural world.  But we balance our right to broadcast innovative and challenging content with our responsibility to protect the vulnerable from harm and avoid unjustifiable offence.  We will be sensitive to, and keep in touch with, generally accepted standards as well as our audiences' expectations of our content, particularly in relation to the protection of children.  

6 Serving the Public Interest

We seek to report stories of significance to our audiences.  We will be rigorous in establishing the truth of the story and well informed when explaining it.  Our specialist expertise will bring authority and analysis to the complex world in which we live.  We will ask searching questions of those who hold public office and others who are accountable, and provide a comprehensive forum for public debate.  

7 Fairness

Our output will be based on fairness, openness, honesty and straight dealing.  Contributors and audiences will be treated with respect.

8 Privacy

We will respect privacy and will not infringe it without good reason, wherever in the world we are operating.  Private behaviour, information, correspondence and conversation will not be brought into the public domain unless there is a public interest that outweighs the expectation of privacy. 

9 Children

We will always seek to safeguard the welfare of children and young people who contribute to and feature in our content, wherever in the world we operate.  We will preserve their right to speak out and participate, while ensuring their dignity and their physical and emotional welfare is protected during the making and broadcast of our output.  Content which might be unsuitable for children will be scheduled appropriately.  

10 Transparency

We will be transparent about the nature and provenance of the content we offer online.  Where appropriate, we will identify who has created it and will use labelling to help online users make informed decisions about the suitability of content for themselves and their children.  

11 Accountability

We are accountable to our audiences and will deal fairly and openly with them.  Their continuing trust in the BBC is a crucial part of our relationship with them.  We will be open in acknowledging mistakes when they are made and encourage a culture of willingness to learn from them.