Broadcast News Ethics

1.) Advance Examination of Broadcasts:
Are there any circumstances under which a broadcast, or any part of it, may be seen or heard by outsiders before it is aired? If so, what are the circumstances? Be very specific.
What about advertisers?
What about the police?
What about "outtakes"?...material which won't appear on the air.

2.) Coverage of Civil Disturbances:
It has been argued that coverage by the news media, and particularly television coverage, causes or intensifies the very disturbances that are being covered; that people who seek publicity for their grievances will deliberately create of intensify a disturbances so that they may "perform" before reporters, cameras, and microphones; and that, consequently, minimizing or omitting coverage will minimize or eliminate civil disturbances.
What do you think of this assessment?
How can a television news organization do it's job and still address these concerns?
What specific steps can be taken to avoid inciting further disturbance?
What is your responsibility in obeying police orders regarding your presence at the scene?
If you disagree with an officer's orders, what should you do?

3.) Commercial Messages:
Should employees of your organization be allowed to participate in commercial messages? If not, why not? If so, who and why?

4.) Interviewing Accident Victims and Their Relatives:
Under what circumstances, if any, should broadcast news employees interview people who have been involved in tragic or traumatic situations? How should such interviews be conducted? i.e. what sort of questions should you ask and which ones would you avoid? What about funerals? Should you cover the funeral of a prominent person or the funeral of a family member? If you decide to cover a funeral, how should it be handled?

5.) Limitations on Interviews as Requested by Interviewees:
Occasionally, potential interviewees seek to impose limitations on the manner in which the interview may be conducted or used. What basic standards should such requests be measured against?
Would you agree to submit questions in advance?
Would you agree to refrain from asking specific questions?
Would you let the interviewee participate in the editing of the recorded material?
Would you make a commitment that a recorded interview, or portion of the interview, will be broadcast?
Would you agree to not edit any portion of the interview?
Finally, what if such requests are made....how would you handle it?...would you fail to do the interview at all?
Oh, one more thing...if the interviewee wants to dictate the who will conduct the interview, what will you do?
What will your policy be on this matter?

6.) "Reaction Shots" and "Reverse Question Shots" on Interviews:
Reaction Shots:
Shots of a reporter shot out of natural time sequence are sometimes used to cover edits within an interview.
Will your station allow such a practice?
What are some of the concerns with regard to this practice?
If you decide to allow this practice...
What specific precautions will you ask reporters and editors to take?

Reverse Question Shots:
Shots of a reporter re-asking a question out of natural time sequence which are used to get the question on tape without needing two cameras at the interview site.
Will your stations allow such a practice?
What are some of the concerns with regard to this practice?
If you decide to allow this practice...
What specific precautions will you ask reporters and photographers to take?
If the interviewee has to leave before you get the re- ask shot...will you shoot it and use it anyway?
Should you be able to shoot the re-ask question at a different time and a different location?

7.) Outside Produced Broadcasts:
These are often news "packages" produced by people who are not a part of your news organization.
Should there ever be a time when you would accept for broadcast a package produced by an outside group?
If so, what conditions must be met by the outside producers?
What about the use of raw footage shot by an amateur with a home camcorder? What will your station's policy be? How will such material be handled?

8.) Sound:
Should sound effects be used to simulate natural sound?
What about "non-synchronous" natural sound (sound shot at the same scene and same general time, but not the actual sound recorded with the shot being shown). Should the use of "non- synchronous" natural sound be allowed?
If so, under what limitations?

9.) Staging:
In broadcast news the best situation is to photograph news as it happens. But, what about "staging" certain events or occurrences? Will you allow staging under any circumstances?
If not, why and what sort of problems might you encounter?
Are there distinctions between "hard news" stories and "feature" stories with regard to staging certain activities?
If you allow some staging, what sort of circumstances?
Suppose you are doing a feature story on a woodcarver who wasn't planning to do any carving today. If you ask him or her to "carve" for your camera are you staging? If not, what makes this situation different?
In general, what will your policy be on "staging?"

10.) Gifts or Favors:
Employees must discharge their journalistic responsibilities with the appearance, as well as the fact, of complete independence and integrity. Outright payment either for news coverage or a particular slant on a story is illegal. Yet, there are other situations which fall into a gray area and are handled differently by different stations.
What will your station's policy be on the following:
* Transportation provided by others. (air or land)
* A "free lunch".
* Free concert or sport tickets.
* Free lodging.
* Free ski lift tickets or season passes.
Can you make a distinction between your activities as a reporter and your "personal" activities? (i.e. You may argue that you accepted free sports tickets, not in your role as a reporter, but in a role not related to your employment by the station).
What about "personal and intimate" relationships with those you might be asked to report on? How would you handle this? (Could such activity be construed as a "gift" or "favor"?)

11.) Outside Activity: Controversial Issues:
This involves news employee who takes a position on a controversial issue. News employees have opinions and want to act as socially responsible citizens of a free society. For the rest of the population that means being involved in trying to influence an issue. It might mean joining a citizens group or mobilizing supporters for a political candidate.
Can a news employee publicly take a position and still act as an objective journalist?
Should a news employee be allowed to work on a political candidates behalf?
Should a news employee be allowed to work for a public interest group?
What will your stations policy be? Be very specific.

12.) Computer Simulation of News:
Advances in computer technology have now made it possible to create virtual cities to simulate fires, explosions, accidents and other news. This allows the station to get "compelling" video before actual video arrives from the scene (if it arrives at all). A company called "EarthWatch" has primarily sold such systems for weather broadcasts to allow so-called "fly-through" weather simulations. However, their new product ("Reality 3-D") now permits such advanced graphics to fly-into (helicopter perspective) breaking news anywhere on earth via a virtual environment. The company has shown examples of the technology in Atlanta, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C.
What do you think of the use of this new technology?
What potential problems do you see in using simulations to illustrate news?

13.) Plane Crashes:
Before reporting the fact that a plane has crashed, what information should first be ascertained?

For more information about this web site contact Dr. Steve Anderson at The University of Oklahoma (standers@ou.edu).