Readers are invited today to visit The Virginian-Pilot’s Web site, www.pilotonline.com, where they can review our updated ethics policy.
I think you will be surprised — perhaps even impressed — at the breadth and depth of the policy, which covers, among other things, such important areas as accuracy, conflicts of interest, gifts and favors, and plagiarism.
The policy is in keeping with one of The Pilot’s core values — that we will be “honest, fair, accurate and ethical” in all our endeavors. It goes hand in glove with the paper’s stated purpose: “We will serve and inform the public with skill and character and, by honest and intelligent journalism, work to improve our communities.”
Sound like a lot of mush? Doubtless, some might think so. Many corporations, after all, are fond of casting themselves in the best light.
But, as Pilot editor Kay Tucker Addis notes, “Ethical behavior is at the heart of the way Landmark Communications does business.” It is, she adds, “one of the greatest gifts and biggest responsibilities that Frank Batten has given all of us Landmark employees.”
Document: The Virginian-Pilot’s Code of Ethics and Professionalism Batten became publisher of The Pilot and the now-defunct Ledger-Star in 1954 and served as Landmark’s board chairman from 1967 to 1998. He is now chairman of the board’s executive committee.
The Pilot, Landmark’s flagship newspaper, has had pieces of an ethics policy for years. In 1990, those pieces were pulled together and updated under then-editor Sandra Mims Rowe.
Early last year, during a newsroom open forum, an editor asked whether the policy should be reviewed and updated. Addis, who helped pull together the 1990 version, thought that was a good idea, considering “the environment in which we work as journalists today is increasingly complex, with issues springing up that just weren’t relevant or existent five to 10 years ago.”
At Addis’ request, Marian Anderfuren, director of news operations, led a newsroom-wide team whose efforts resulted in the updated ethics policy.
The policy begins by citing the paper’s “vigorous commitment to accuracy” and a promise to “remedy, in a timely manner, all errors of fact with a correction or a clarification.” It outlaws plagiarism and “approximate” quotations, which, the policy says, “can undermine readers’ trust.”
A sign of the times: The new policy covers Internet activities, including the need to attribute information and a caution to “always review Web sites listed in stories” for possible inappropriate content.
Potential conflicts of interests are covered. Among other things, the policy bars newsroom employees from working for political candidates on a paid or voluntary basis. News staffers can’t hold public office or accept political appointment without the approval of the editor or publisher. Nor can they donate to political campaigns or parties.
Newsroom employees aren’t barred from having a life: They can join social and civic groups, but they can’t report on or make news decisions about those groups. It’s inappropriate for a staff member to appear publicly on behalf of a civic group or themselves, but an exception can be made, for instance, if they want to address a city planning commission about a proposed action that materially affects their property.
Here’s the penalty phase of the policy:
“Intentional or flagrant violations of the ethics policy may result in disciplinary action: reprimand, suspension or, in the most serious cases, termination.”
Addis hopes readers will review the entire policy on our Web site.
“A lot of people do not think highly of the media and, frankly, there are some legitimate reasons for that perception,” Addis says. She wants readers to know that “we have extremely high standards for our own behavior and that we take our commitment to our community seriously.”
Making the policy public, Addis says, “will help explain to our sources and professional friends some of our behaviors that might appear illogical or overly cautious. For example, the policy states that items delivered to staff members should be returned, donated to charity or sold through company events that benefit a charity.
“We bend over backward to avoid even the appearance of being obligated to news sources, advertisers, suppliers or others with whom we do business.”
