Prompt Post #4 - Code of Ethics

       Every career field, for the most part, has a Code of Ethics it adheres to.  I wanted to find out what the field of sports journalism's Code of Ethics looked like.  I found this from the APSE, Associated Press Sports Editors:

1. The newspaper pays its staffer’s way for travel, accommodations, food and drink.
1. If a staffer travels on a chartered team plane, the newspaper should insist on bring billed. If the team cannot issue a bill, the amount can be calculated by estimating the cost of a similar flight on a commercial airline.
    
2. When services are provided to a newspaper by a pro or college team, those teams should be reimbursed by the newspaper. This includes providing telephone, typewriter or fax service.
    
2. Editors and reporters should avoid taking part in outside activities or employment that might create conflict of interest or even appearance of a conflict.
1. They should not serve as an official scorer at baseball games.
    
2. They should not write for team or league media guides or other team or league publications. This has the potential of compromising a reporter’s disinterested observations.
    
3. Staffers who appear on radio or television should understand that their first loyalty is to the paper.
    
3. Writers and writers’ groups should adhere to APME and APSE standards: No deals, discounts or gifts except those of insignificant value or those available to the public.
1. If a gift is impossible or impractical to return, donate a gift to charity.
    
2. Do not accept free memberships or reduced fees for memberships. Do not accept gratis use of facilities, such as golf courses or tennis courts, unless it is used as part of doing a story for the newspaper.
    
3. Sports editors should be aware of standards of conduct of groups and professional associations to which their writers belong and the ethical standards to which those groups adhere, including areas such as corporate sponsorship from news sources it covers.
    
4. A newspaper should not accept free tickets, although press credentials needed for coverage and coordination are acceptable.
    
5. A newspaper should carefully consider the implications of voting for all awards and all-star teams and decide if such voting creates a conflict of interest.
    
6. A newspaper’s own ethical guidelines should be followed, and editors and reporters should be aware of standards acceptable for use of unnamed sources and verification of information obtained other than from primary news sources.
1. Sharing and pooling of notes and quotes should be discouraged. If a reporter uses quotes gained secondhand, that should be made known to the readers. A quote could be attributed to a newspaper or to another reporter.
    
7. Assignments should be made on merit, without regard for race or gender.

        I would have to agree with all these because I found that all these guidelines were very similar to the way I was raised.  Sports reporting is our job.  We should not accept handouts or free stuff because we are already being paid to cover it.  Just like regular journalist reporting news in the world, we should be unbiased on our views and present the facts as they are.  Unless you are writing an opinion column, people want to read the facts and come up with their own decision on the subject at hand.  However, I think a lot of people in the world are nervous about trusting what they read in the newspaper.  Journalism has become very biased over the years and have their own agenda when reporting the news.  Sexy sells.  I think people are realizing this more and more each day.  If you were to ask a random person on the street what they thought of journalists, you might not get a very good reaction from them.  It is our job as future journalist to change this view on the reporting world.  

       As a sports journalists, I think it is slightly easier to adhere to these Code of Ethics.  We are not reporting political or religious views (for the most part) just facts and statistics.  We must be sure to stay unbiased though when reporting.  I think it is very easy to report good things on your favorite athletic team and blissfully ignore the bad things.  On the other hand, I think it can be very easy to report the bad stuff about your favorite team's rival.  We must keep this in the back of our mind while writing down articles.  

       I want to be known for my honest and truthful reporting.  No matter who or what I am covering I am going to be sure to present the facts as they are and let the people come up with their own opinion.  I believe that if more people reported this way then the stereotype of dirty and untrustworthy reporting can be abolished.    

"Ethics Guidelines." APSE: Associated Press Sports Editors. apsportseditors.org, n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2014.