QUESTION BANK- PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

Benefits of Ethics in the Professional Ethics

The benefits are:

Safeguarding Assets and Assurance

Ethics Increases Productivity
Improves Teamwork
Heightens Public Image and Brand Value
Compatible For Changes
Positive Working Environment
Better Decision Making and Implementation

Importance of philosophy in enhancing one’s individual

thinking

Philosophy provides us with valuable skills. It produces better critical thinkers, more creative
thinkers, and better communicators. Philosophy exposes us to different ways of thinking about even
very familiar concepts, in part by carefully engaging the history of thought. Anyone curious about
the fundamental questions that have occupied the greatest minds needs to study philosophy.
Philosophy is challenging, which is part of the reason why it’s beneficial, but philosophy is also fun.
Philosophy is about working together to understand difficult and important problems, and then
striving to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the various solutions that are proposed. By
improving critical thinking, and grappling with foundational questions in ethics, science, religion,
politics, and logic, philosophy also produces more responsible thinkers, enabling us to better
understand pressing social issues.

Below is a description of how philosophy helps us develop these various important skills.

General Problem Solving Skills:

The study of philosophy enhances a person's problem-solving capacities. It helps us to analyze

concepts, definitions, arguments, and problems. It contributes to our capacity to organize ideas and
issues, to deal with questions of value, and to extract what is essential from large quantities of
information. It helps us, on the one hand, to distinguish fine and subtle differences between views
and, on the other hand, to discover common ground between opposing positions. It also helps us to
synthesize a variety of views or perspectives into one unified whole.
Communication Skills:

Philosophy contributes uniquely to the development of expressive and communicative powers. It

provides some of the basic tools of self-expression - for instance, skills in presenting ideas through
well-constructed, systematic arguments - that other fields either do not use or use less extensively.
Philosophy helps us express what is distinctive in our views, it enhances our ability to explain difficult
material, and it helps us to eliminate ambiguities and vagueness from our writing and speech.

Persuasive Powers:

Philosophy provides training in the construction of clear formulations, good arguments, and
appropriate examples. It, thereby, helps us to develop our ability to be convincing. We learn to build
and defend our own views, to appreciate competing positions, and to indicate forcefully why we
consider our own views preferable to alternatives. These capacities can be developed not only
through reading and writing in philosophy, but also through the philosophical dialogue, both within
and outside the classroom, that is so much a part of a thorough philosophical education.

Writing Skills:

Writing is taught intensively in many philosophy courses, and many regularly assigned philosophical
texts are also excellent as literary essays. Philosophy teaches interpretive writing through its
examination of challenging texts, comparative writing through emphasis on fairness to alternative
positions, argumentative writing through developing students' ability to establish their own views,
and descriptive writing through detailed portrayal of concrete examples. Concrete examples serve as
the anchors to which generalizations must be tied. Structure and technique, then, are emphasized in
philosophical writing. Originality is also encouraged, and students are generally urged to use their
imagination to develop their own ideas.

The general uses of philosophy just described are obviously of great academic value. It should be
clear that the study of philosophy has intrinsic rewards as an unlimited quest for understanding of
important, challenging problems. But philosophy has further uses in deepening an education, both in
college and in the many activities, professional and personal, that follow graduation. Two of these
further uses are described below.

Understanding Other Disciplines:

Philosophy is indispensable for our ability to understand other disciplines. Many important questions
about a discipline, such as the nature of its concepts and its relation to other disciplines, are
philosophical in nature. Philosophy of science, for example, is needed to supplement the
understanding of the natural and social sciences that derives from scientific work itself. Philosophy
of literature and philosophy of history are of similar value in understanding the humanities, and
philosophy of art (aesthetics) is important in understanding both the visual and the performing arts.
Philosophy is, moreover, essential in assessing the various standards of evidence used by other
disciplines. Since all fields of knowledge employ reasoning.

Importance of sustainable Business Practices in any

business
90% of executives believe sustainability is important in business.

Today, it’s incontestable that instituting a sustainability strategy is good business. The benefits of
this go beyond environmental and social security. That is, more and more studies indicate business
sustainability delivers greater prosperity, and designs organizations to last.

The Principles of Ethics

The five principles,

autonomy,

justice,

beneficence,

nonmaleficence,

fidelity are each absolute truths in and of themselves. By exploring the dilemma in regards to these
principles one may come to a better understanding of the conflicting issues.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate social responsibility, or CSR, is a form of self-regulation that reflects a business’s

accountability and commitment to contributing to the well-being of communities and society
through various environmental and social measures.

 CSR plays a crucial role in a company’s brand perception; attractiveness to customers,

employees, and investors; talent retention; and overall business success.
Corporate social responsibility is a type of business self-regulation with the aim of social
accountability and making a positive impact on society. Some ways that a company can embrace CSR
include being environmentally friendly and eco-conscious; promoting equality, diversity, and
inclusion in the workplace; treating employees with respect; giving back to the community; and
ensuring business decisions are ethical.

1. It improves customers’ perception of your brand.

2. It attracts and retains employees.

3. It increases your appeal to investors.

4. Volunteering: Participating in local causes or volunteering your time (and your staff’s
time) to community events says a lot about your company’s sincerity. When your
company does good deeds without expecting anything in return, you express
concern (and support) for specific issues and social causes.

Branch of philosophy- Epistemology

Epistemology, the philosophical study of the nature, origin, and limits of human knowledge. The
term is derived from the Greek epistēmē (“knowledge”) and logos (“reason”), and accordingly the
field is sometimes referred to as the theory of knowledge. Epistemology has a long history within
Western philosophy, beginning with the ancient Greeks and continuing to the present. Along with
metaphysics, logic, and ethics, it is one of the four main branches of philosophy, and nearly every
great philosopher has contributed to it.

The nature of epistemology

Epistemology as a discipline

Why should there be a discipline such as epistemology? Aristotle (384–322 BCE) provided the
answer when he said that philosophy begins in a kind of wonder or puzzlement. Nearly all human
beings wish to comprehend the world they live in, and many of them construct theories of various
kinds to help them make sense of it. Because many aspects of the world defy easy explanation,
however, most people are likely to cease their efforts at some point and to content themselves with
whatever degree of understanding they have managed to achieve.

Unlike most people, philosophers are captivated—some would say obsessed—by the idea of
understanding the world in the most general terms possible. Accordingly, they attempt to construct
theories that are synoptic, descriptively accurate, explanatorily powerful, and in all other respects
rationally defensible. In doing so, they carry the process of inquiry further than other people tend to
do, and this is what is meant by saying that they develop a philosophy about such matters.
Like most people, epistemologists often begin their speculations with the assumption that they have
a great deal of knowledge. As they reflect upon what they presumably know, however, they discover
that it is much less secure than they realized, and indeed they come to think that many of what had
been their firmest beliefs are dubious or even false. Such doubts arise from certain anomalies in
people’s experience of the world. Two of those anomalies will be described in detail here in order to
illustrate how they call into question common claims to knowledge about the world.

Q Green Practices in any Organization

Green Practices means the practice of creating structures and using processes that are
environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout the life-cycle of a development,
including buildings, from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation and
deconstruction. Green Practices expand and complement the classical building design concerns of
economy, utility, durability and comfort.

Employee Rights at workplace.

An employee is, at the very least, entitled to the following rights at his workplace −
 No discrimination at work, especially on the basis of gender, nationality, religion,
medical condition, and political affiliation.
 Healthy work-life balance, which means no long hours at work. Employees can also
report if their employer makes unnecessary delays in delegating work.
 Protection of job for people with disabilities and medical conditions.
 Complete protection against sexual harassment of any kind and immunity from being
forced to exchange favors for benefits.
 Freedom to discuss the terms and conditions of the employment with other
employees and negotiating wages to suit lifestyle as per changing times.
 Right to ask for safe working conditions and reservation to answering questions on
age, religion, nationality, and medical condition.
 Demanding certain changes and modifications regarding the working conditions to
accommodate situations that might crop up due to their prevailing medical
conditions.
 Right to form or participate a union that aims to improve the wages, lifestyle,
working environment, and emphasizes on employee rights at the workplaces.

Different branches of Ethics

 Descriptive Ethics
 Normative Ethics
 Meta Ethics
 Applied Ethics
Descriptive Ethics

Descriptive ethics deals with what people actually believe (or made to believe) to be right or wrong,
and accordingly holds up the human actions acceptable or not acceptable or punishable under a
custom or law.

However, customs and laws keep changing from time to time and from society to society. The
societies have structured their moral principles as per changing time and have expected people to
behave accordingly. Due to this, descriptive ethics is also called comparative ethics because it
compares the ethics or past and present; ethics of one society and other. It also takes inputs from
other disciplines such as anthropology, psychology, sociology and history to explain the moral right
or wrong.

Normative Ethics

Normative Ethics deals with “norms” or set of considerations how one should act. Thus, it’s a study
of “ethical action” and sets out the rightness or wrongness of the actions. It is also called prescriptive
ethics because it rests on the principles which determine whether an action is right or wrong. The
Golden rule of normative ethics is “doing to other as we want them to do to us“. Since we don’t
want our neighbours to throw stones through our glass window, then it will not be wise to first
throw stone through a neighbour’s window. Based on this reasoning, anything such as harassing,
victimising, abusing or assaulting someone is wrong. Normative ethics also provides justification for
punishing a person who disturbs social and moral order.

Virtue Ethics

Virtue ethics focuses on one’s character and the virtues for determining or evaluating ethical
behaviour. Plato, Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas were major advocates of Virtue ethics. Plato gave a
scheme of four cardinal virtues viz. prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude (courage). His
disciple Aristotle categorized the virtues as moral and intellectual. He identified some of the moral
virtues including “wisdom”.

Deontological ethics

Deontological ethics or duty ethics focuses on the rightness and wrongness of the actions rather
than the consequences of those actions. There are different deontological theories such as
categorical imperative, moral absolutism, divine command theory etc.

First famous deontological theory is Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative or Kantianism. Kant said
that the human beings occupy special place in creation and there is an ultimate commandment from
which all duties and obligations derive. The moral rules, as per Kant, should follow two principles viz.
universality and principle of reciprocity. By universality, he meant that a moral action must be
possible to apply it to all people. By principle of reciprocity, he meant said “do as you would be done
by. Such premise of morality is found in all religious systems, including Hinduism, Islam, Christianity,
Judaism, Buddhism etc.

Second famous deontological theory is Moral absolutism. It believes that there are absolute
standards against which moral questions can be judged. Against these standards, certain actions are
right while others are wrong regardless of the context of the act. For example, theft is wrong,
regardless of context in which theft was carried out. It ignores that sometimes wrong act is done to
reach out to right consequence.

Third deontological theory is Divine command theory. It says that an action is right if God has
decreed it to be right. As per this theory, the rightness of any action depends upon that action being
performed because it is a duty, not because of any good consequences arising from that action.

Consequentialism (Teleology)

Consequentialism or teleological ethics says that the morality of an action is contingent with the
outcome of that action. So, the morally right action would produce good outcome while morally
wrong action would produce bad outcome. Based on the outcome, there are several theories such
as Utilitarianism {right action leads to most happiness of greatest number of people}, Hedonism
{anything that maximizes pleasure is right}, Egoism {anything that maximizes the good for self is
right}, Asceticism {abstinence from egoistic pleasures to achieve spiritual goals is right action},
Altruism {to live for others and not caring for self is right action}.

The core idea of consequentialism is that “the ends justify the means“. An action that might not be
right in the light of moral absolutism may be a right action under teleology.

Meta Ethics

Meta Ethics or “analytical ethics” deals with the origin of the ethical concepts themselves. It does
not consider whether an action is good or bad, right or wrong. Rather, it questions – what goodness
or rightness or morality itself is? It is basically a highly abstract way of thinking about ethics. The key
theories in meta-ethics include naturalism, non-naturalism, emotivism and prescriptivism.

Applied Ethics

Applied ethics deals with the philosophical examination, from a moral standpoint, of particular
issues in private and public life which are matters of moral judgment. This branch of ethics is most
important for professionals in different walks of life including doctors, teachers, administrators,
rulers and so on. There are six key domains of applied ethics viz. Decision ethics {ethical decision-
making process}, Professional ethics {for good professionalism}, Clinical Ethics {good clinical
practices}, Business Ethics {good business practices}, Organizational ethics {ethics within and among
organizations} and social ethics.

It deals with the rightness or wrongness of social, economical, cultural, religious issues also. For
example, euthanasia, child labour, abortion etc.

Ethical Decision-Making
The "Character-Based Decision-Making Model" model, developed by the Josephson Institute of
Ethics, can be applied to many common problems and can also be used by most individuals facing
ethical dilemmas.

It involves three steps:

1. All decisions must take into account and reflect a concern for the interests and well being of
all affected individuals ("stakeholders").

The underlying principle here is the Golden Rule — help when you can, avoid harm when you can.

2. Ethical values and principles always take precedence over nonethical ones.

Ethical values are morally superior to nonethical ones. When faced with a clear choice between such
values, the ethical person should always choose to follow ethical principles.

Perceiving the difference between ethical and nonethical values can be difficult. This situation often
occurs when people perceive a clash between what they want or "need" and ethical principles that
might deny these desires. If some rationalization begins to occur, this situation is probably present.

3. It is ethically proper to violate an ethical principle only when it is clearly necessary to

advance another true ethical principle, which, according to the decision-maker's conscience,
will produce the greatest balance of good in the long run.

Some decisions will require you to prioritize and to choose between competing ethical values and
principles when it is clearly necessary to do so because the only viable options require the sacrifice
of one ethical value over another ethical value. When this is the case, the decision-maker should act
in a way that will create the greatest amount of good and the least amount of harm to the greatest
number of people.
Ethical decision-making refers to the process of evaluating and choosing among alternatives in a
manner consistent with ethical principles. In making ethical decisions, it is necessary to perceive and
eliminate unethical options and select the best ethical alternative.

The process of making ethical decisions requires:

Commitment: The desire to do the right thing regardless of the cost

Consciousness: The awareness to act consistently and apply moral convictions to daily behavior

Competency: The ability to collect and evaluate information, develop alternatives, and foresee
potential consequences and risks

Good decisions are both ethical and effective:

Ethical decisions generate and sustain trust; demonstrate respect, responsibility, fairness and caring;
and are consistent with good citizenship. These behaviors provide a foundation for making better
decisions by setting the ground rules for our behavior.

Effective decisions are effective if they accomplish what we want accomplished and if they advance
our purposes. A choice that produces unintended and undesirable results is ineffective. The key to
making effective decisions is to think about choices in terms of their ability to accomplish our most
important goals. This means we have to understand the difference between immediate and short-
term goals and longer-range goals

Steps involved in the Grievance Redressal System in an

Organization

Steps Involved in Employee Grievance Procedure

Grievances are but natural in organisations. However, like disciplinary problems, grievances also
benefit none. Hence, there is a need for handling or redressing grievances. For this, most large
organisations in India have, therefore, evolved a formal grievance procedure which enables an
organisation to handle grievances satisfactorily. As a matter of fact, there are several substantive
reasons for having a formal grievance procedure in an organisation.
The important ones are listed as follows:

(i) It provides an established and known method of processing grievances and keeps this open.

(ii) It brings grievance to the knowledge of management so that it can know and understand them to
take necessary action for their settlement.

(iii) It gives an assurance to the employee that there is a mechanism available to consider his or her
grievance in a dispassionate and detached manner.

(iv) Venting his grievance and being heard gives the employee a feeling of being cared for. This not
only gets it off his chest”, but also helps him improve his morale and productivity.

(v) Involving several levels of organisation in the grievance procedure provides help on two
dimensions. Firstly, the supervisor who is the first level in the grievance process cannot be by-passed
by the worker. Secondly, involvement of several hierarchical levels in the grievance machinery
releases exclusive reliance on the supervisor who can’t jeopardize the interest of the employee. The
supervisor knows his is a placatory role.

(vi) Involvement of various levels makes them know the kinds of issues that concern workers and
managers.

(vii) Lastly, it checks the managers from taking arbitrary and biased actions against the workers as
they know that their actions are subject to challenge.

Utilitarian Theory of Ethics

Utilitarianism is a theory of morality that advocates actions that foster happiness or pleasure and
oppose actions that cause unhappiness or harm. When directed toward making social, economic, or
political decisions, a utilitarian philosophy would aim for the betterment of society as a whole.

Utilitarianism would say that an action is right if it results in the happiness of the greatest number of
people in a society or a group.

The 3 Generally Accepted Principles of Utilitarianism State that:

Pleasure, or happiness, is the only thing that has intrinsic value. To say that something has intrinsic
value means that it is simply good in itself. Intrinsic value contrasts with instrumental value.
Something has instrumental value when it is a means to some end.

Actions are right if they promote happiness, and wrong if they promote unhappiness.

This principle is quite controversial, since it involves that the moral quality of an action is decided
by the size of its consequences. So long as an action produces maximum benefits for the greatest
number of people, utilitarianism does not care whether the results are driven by immoral motives.
However, this principle can be refuted since most people would agree that the moral quality of an
action depends on the motive or intention behind it.

Everyone's happiness counts equally. Although this axiom may seem quite obvious, this principle of
equality was radical and progressive in Bentham's time. By then, it was commonly accepted that
some lives and some people's happiness were simply more important and valuable than others.
Betham's principle of equality makes the government responsible for creating policies that would
benefit all equally, not just the elite.

Respect for Privacy and Confidentiality in Professional Ethics

Privacy

Privacy refers to an individual’s right to be free from intrusion or interference by others. It is a

fundamental right in a free and democratic society. Individuals have privacy interests in relation to
their bodies, personal information, expressed thoughts and opinions, personal communications with
others, and spaces they occupy. Research affects these various domains of privacy in different ways,
depending on its objectives and methods. An important aspect of privacy is the right to control
information about oneself. The concept of consent is related to the right to privacy. Privacy is
respected if an individual has an opportunity to exercise control over personal information by
consenting to, or withholding consent for, the collection, use and/or disclosure of information.

Confidentiality

The ethical duty of confidentiality refers to the obligation of an individual or organization to

safeguard entrusted information. The ethical duty of confidentiality includes obligations to protect
information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification, loss or theft. Fulfilling the
ethical duty of confidentiality is essential to the trust relationship between researcher and
participant, and to the integrity of the research project.

Importance of Ethics in the field of Engineering

The study of ethics goes back to at least the ancient Greeks, but has arguably been a core part of the
human condition since language began. It revolves around morality – the concept of evil and good.
The study of ethics has mostly been concerned with how to live a good life, the nature of evil, and
whether good and evil can exist in a universe without God. Most of our own ethical codes or beliefs
come from religion and the culture we were brought up in. Ethics can vary wildly from place to
place, and person to person. However, when applied to engineering, ethics can be relatively
straightforward.

Ethics can be applied to engineering in two broad ways: safety and honesty. The safety aspect is
paramount, as a single mistake could cause damage or even physical harm. Honesty should be held
up as a virtue in any industry, but certainly in engineering.

Engineering Projects Can Have A Direct Impact On People’s Safety

Whether someone works in infrastructure, electrical, or digital engineering, their work impacts the
everyday lives of civilians. All engineers know this, and should strive to do their best work, ensuring
nothing but the highest standards. An appreciation for ethics would reinforce this, as not only is
doing good work a matter of professionalism, in the content of engineering it’s also a matter of
morality. Bad work brings bad results, which could ruin lives.

It Gives Them Ability To Push Back Against Bad Decisions

We’re bombarded with news stories about how companies seem to flout ethical considerations
relating to privacy, propriety, or even safety. Ethics are often dropped in the face of increased
profits, and this decision always comes from those at the top, not the engineers who actually work
on the projects. Facebook, Google, Volkswagen, and others companies have come under fire for
acting unethically (read: being evil), Since engineers will often be working for large companies (with
big budgets) the questions of ethics should be raised as early on in an engineer’s career as possible.
It should form part of the culture of engineering, and be celebrated as something to be proud of. A
grounding in ethics empowers engineers to bring concerns forward, and ensure that the proper level
of scrutiny is applied to unsafe or unethical practices.

Ethics Have to Be Explained to AI Systems

We’ve all seen movies and read books about artificial intelligence systems rising up and turning
against humanity. While the experts don’t think that will happen, there is a very real possibility that
AI will have a negative impact on certain groups, not due to malice, but inherent biases encoded into
the system by humans. This kind of oversight can and will cause harm if not addressed. Engineers
who have an ethical framework will already have a solid foundation from which to fix this
problem.Conscious or unconscious biases can be easily input into a machine that has no capacity for
recognizing them as ‘bad’, because the machine isn’t aware of any other model of looking at the
world. This can only be overcome if engineers look inwards to uncover their own biases, and
interrogate themselves as to why those biases exist. When it comes to programming an AI, all
decisions should be subject to scrutiny, filtered through an ethical lens. Engineers have a
responsibility to unlearn these biases, to ensure that any AI they build don't pick them up.

There are several online courses for engineers to study ethics, or you can study them for yourself. A
more ethical society is a better society, so the more people who study ethics, the better.
Ethics in Research
Research involving human participants

With regard to research involving human participants, the University adheres to the six key
principles outlined in the ESRC Framework for Research Ethics:

Research should aim to maximise benefit for individuals and society and minimise risk and harm

The rights and dignity of individuals and groups should be respected

Wherever possible, participation should be voluntary and appropriately informed

Research should be conducted with integrity and transparency

Lines of responsibility and accountability should be clearly defined

Independence of research should be maintained and where conflicts of interest cannot be avoided
they should be made explicit.

Research involving animals

For research involving animals, the University adheres to the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act
1986 (ASPA) and the principles of replacement, reduction and refinement:

The principle of replacement is the principle that, wherever possible, a scientifically satisfactory
method or testing strategy not entailing the use of protected animals must be used instead of a
regulated procedure.

The principle of reduction is the principle that whenever a programme of work involving the use of
protected animals is carried out the number of protected animals used must be reduced to a
minimum without compromising the objectives of the programme.

The principle of refinement is the principle that the breeding, accommodation and care of protected
animals and the methods used in regulated procedures applied to such animals must be refined so
as to eliminate or reduce to the minimum any possible pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm to
those animals.

Data Protection

Please refer to the Data Protection pages for our policies and guidance, including information on
GDPR and Research.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual property is the output of intellectual endeavour in literary, artistic, dramatic, industrial,
scientific and engineering fields, which is generally capable of being identified and protected. The
protection of IP is provided through certain legal rights many of which are established under
legislation, common law and international treaties. For detailed guidance see the University’s
Intellectual Property Policy.

Freedom in Ethical Discourse-

Freedom is as old as the existence of man. It is a general term used in everyday activity, mostly to
express how free one is in his or her actions. But, freedom in ethical discourse cuts across critical and
rational discourses in philosophy, of ethics, alongside many other disciplines. Freedom comes with
personal consciousness to choose to act freely in a certain way rather than the other. Thus, freedom
in ethical discourse comes with choice and free will. Hence, one is free to choose or not to choose.
Freedom is referred to as “self-evident truth,” and it is upon this axiomatic assumption that laws are
laid down in human Communities, decisions are taken and judgments are passed. In the history of
philosophy and social thought, freedom has a specific use as a moral and a social concept. Generally,
it refers either to circumstances that arise in the relations of the world today. Freedom is likened to
Rights; when one says ‘it is my right to make speeches that please me’, and when one positions that
‘I have Freedom of Speech’. In the course of this discourse, the concept of freedom will be clarified
and its (freedom) essences make known as coherent as possible. Freedom is the ability to set your
schedule, to decide on the work you do, to make decisions. Responsibility is being held accountable
for your actions. It might involve figuring out how to get paid for your work, owning your mistakes or
having others count on you.

Regulatory Authorities and Bodies:

Ethics in Journalism

Many journalists also abide by the principle of "limitation of harm" which means that they have a
responsibility to not harm others while reporting a story. This is one major difference between
professional journalists reporting for "reputable" news organizations as opposed to fringe news sources
and fake news creators.

individual news organizations, and journalists themselves often have their own "code of ethics";
however, most share these basic principles: truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness, and
public accountability.

Honesty. Journalists have an obligation to seek out the truth and report it as accurately as possible. This
requires diligence: this means making every effort to seek out all the facts relevant to a story. Journalists
should also corroborate any information with multiple sources.

Independence. Journalists should avoid taking political sides and should not act on behalf of special
interest groups. Any political affiliations or financial investments that might constitute a conflict of
interest with the subject they are writing about should be declared to editors and readers. Some
organizations characterize this principle as “objectivity,” while others, especially non-profit civic
journalism projects, reject this term, as they position themselves explicitly on the side of public interest.

Fairness. In addition to being independent, journalists should show impartiality and balance in their
reporting. Most news stories have more than one side, and journalists should capture this. That said, they
should not place two different perspectives on equal footing where one is unsupported by evidence. The
exception to the impartiality rule is opinion writing, as well as “gonzo” journalism and creative
nonfiction.

Public accountability. News organizations should listen to their audience. To enable the public to hold
them accountable, journalists should write under their own bylines and accept responsibility for their
words. When news outlets publish factual errors, they need to issue a correction.

Harm minimization. Not every fact that can be published should be published. If the amount of harm that
could come to private individuals—particularly children—as a result of disclosure exceeds the public
good that would come of it, then news outlets might choose not to publish the story. This is less of a
consideration when it comes to public figures. It is huge, however, in matters of national security, where
lives could be on the line.

Avoiding libel. This is a legal as well as a moral imperative for journalists. Journalists cannot print false
statements that damage a person’s reputation. In most jurisdictions, true statements cannot be libelous,
so journalists can protect themselves by rigorously checking facts.

Proper attribution. Journalists must never plagiarise. If they use information from another media outlet
or journalist, they need to attribute it to them.
Reporters are expected to be as accurate as possible given the time allotted to story preparation and the
space available and to seek reliable sources. Properly using their sources and using accurate quoting and
use of words from interview or conversation.

Events with a single eyewitness are reported with attribution. Events with two or more independent
eyewitnesses may be reported as fact. Controversial facts are reported with attribution.

Independent fact-checking by another employee of the publisher is desirable. In 2018 "The Acton Plan"
was created to help check information more effectively to hopefully get rid of false information.

Corrections are published when errors are discovered. These corrections are called corrigendum in
newspapers, they feature after on the next issue published.

Defendants at trial are treated only as having "allegedly" committed crimes, until conviction, when their
crimes are generally reported as fact (unless, that is, there is serious controversy about wrongful
conviction).

Opinion surveys and statistical information deserve special treatment to communicate in precise terms
any conclusions, to contextualize the results, and to specify accuracy, including estimated error and
methodological criticism or flaws. Through this information can be properly analyzed and used without
heavy bias.

Journalism today is built off true, accurate and objective information.[19] To remove those aspects would
be damaging to the very core of not just journalism. The very way information is spread and given to
viewers and others all around the world. The audience will see the lack of ethics and standards, making
others question what is good, reliable information or not.

Quality journalism that scrutinizes and criticizes social, political and economic authority – is in a constant
state of vulnerability to manipulation and censorship, particularly from those with money and power.
Creates concern for reporters being able to post their own opinions without being berated.