Are journalists required to disclose their profession during interviews?
Let’s say you are talking to people from your former workplace as well as other people at varying levels of bureaucracy. You are writing something about the experience of working there (healthcare related) – but you are not a professional journalist and never have been. If this gets published, it will be on spec, or whatever it’s called. If someone asks why you are asking these questions, must you say "I want to write about this stuff"? Or should you have said it already?
I would like to think this falls into the David Sedaris rule. He just writes about his life – and for the most part, all the questions I’m asking are detail, safe, and non-inflammatory.
I looked at the Journalistic code of ethics but it did not address this issue directly. Said something about "integrity." I am not certain of where I stand.
Well, I’m going to say yes, if you are interviewing people for the story, you need to let them know before you do the interview that you’re writing an article on spec and may be quoting them. If you are just writing your experiences and not doing interviews, then I’d say no advance notice is needed.
April 12th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
I think as you are budding and not a true journalist it would not be beyond integrity to just answer, "I am interested in this type of information."
References :
April 12th, 2010 at 5:50 pm
First, there is no one "the Journalistic code of ethics." Organizations and companies may have their own codes of ethics, but there is no overriding rule, code, regulations or laws that govern journalistic ethics. There’s no equivalent to lawyers being disbarred or doctors losing their certification – unethical behavior by a journalist just tends to result in a bad reputation.
Likewise, there is no law requiring journalists to identify themselves as such in the United States.
The Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics is generally recognized as a guide for many journalists. Under the "Seek Truth and Report It" section, it reads:
"Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information. … Avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information except when traditional open methods will not yield information vital to the public. Use of such methods should be explained as part of the story."
Beyond ethics, if you don’t quickly tell your prospective sources that you’re working on something you intend to publish, they’ll distrust you and spread the word about you if they can. It’s just generally bad practice.
In short: It’s a bad idea and potentially unethical to not tell sources what you’re doing, but it’s not illegal.
Second, it’s commonly called "on the record," not on spec.
References :
http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp
Experience as a journalist
April 12th, 2010 at 6:31 pm
In order for information given to you to be on the record, you must clearly identify yourself as a journalist before-hand.
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April 12th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
It is commonly considered unethical from a journalistic standpoint, but there is nothing inherently illegal about publishing information without previously disclosing your intention to publish to the person you use as a source.
Although, if you’re into muckraking (not just writing humorous essays or observation pieces, like Sedaris) you might want to look into the laws in your state. If you’re a blowing a whistle on a crime, you might be protected from the fallout. Also, you could be sued for libel if someone believes you have written something untrue about them or fabricated a quote, which if they find out you used it without their prior permission, is what they will probably claim.
It is a common courtesy in the world of journalism to tell the person up front that you are using this for research. It would be highly unethical to make it sound like a conversation between two friends and then publish their information.
So, in short, it is not typically illegal to do such things, but likely is very unethical. Be safe and fair, tell them up front you are working on a story. If these questions are safe and non-inflammatory, they should have no problem talking to you. You might also offer to change their name in the story, or some writers will combine several sources and their quotes and info into one fictional character.
Hope that helps.
References :
April 12th, 2010 at 7:15 pm
Well, I’m going to say yes, if you are interviewing people for the story, you need to let them know before you do the interview that you’re writing an article on spec and may be quoting them. If you are just writing your experiences and not doing interviews, then I’d say no advance notice is needed.
References :
20 years of reporting experience