'Real' punishment for ethical breaches by journalists?

Posted by Dominique Lewis Tuohy on January 12, 2006 at 5:24 PM

An interesting and scathing article from Thomas Kostigen on Market Watch, who asserts that journalists "should have to face civil or criminal consequences like everyone else" for ethical breaches. They should be "fined, penalized an even prosecuted", he says.

Kostigen argues that an ethical code should be drawn up for journalists which is "enforceable."

In the era of the internet, when the "reach" of the "writing world" is "far beyond and more immediate than anything printing-press inventor Gutenberg could have imagined", ethical considerations are paramount.

Kostigen cites a Gallup poll which found that in terms of trust journalists rank on the same level as the police and the military. He concludes that "publishing organizations should have to live up to different standards than individual bloggers" because "there is a responsibility that goes along with the privilege of being opinion-makers and agents of change."

Kostigen advocates "third-party accountability systems that can be enforced"; he doesn't seem to trust the concept of internal review, which he says "doesn't wash in light of ethical violations among media organizations of late."

Source: Market Watch

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