While a majority of APSE members belong to media organizations with specific rules and guidelines around ethics and responsibility, we want to provide benchmarks and suggestions for all members, especially independent newsrooms and websites.
As always, don’t hesitate to reach out to APSE with questions. Our membership is here to help everyone.
Conflicts of Interest
Editors and reporters should avoid taking part in activities or employment that might create conflict of interest, or even appearance of a conflict.
- Have you approved secondary work with your direct editor?
- Is your second assignment something that you would normally write for your primary employer? Would writing it for another outlet, but not your primary job, look incorrect or awkward?
- Does this work conflict directly with your primary job? Do your sources clearly know why you are interviewing them – Are you asking questions as a beat writer for your team, or as a representative of an annual journal, or for a book project you have signed?
- Appearances with other media – such as podcasts, television and radio – should establish your knowledge and expertise for your full-time position.
- Editors should be aware of standards of conduct for 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.
- An organization should carefully consider the implications of voting for awards and all-star teams and decide if such voting creates a conflict of interest.
Again: If it’s unclear whether something is a conflict, lean toward avoiding that situation. Even the possibility of imperception harms trust with your audience.
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.
Anonymous Sources
A news organization’s 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.
The use of unnamed and anonymous sources should reveal facts and truth at the highest levels of sports journalism. On-the-record sources create a stronger relationship with readers and reinforce the trust created by reporters in getting sources to speak publicly.
Obviously, not all situations are created equal. We must recognize sources’ personal situations, including fear of retribution, when gauging their use on and off the record. Consider these benchmarks used by The Seattle Times when it considers unnamed sourcing:
- Is the source in the position to have direct knowledge of the subject?
- How specifically can you identify the story’s unnamed sources without giving away their identity?
- Does the story adequately explain to readers why the source wishes to remain anonymous?
- Have you and the reporter considered whether the source might have a motive to spread a rumor or a falsehood?
- Is the source making unsubstantiated charges about someone or something?
- Does the source’s information/viewpoint further the story, or just underscore something reported elsewhere?
- Are their conclusions supported (or at least not fully contradicted) by other reporting?
Social Media
With social media becoming further intertwined with sports journalism through discussion with readers and sources, as well as dissemination of stories, it’s imperative that organizations establish their goals for social media, and act accordingly.
Again, from The Seattle Times:
- Will your social media activity compromise your credibility as a journalist?
- Will it damage your organization’s credibility in the community?
- Will it erode public trust in the profession of journalism?
Other axioms that have been used by news organizations for consideration of social media posting:
- Would you say that in a story published on our website or printed in our paper?
- Would you be embarrassed or called out for saying that in front of friends in a private space?
Artificial Intelligence
The use of artificial intelligence in reporting and fact-finding is continually changing. What is written today can (and will) change multiple times in the future.
APSE suggests that nothing under a reporter’s byline be created by artificial intelligence. Readers’ trust is paramount, and our expertise, knowledge and individual writing ability should never be replaced.
Using AI for research can be used smartly and appropriately, with the expectation that stories cite sources of information provided.
Of course, guidelines can’t cover everything.
Use common sense and good judgment in their application.