• Media

Standards

  • Written By: Lioness

To work effectively with the press, a whistleblower must understand the ethical guidelines journalists are trained to follow. Standards vary by media outlet, but the following principles lay the groundwork for how reporters are expected to conduct themselves.

Source: Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics

  • Seek truth and accuracy. Above all else, ethical and credible journalism requires accurate reporting. It is the journalist’s job to fact-check and verify all information before publishing it — including that shared by a whistleblower — to ensure stories are correctly told to and understood by the public.

  • Play fair. Journalists are expected to serve the public, not the interests of a particular individual, corporation, or government. Thus, they are expected to

    • tell all sides of a story as thoroughly and accurately as possible,
    • eliminate unnecessary promotion or advertising, and
    • refuse gifts, favors, or special treatment from any parties involved in the reporting process; similarly, reporters are not to give any gifts, favors, or special treatment to sources.

  • Minimize harm. Journalists are expected to minimize any possible risk of harm to their sources or subjects through their reporting. This can be done by granting anonymity, using heightened sensitivity around topics of crime, and using language that avoids possible incrimination or retaliation against a source, among other tactics.

Statement of transparency

This entire project is worthless if the tech workers who come to it cannot trust where the information is from, who is behind its creation, and who manages the site. For that reason, I have identified every organization and individual who has been instrumental in its development.

The time and resources required to put together the Handbook were funded by Omidyar Network. This is a wholly independent project owned and managed by me. No identifying data will ever be collected or shared about who accesses this site — with anyone. That said, I do NOT advise accessing this from a company device. Your employer can, and will likely, track visits to a resource like this Handbook. 

You can find a list of the data WordPress automatically collects about site visits here.

 

— Ifeoma Ozoma, Founder of Earthseed, Creator of the Tech Worker Handbook