SPJ's Core Four
We are stewards for ethical journalism.
We build public trust in the media and greater accountability in the profession via an ethics response team, ethics hotline, and other programming.
Have a dilemma? Need to brush up? Our Ethics Hotline and team of experts stand ready to help, and our collection of case studies and position papers are accessible on demand to help you sharpen your ethical senses.
Our annual SPJ Ethics Week event brings together speakers, training, discussions and resources to bolster the pursuit of truthful, ethically sound reporting. And because every week is ethics week, those resources remain accessible all year long.
We promote and advance ethics through a Code of Ethics that is the most widely used code in journalism today.
SPJ’s Code of Ethics is the gold standard of aspirational codes of ethics, and it has been used by many news outlets as the basis for more formal and detailed codes.
In addition to our Code of Ethics, SPJ provides a complementary wealth of resources, including a Code of Ethics study guide and our 5th-edition media ethics textbook.
As our Code of Ethics states, we encourage journalists to boldly tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience.
Our national awards contests — including our Ethics in Journalism Awards, Sigma Delta Chi Awards (for pros) and Mark of Excellence Awards (students) — reward and champion ethical journalism that supports the public good.
