There are 5 key principles of journalism; accuracy, fairness, balance, transparency and accountability. We’ll go through them and give some key tips on how to graciously accept when you fall short of these high standards, and correct any mistakes you make:
Accuracy
Accuracy simply means getting things right. This is done by getting the full and complete picture. You need to go to multiple sources to get the full picture as one person can only really tell their side of the story and from their own perspective. Once you have all the stories from several sources, you must compare them with each other to get the full story.
Fairness
Fairness means being impartial without favouritism or discrimination. You have to be objective and only report the facts. Although there is a place for expressing your own opinions in the form of OpEds, in traditional journalism you have to be completely objective. Recognise and overcome your own biases. Go to blind spots and things you wouldn’t normally consider. Reach out to the whole community.
Balance
Balance involves presenting all sides of the story in order for the audience to come to their own conclusions. Make sure you talk to sources at all levels. Whilst you can’t speak to everyone, you must still try to be as representative as possible.
Transparency
Let people see your process and operate out in the open. Explain yourself and your decisions. Accept comments, solicit corrections, strike through and don’t blame anyone else. If you need to make a correction, you can list it either at the top or the bottom. Don’t change the text. Don’t delete social media posts if you make a mistake, instead comment underneath with the corrections.
Accountable
Always take responsibility for what you do. Admit your mistakes and correct them. Expose any problems that you find in your own work, your organisation and elsewhere. Stand up for the key values of credibility and trust in journalism. Ensure your editing process is as thorough as possible (we’ve put together a full comprehensive guide on how to do this)
How to write a correction
1. Say what was wrong without repeating the error
2. Correct it
3. Apologise
4. Don’t blame anyone