ETHICS: A STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES

1. Introduction

A profession that subjects people and institutions to intense and constant scrutiny must itself maintain the highest of principles.

The integrity we earn by maintaining our principles is our most valuable asset. Without it, we lose the public trust essential to a vigorous and effective press. That integrity is seriously eroded by conflicts of interest, as well as the appearance of conflict.

This code is intended to offer ethical guidelines to help avoid such conflicts. It cannot envision all circumstances in which ethics must be considered. It is intended to be an aid to common sense and individual conscience, not a substitute for them. Ultimately, individuals are accountable for their actions in areas not covered specifically in this code.

This code applies to all editorial department employees and others who are involved in news coverage or editorial policy. This includes free-lancers and part-time employees.

2. Fairness

The Mercury News strives to operate with fairness, accuracy and independence.

It strives to be diligent in its pursuit of the truth without regard to special interest and with fairness toward all. Although the law does not require it, the Mercury News whenever possible seeks opposing views and solicits responses from those whose conduct is questioned in news stories.

Editors and reporters should make news decisions without regard to the connections or outside activities of editorial employees, the publisher or employees of any other department.

3. Connections

Employees shall not use their positions with the Mercury News to get any benefit or advantage in commercial transactions or personal business for themselves, their families, friends or acquaintances.

For example, they shall not use company connections to:

-- Get information or a photograph for purposes other than those of the newspaper.

-- Expedite personal business with, or seek special consideration from, public officials or agencies, such as police.

-- Seek for personal use information not available to the general public.

-- Get free, or at a reduced rate not available to the general public, considerations such as tickets, memberships, hotel rooms or transportation.

Employees shall not use the company name, reputation, phone number or stationery to imply a threat of retaliation or pressure, to curry favor or to seek personal gain.

For example, it is improper for an employee to write a personal letter of complaint to a merchant on company stationery, or to arrange a personal purchase at wholesale or discount rates through the public relations office of a corporation.

4. Meals, Tickets, Travel

As a general rule, we pay our own way.

The Mercury News will pay for meals and drinks shared with news sources, for luncheons or dinners which are covered as news events and for restaurant meals reviewed. When the cost of a meal includes a sum tacked on to raise funds (for instance, a $300-a-plate political dinner), we will pay only what we estimate to be the price of the meal if it were to be purchased in a restaurant. (This is not meant to prohibit corporate contributions to charity fund-raisers.)

Whenever complimentary food and beverages are supplied at press events, staff members should calculate about how much their portions cost and then reimburse the coordinator of the event.

Staff members may encounter situations in which it is socially awkward or even impossible to pay for a meal or entertainment. In such circumstances they should exercise good judgment. Such situations should be rare and should not be entered into habitually.

Common sense also should prevail in meals with news sources. It is acceptable to let a source pay for a lunch, so long as one expects to be able to return the favor and pick up the lunch check sometime in the near future.

Free tickets to sports events, movies, plays, fairs, amusement parks and all other entertainment for which admission normally is charged shall not be accepted or solicited.

If the event being covered is a private screening or special press conference for which tickets are not being sold to the public, it is permissible to attend gratis. In other special cases, such as a business seminar or a National League of Cities meeting, a reporter covering the event may attend without paying the registration fee after receiving permission from a supervisor. Special press-box facilities, photo galleries and passes to areas available exclusively to the press are also accepted, provided these are used only by the persons assigned to cover the event. These press passes must never be given or sold to anyone.

Transportation necessary for the performance of professional duties shall be paid for by the Mercury News in all possible cases -- including travel on a press plane of a political candidate or sports team. The executive editor or editor may give approval for special travel arrangements that would be the sole way to effectively complete an assignment, such as when military transit is involved. In an emergency situation, staff members are encouraged to use common sense and discretion.

For example, if the only transit available to a disaster site is by Army helicopter, a staff member trying to cover that story might accept the transportation and let a supervisor know about it at the earliest opportunity.

For free-lance articles written for the Travel section, the editor shall disclose in print the source of any free trips accepted by the writer.

5. Gifts and Sample Products

Employees shall not accept business-connected gifts, sample products or free services. Unsolicited gifts will be returned to the donor, when possible, with a note explaining the newspaper's policy. If this is not possible, the gift should be turned over to the executive editor's or the editor's secretary for contribution to a charity, and the recipient should write to the donor explaining our policy.

Gifts or sample products that are of token or insignificant value (under $5), such as calendars, pencils or key chains, may be accepted if returning them would be awkward. Bottles of liquor or wine shall be considered of more than token value and may not be kept.

Books, records and tapes sent to the Mercury News for review purposes are accepted as news releases. They may be kept by the person to whom they are assigned for review. Those that are not reviewed will be given to charity or a public institution. They should never be sold for personal profit.

Props for photo illustrations shall be rented or purchased if possible. The Mercury News shall not request free services or materials from professional models, stylists, etc., in return for photo credit.

6. Free-Lancing

It shall be Mercury News practice to permit staff members to free lance for publications that are not in direct competition with the Mercury News. Staff members should remember, however, that they are employed primarily by the Mercury News and that it strives to compete on a local, regional and sometimes national and international level. If there is a question, a staff member should consult with his supervisor on whether the publication is considered in competition with the Mercury News.

Under no circumstance should a staff member steal for free-lance use unpublished stories, notes or other work in progress for the Mercury News. Nor should a staff member misrepresent himself or herself as working for the Mercury News while on a free-lance assignment.

7. Television and Radio Appearances

Mercury News staff members generally may appear on local radio and television broadcasts, but they should report such appearances in advance to their supervisors. Staff members, whose work is expected to meet high standards of impartiality, shall endeavor to demonstrate the same commitment to fairness when on the air.

A staff member also shall divulge nothing while on the air that would place the Mercury News at a competitive disadvantage.

8. Business and Commercial Activities

The business and commercial activities of staff members and their families shall not influence news decisions. Employees shall not benefit monetarily from news decisions they make, nor shall they make news decisions with the intent of creating a financial gain or loss for someone else.

Although staff members may work or operate a business in addition to their employment at the Mercury News, it shall not conflict with their journalistic duties or give the appearance of conflict. Employees are free to sell real estate, operate a winery, work in a department store, or whatever, as long as they do not make news decisions about that specific firm or the over-all industry or try to influence other staffers who do make such decisions.

For example, an editor whose spouse is employed by an auto dealership should not make news decisions about that dealership or its competitors. The editor may make decisions involving the general auto industry, preferably after conferring with a supervisor. Or, a staff member whose family owns several buildings in downtown San Jose should avoid redevelopment stories that could affect that area.

No staff member should do volunteer or professional public relations work, including writing for sports or theater programs or taking photographs for corporations' annual reports. Such activity would create an appearance of conflict of interest.

Staff members shall not enter into a business relationship with a source.

Staff members must be cautious not to let their financial investments influence their news decisions. As a general guideline, staff members should not make news decisions about companies (publicly or privately held) in which they or their spouses have financial interest or hold stock. Because of the appearance of bias, staff members should avoid making decisions about such firms' competitors as well. Shares held in a fund are excluded. It may not always be possible to avoid a news decision involving a company in which one has stock. In such cases, the staff member should report the ownership and nature of the news decision to a superior.

For example, because they cover local business, Business Department staffers and others who frequently make business news decisions should not be investors in local businesses.

9. Outside Activity

Because the newspaper should be perceived as impartial, staff members should avoid outside activities that could conflict with their jobs. Under no circumstances should a general assignment reporter, for example, work for a political campaign, either for pay or as a volunteer because it could be interpreted by the public as Mercury News involvement in the campaign. Likewise, a drama critic should not serve as a fund-raiser for the San Jose Repertory Company because it might indicate a built-in bias on the part of the writer. In many cases, it would be a clear conflict to accept appointive office or run for elective office. In other cases, it may not be a conflict. For example, there would be no problem for most staff members in holding office as president of a school PTA. But if the education reporter were to hold the same office, a conflict would be present. There is no desire to unduly restrict staff members' exercise of the rights and duties of citizenship. But we must recognize that the reputation of the Mercury News is important to us all, and that a full discussion of possible conflict is essential to avoiding public embarrassment.

Staff members should avoid advertising or blatantly espousing viewpoints on public issues while at work,such as wearing an anti-nuclear button while covering a rally.Reporters and editors should be aware that such blatant espousal casts doubt upon their impartiality. Staff members should also avoid signing petitions or otherwise identifying themselves with causes they are expected to cover.

10. Relationships

Employees shall not write, photograph, illustrate or make news judgments about anyone related to them by blood or marriage, or with whom they have a close personal relationship. This does not apply to first-person stories or stories in which the relationships are clearly spelled out. Nor shall personal relationships within the newsroom affect news judgment.

For example, it is clearly a conflict to report on a public official with whom one is romantically involved.

11. Misrepresentation

Under ordinary circumstances, reporters or photographers ought to identify themselves to news sources. There might be times,however, when circumstances will dictate not identifying ourselves. Only the executive editor or editor may approve such exceptions.

12. Plagiarism

Plagiarism exists in many forms, from the wholesale lifting of someone else's writing to the publication of a press release as news without attribution. The daily newspaper should be an original work. Do not borrow someone else's words without attribution.

13. Paying for News

Any attempt to pay for news or for access to news raises serious questions about the validity of the news and the motives of seller and buyer. Except in extraordinary circumstances, we do not pay for news.

14. Unidentified Sources

The Mercury News should strive to avoid the use of unidentified sources. Reporters shall make every effort to get sources to speak on the record. When that is impossible, reporters shall make every effort to get the information elsewhere.

We will attribute information to anonymous sources only when news value warrants and it cannot be obtained for attribution.

If an unidentified source must be used, the reason shall be given in the story. The story shall also make a strong effort to indicate the source's credibility by describing the source as fully as possible without identifying him or her.

A supervising editor must be told the identity of unidentified sources before any story based on those sources will be published. The same editor, of course, has the obligation to protect the confidentiality of the sources.

15. Truthfulness

It is obvious that we should not knowingly publish falsehoods.

A reporter should not make it sound as if a source made a statement to the reporter if, in fact, it came to us through a third party. Nor should we write about an event we did not attend in a way that gives the impression we did.

In the interest of integrity and fairness, photographers and editors should exercise caution in the use of "set-up" photographs. In the same way that reporters do not make up quotes, photographers do not reconstruct scenes or events with the purpose of making them appear as if they were "found" moments.

However, photographers are often called upon to make environmental portraits or do illustrative photography. In no way should such photographs be approached or treated as anything but what they are. They are either portraits or are demonstrative of a situation. Both should be clearly labeled.

That means that care should be taken in writing captions so they do not suggest the picture is something it is not. For example, is Clark Kent working in his study or is he simply in his study (for purposes of a portrait)? Is Lois Lane actually practicing her technique of boomerang tossing or is she demonstrating her technique of boomerang tossing (for purposes of a photograph)? Such distinctions make a difference.

16. Respect for Privacy

The Mercury News is sensitive to the privacy of victims of rape and child molestation, or of subjects who clearly would be in physical danger by publication of their names and addresses. Exceptions to this rule may be made in some circumstances, but they must be approved by the executive editor or editor.

Ordinarily, consent is implied if a photographer approaches a subject, indicates that he/she is a newspaper photographer and asks for names and other facts. In some circumstances, written releases may be required (at mental health institutions or orphanages, for example).

17. Corrections

The Mercury News strives to guard against inaccuracies, carelessness, bias or distortion through either emphasis or omission.

Errors, whether made by the reporter, editor or source, shall be acknowledged. When an error has been made, it shall be acknowledged in a straightforward correction, not disguised or glossed over in a follow-up story. Corrections and clarifications shall appear in a consistent location under the heading "Setting the Record Straight."

18. Contests

Photographs, stories, headlines or artwork shall not be submitted to, nor awards accepted from, contests sponsored by organizations or special-interest groups that we may normally cover.

Participating in such contests may create the appearance of conflict of interest or raise doubt about our ability to report fairly on that group or organization.

By the same token, materials shall not be submitted to, nor awards accepted from, contests where the entry will be used for the sole purpose of advertising or promotion.

However, contests that are judged by professional journalists or non-partisan experts are acceptable, even if sponsored by a commercial institution.

--- Dec. 29, 1983