In 2008, more than 136 stations were using the LNI to develop new approaches to programming collaboration and development.

The LNI helped produce this Public Radio News Director Guide.

• Visit the LNI Web site

PRNDG links to the following LNI resources:

• How Program Directors and News Directors Work Together
• Developing Talk Shows
• Morning Edition Grad School

• Truth
• Fairness
• Integrity

The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics emphasizes four dominant ideas:

• Seek Truth and Report It,
• Minimize Harm,
• Act Independently,
• Be Accountable.

The Radio Television News Directors Association builds their Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct around six main principles:

• Public Trust
• Truth
• Fairness
• Integrity
• Independence
• Accountability

The National Public Radio News Code of Ethics and Practices goes into great detail of what is expected of its journalists.

Similarly, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation displays a lengthy code of “Journalistic Standards and Practices” that offers model policies for a large public broadcasting network.

The Poynter Institute’s Bob Steele is always ready to discuss ethics. But first he’ll want you to answer his 10 Questions for Ethical Decision-Making.

The CCJ goals are:

• To clarify and renew journalists’ faith in the core principles and function of journalism.
• To create a better understanding of those principles by the public.
• To engage and inform ownership and management of these principles and their financial as well as social value.

One step toward those goals was the publication of The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel. The authors summarize the purpose of journalism — “to provide people information to be free and self-governing.”

They list these ways of fulfilling that purpose:

1. Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth.
2. Its first loyalty is to citizens.
3. Its essence is a discipline of verification.
4. Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover.
5. It must serve as an independent monitor of power.
6. It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise.
7. It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant.
8. It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional.
9. Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.

For more on this, the book and the CCJ, see the CCJ Web site.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

One of the best Web sites on the Internet for discussion and study of First Amendment matters — particularly the freedom of the press — is the First Amendment Center.

• It will have great impact on people.
• It’s unusual or unexpected.
• It’s the first of a kind.
• It’s timely.
• It’s controversial.
• It involves prominent people.
• It deals with death or tragedy.
• It has to do with the U.S.
• It concerns an important issue.
• It is of human interest.
• It’s useful.
• It’s “out there.” (As in getting widespread interest elsewhere.)

Kern says these factors help newscasters quickly sort thousands of stories down to a manageable number.

And while news judgment can be subjective, in public radio it also conforms to particular values and principles:

• The news is accurate.
• The news is up-to-date.
• The news stories are easy to understand.
• The news stories provide context.
• The news is balanced.
• The stories are well written.
• The news stories avoid hype.
• The newscast takes a global perspective.
• Newscasters don’t let themselves become part of the public relations machine.

More on Sound Reporting by Jonathan Kern of NPR News

He likens them to good hosts off the air:

They are consummate story-tellers who have a keen sense of what needs to be explained, what facts can be left out, and how to keep people waiting for the story’s conclusion. They make clear and concise introductions — to interviewees, to reporters, and to commentators. When they are speaking with a guest, they don’t dominate the discussion or draw undue attention to themselves; they keep the focus on what the interviewee has to say. They also listen attentively and know how to draw people out by asking thoughtful questions. They speak fluently, and their voices are pleasant to listen to. And they maintain — or seem to maintain — a high level of energy and concentration, even when they have gone many hours without sleep or food.

Kern says they are also seasoned journalists and they play critical editorial roles on their programs.

News Directors should study Sound Reporting and require their journalists to read it.

More on Sound Reporting by Jonathan Kern of NPR News

• A good reporter is curious
• A good reporter is skeptical
• A good reporter looks and listens for the truth
• A good reporter listens well
• A good reporter absorbs information quickly
• A good reporter uses the medium effectively
• A good reporter does everything possible to avoid making mistakes

The chapter goes into considerable depth as does the entire book. Local newsrooms should have a copy of Sound Reporting and require all journalists to read it.

More on Sound Reporting by Jonathan Kern of NPR News

The first of these was produced cooperatively by PRNDI, NPR and PRI in 1995. It was authored by Professor Alan Stavitsky and was an outgrowth of a summit convened at the Poynter Institute. In the foreward, public radio pioneer William Siemering called it “25 years overdue.”

Independence and Integrity I (1995)

The second is an update of the first and was commissioned by CPB in 2004 to bolster assurances that news on public broadcasting remained high in quality and high in ethical decision-making. It was authored by Stavitsky and former NPR VP for News Jeffrey Dvorkin. Again, it sprang from a convocation at Poynter, only this time the guide confronted news “in the digital age.”

Independence and Integrity II (2004)

The sections are:

• Story Editing
• The Editor’s Role
• The Ingredients of a Story
• Structuring the Story
• Editing by Ear
• The Intro
• The First Track
• Copy Editing
• The Ending
• When to Stop Editing
• New Approaches to Old Stories

Jonathan Kern: Story Editing

Current has developed a rich online history of public broadcasting.

The site includes links to the National Public Broadcasting Archive at the University of Maryland.