Thursday, February 17, 2005

Ethical journalists?

I don't know if this LATimes column by David Shaw will contribute anything to our discussion of the media but, hey, knowledge is good.
Indeed, the recently released 2004 edition of Gallup's annual survey of what Americans think of the honesty and ethical standards of various professions found that journalists ranked behind not only nurses, grade school teachers, clergy and judges but behind auto mechanics, state and local officeholders and seven other professions as well (but slightly ahead of business executives, congressmen, lawyers, advertising practitioners and car salesmen). Only slightly more than 20% of poll respondents said they considered journalists to have "high" or "very high" ethical standards.

The article goes on to describe a test given to journalists to ascertain their ethical standards and the results.

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