Lance Ethics Code

McQuaid Journalism Ethics Code

Last Updated: 2020-2021

As a news institution, it the obligation to make sure the journalists of The Lance report the news with a sense of fairness, equity, truth, credibility, and integrity.  To these ends, all of the articles published by The Lance adhere to the following ethical guidelines to ensure that the news we produce is reliable, independent, truthful, transparent, and minimizes any harm as well as to hold our journalists responsible and accountable for the content we publish.

1. McQuaid journalists must consider cultural differences in approach and treatment when consideration presentation of information and portrayal of various groups.

2.McQuaid journalists must respect those who wish to stay private, if a person does not want to be written about they will not be.

3. McQuaid journalists must provide necessary information that McQuaid Jesuit students, faculty and staff must know.

4. McQuaid journalists must avoid offensive, inflammatory, or derogatory statements.

5. McQuaid journalists must always write about the truth and report it even if he doesn’t agree with the incident’s impact.

6. McQuaid journalists must provide original content in an ethical and honest way in which the information is neither one sided or biased. This information must also represent both sides of the equation, even though the information may not line up with personal beliefs.

7. McQuaid journalists must consider source’s struggles, beliefs, and issues. Being McQuaid men, journalists must treat sources with the utmost level of respect and consider any special requests made by said source and not manipulate any information given or received.

8. McQuaid journalists must be open to a variety of sources, information and suggestions regarding the same topic.

9. McQuaid journalists must take responsibility for their own decisions and reports.

10. McQuaid journalists must deny offers that influence their work and damage the credibility of the work