ABSTRACT

What is a good journalist? There is no one answer to this question. The kinds of attribute that would be valued by colleagues would not necessarily be the same as those sought by the public or consumers. For instance, an editor would probably value reliability and the ability to produce exciting stories to a deadline. The reader, however, might think that above all a journalist should be highly principled and truthful, even though they appreciate the exciting or controversial stories he or she has written. How then does the journalist decide what is good journalism? Which aspects of a journalist’s work are the most important? And how should journalists approach the stories they cover? We need to look at how journalists work in order to help explain why they take some of the decisions they do, and to offer ethical guidance that might help journalists improve their decision making.