The New Mexican guide

to ethical and professional conduct

Adopted January 2004

| The New Mexican

9/10/2007 -

Our system of democracy, free enterprise and personal choice needs a watchful press. As a watchdog, The New Mexican must be honest and vigilant. And readers must believe that is the case if The New Mexican is to fulfill its duty to inform, represent, reflect and serve the people.

That is the reason for these guidelines.
Since 1849, the writers, editors and photographers of The New Mexican have worked with integrity. The staff of The New Mexican wrote these guidelines to clarify existing practices and to affirm high professional and ethical standards. Accordingly, the ethical journalist must be:

• Honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.
• Free of obligation to any interest other than the public’s right to know.
• Accountable to readers, listeners, viewers and each other.
• Respectful of sources, subjects and colleagues

Getting it right 
    Reporting must at all times be as accurate and as complete as possible, free from bias and a fair presentation of all sides of a story. It is the responsibility of writers and editors alike to check facts, spelling, ages and so forth.
    We correct all mistakes and will publish a correction or clarification as soon as possible after we learn of the mistake. Corrections should be clear and concise, should appear in a prominent location and should not repeat the erroneous information.
    Content of a general-interest newspaper should fit the description of good taste. Use of obscenities and offensive language is acceptable only in rare circumstances when essential to a story.
    Identify the subject of a story by race or ethnicity only when such identification is important to the story. You must be able to explain why race is relevant and how the information helps the reader understand the story. Be careful not to stereotype through use of racial and ethnic terms.
    Try not to use anonymous or unnamed sources. You may promise anonymity only after making every effort to persuade a source of the need to reveal his or her identity. Inform a senior editor about an unnamed source before writing your story. When you promise anonymity, you must fulfill that promise.
    Tell it straight. Avoid use of fictitious names. Speculation, fabrication and distortion are unacceptable in news reporting. Do not misrepresent your identity to gain access to the scene of news.
    Never plagiarize. Always attribute when citing your sources.
    You must give people an opportunity to respond to questions fully, especially in inflammatory situations. Go beyond a phone call and attempt to reach people via fax, e-mail or face-to-face visits.
    Readers and the community often value privacy over public disclosure. In weighing privacy concerns vs. public interest, you should ask: What if the story were about my family or someone I know? What is the relevance of the detail? Did the people involved have a role in releasing the information? Does the information raise questions of public misconduct or larger public-policy questions? Is it of prurient or public interest?
    Editorials, letters to the editor and columns should meet the same standards of accuracy established for news accounts.
    News photos should show real people doing real things. They should not be staged or contrived. Retouching, manipulating, flopping, computer enhancement or any technique that alters the reality of a photograph is prohibited, except for photo illustrations clearly labeled as such.

Tickets, meals, travel and gifts
    The general rule is this: The New Mexican pays its way.
    You may accept a free press seat to cover a performance, a sports event, a lecture, a dinner, a reading and the like. You should not use a press pass to get into an event for your own entertainment or interest.
    You may accept complimentary CDs, DVDs or books for review or possible review. But you may not sell or trade the items for personal gain. Instead, give them to a charity or good cause.
    Refuse or discourage gifts. Small gifts of gratitude are acceptable if refusing them would cause embarrassment or offense. Accept no gift valued more than $50 by 2004 standards.
The company pays travel expenses of employees on assignment. Junkets are not allowed.
    When you dine with a source, expect to pay. You may accept a meal or a drink from a source when you are certain to have an opportunity to return the favor. If paying is awkward, you may reimburse your host later. You may use a meal ticket as part of the event you are covering, such as a political speech, a service-club luncheon or a buffet at a sports event.

Conflicts of interest
    You may participate in community and service organizations as long as your involvement doesn’t conflict with your news responsibility. Community involvement keeps reporters, editors and photographers in touch with readers and helps us find good stories.
    When you balance your right to participate in your community with your professional responsibility, you must make it your priority to avoid conflicts of interest or the appearance of giving favor to a person, organization or point of view.
    You should not write or edit stories about the organizations in which you participate. Disclosure is key to ensuring that bosses make assignments that avoid conflicts of interest.
    As a general rule, you should avoid partisan politics, demonstrations and causes. You should not advocate for a position or candidate with yard signs, bumper stickers, phone messages and political buttons.
    When editors see a potential or real conflict of interest, they have the right to ask an employee to stop an activity or to reassign an employee to avoid the conflict.

Responsibility and independence
    You should not use your position as an employee of The New Mexican to your benefit or advantage in business, financial or commercial transactions.
    Business needs should not influence news decisions. You must put the news mission first if the interests of advertisers conflict with news reporting.
    Label advertising copy designed to look like a news story as an advertisement, and make sure presentation does not resemble editorial copy. If design of an ad causes concern, bring it to the attention of a senior editor and an advertising manager. Newsroom employees should not generate advertising content, but may offer help with wording, translation, etc.
    The news and advertising departments work together on some special sections, and editors may ask any employees of the newspaper to suggest stories. It is all right to provide general information to the advertising department about the planned content. But editorial decisions always rest with the newsroom.

Role of the watchdog
    Each journalist has a duty to make sure the public’s business is conducted in public. You may speak out on issues of professional concern such as the First Amendment, open meetings and open records.
    The New Mexican takes its role as watchdog seriously. You should be familiar with the state’s Open Meetings Act and Inspection of Public Records Act and with the federal Freedom of Information Act.

Applying these guidelines
    Every writer, editor and photographer at The New Mexican has a duty to know these guidelines and to stay current on professional standards. Editors and colleagues expect you to follow these guidelines. Bosses will treat failure to follow these guidelines as a matter of job performance. Editors should tell freelancers they are expected to meet these standards.
    Sound judgment is the backbone of ethical decision-making. These guidelines provide a general framework, but no ethics code can cover all cases. The New Mexican encourages its professionals to discuss and debate definition and application of these guidelines. So if any situation raises doubts, talk with a colleague, a supervising editor or the managing editor.
Decisions in specific cases will be in the best interest of The New Mexican and its readers as defined by Editor and Publisher Robin Martin, who describes our commitment as the following:

• To produce a daily newspaper that is a reflection of the community we serve.
• To encourage our readers to appreciate and improve our community.
• To present news and information of value to our readers, whether from down the street or around the world.
• To uphold the traditions of journalism. To report the news with truth, fairness and sensitivity in the hope that we might touch lives of our readers and make a difference.

Credits: In drafting these guidelines in 2003, The New Mexican ethics committee drew ideas and explanations from ethics codes of The Kansas City Star; the Los Angeles Times; The News-Gazette of Champaign, Ill.; The Roanoke Times; the San Jose Mercury News; The Seattle Times; The Virginian-Pilot; The Washington Post; the Wisconsin State Journal; the Society of Professional Journalists; and the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
 Other sources were Guidelines for Professional Standards and journalist Christopher P. Beall.

Ethics Committee: Rob Dean, Tommy Trujillo, Craig Smith, Staci Matlock, Julie Ann Grimm, Kristina Melcher, Brandon Garcia, Steve Terrell, Geoff Grammer, Clyde Mueller, Kristie Jones, Armando Arrieta, Mike Cosgrove and Flor de Maria Oliva.