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RWS 5317: Editing

For graduate students.

Ethical Use of Information

Ethical use of information deals with the  legal and socio-economic issues surrounding information; from the creation, dissemination and  proper use of information.  As an editor you must be aware that these issues are constantly raised in the workplace.

Copyright: Unless they are "public domain" or are so old they have passed out of copyright, all the sources you use are copyrighted. Since copyright law allows "fair use" for educational purposes, you may use information from copyrighted sources in class papers and presentations without permission of copyright holder, excluding publication of those works. When you put information online you are publishing it.  When you use information, ideas, or images borrowed from another source, you may need to secure permission from the copyright holder

Plagiarism: It is defined as copying or paraphrasing another person's work and presenting it as one's own - whether intentionally, or through failure to take proper care.

Fabrication: The intentional act of making up data or results and recording or reporting them.

Falsification: Manipulating research materials, equipment, or processes, or changing or omitting/suppressing data or results without scientific or statistical justification, such that the research is not accurately represented in the research record. This would include the "misrepresentation of uncertainty" during statistical analysis of the data.

Collection of Ethics Guidelines

American Society of Newspaper Editors Statement of Principles
American Society of Newspaper Editors

American Society of Magazine Editors Guidelines for Editors and Publishers
American Society of Magazine Editors

American Society of Business Publication Editors
www.asbpe.org

RTDNA Ethics Code
Radio Television Digital News Association

Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics
Society of Professional Journalists

What are the ethics of online journalism?
USC Annenberg Online Journalism Review

 

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