"The SPJ Code of Ethics is voluntarily embraced by thousands of journalists, regardless of place or platform and is widely used in newsrooms and classrooms as a guide for ethical behavior. The code is intended not as a set of "rules" but as a resource for ethical decision-making. It is not — nor can it be under the First Amendment — legally enforceable."
The Society of Professional Journalists ethics listed on their website include to:
- Seek truth and report it: "Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information."
- Minimize harm: "Ethical journalists treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect."
- Act Independently: "Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know."
- Be accountable: "Journalists are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other."
In the case of the Plamegate scandal, none of the leaders in the government made very ethical decisions concerning the leak of her name in an attempt to discredit her husband's article written in the New York Times. But perhaps the most unethical behavior came from the man who wrote the article outing Plame. As a journalist for the Washington Post, Robert Novak had to have known the SPJ's ethics very well. With his article he definitely disregarded the "minimize harm" ethic. Valerie Plame not only lost her job due to Novak's article, but, according to Plame, she also received death threats and was refused protection from the CIA. It was unethical for Novak to publish his article using Plame's real name for the world to identify her as a CIA agent.
Was it ethical for Joe Wilson to publish his article in the New York Times about what he did not find in Iraq? As a team we decided it was very ethical. He actively sought the truth and when President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address in 2003 claimed that, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa,"Wilson felt the need to report the truth. In a way, Wilson did not minimize harm, but instead brought harm to himself, his wife and his family for publishing what he found when he went to Niger. He did act independently and did not have an ulterior motive, with his article he just wanted the truth to be heard and wanted answers for why the President claimed to have evidence of Saddam Hussein seeking yellowcake uranium from Africa. He was also accountable. He obviously did not want people to think he was a liar or a fraud, but he stood up for what he believed in to be able to find the truth and help his readers, listeners and viewers to do the same.
What about the director, Doug Liman? Was his portrayal of the scandal ethically sound? As a team we believe it was. Although some of the facts and people involved were left out of the movie, Liman based it completely on Plame and Wilson's accounts of what happened. Liman stated in an interview with Liane Hansen from NPR News, "Of course the movie has many critics because of the controversial content of the film, mainly because of the negative characterization of the members of the Bush Administration. I found during the course of making “Bourne Identity,” the more real I made it and the more I borrowed from history and, you know, for “Bourne Identity,” it’s pretty widely known that my father was running the investigation to the Iran-Contra affair and I borrowed liberally from my father’s investigation. So I kind of know firsthand that reality can actually give you better drama than a screenwriter can make up. So, Fair Game is consistent with that.”
