A Delicate Balance—Ethical Standards for Physician-Journalists

2011 Virtual Mentor  
Physician-journalists spend their working lives balancing the ethical requirements of two professions that often have competing goals. The Hippocratic oath mandates that physicians "do no harm or injustice" to their patients and "keep secret" what they "see or hear in the lives" of their patients [1] . Rather than keeping their findings secret, journalists often do the oppositedisseminating information and news to various audiences in the service of what the Society of Professional Journalists
more » ... SPJ) calls "public enlightenment" [2]. To act ethically, the journalist must adhere to the four overarching principles of the SPJ Code of Ethics: Seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, and be accountable.
doi:10.1001/virtualmentor.2011.13.7.pfor1-1107 pmid:23134800 fatcat:4t2f5rksfbf3zomfvqbysoe4ji