Name: Stephen Banning, Ph.D.

University Affiliation: Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois

Position: Associate Professor

Book Title:

Journalism Standards of Work Today: Using History to Create New Code of Journalism Ethics

1. Describe the focus of your book.

This book traces the roots of journalism ethics back to the mid-nineteenth century

and examines the 1923 Canons of Journalism, using a historical lens to access the value of journalism ethics today. The origins of journalism’s standards of work in the mid-nineteenth century are scrutinized as the foundation of the 1923 Canons and evaluated to see if these pillars of journalistic mores are still valid despite vast changes in journalism and society.

2. How did you come across this subject? Why did it interest you?

I came across the first sources for this study accidentally while working on my master’s degree at the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Professor Betty Winfield’s historical research class. I then presented my findings at the 1992 American Journalism Historians Conference in Lawrence, Kansas. As a result, I ended up doing my thesis on journalism professionalization and was fortunate to have professors Betty Winfield, Sandra Scott and Lee Joliffe on my committee. In the 1990s Hazel Dicken-Garcia was very supportive of my research as was John Merrill, Wally Eberhard and Alf Pratt. Subsequently, I’ve published quite a few articles on journalism professionalization and ethics including two in the last year.

3. What archives or research materials did you use?

I found the organizational minutes from early press associations invaluable as they are hard to refute and clearly state what some early journalists believed about standards of work. They were difficult to find and often not recorded in library systems. I had to locate one source by calling a historian, William Howard Taft, who had cited a source in a footnote. He explained that the only copy of the source was in his basement. I have had less luck finding in depth information in archival newspapers, but I’ve found some. I did find several diaries in the Newbury Library in Chicago from a nineteenth century journalist that were enlightening, and the recent digitizing of special collections has been extremely valuable in shining a light on early editors’ discussions.

4. How does your book relate to journalism history? How is it relevant to the present?

This book shows that the principles which undergirded the elements of journalism ethics in the nineteenth century and particularly in the first national code of ethics in 1923, are the same ideologies that can be applied in new ways to the much-changed twenty-first century communication environment.

This research examined journalism ethics in regard to whether we still need journalism ethics in the twenty-first century, if it is possible to exercise journalistic standards of work and if so, on what values should these ethics be based in a world much different from that which existed when the first journalism codes of ethics were formulated in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

In order to distil the motivations and essence of the early journalistic standards of work, the function of media in a democracy and the formation of mass media during the first industrial revolution was discussed, and its consequential change in journalists’ locus of control and how journalists self-identified. The sudden creation of mass media pushed some journalists to create ethical principles which would guide the newly empowered press, an effort culminating in the creation of the first national code of journalistic ethics in 1923.

The journey of journalism ethics after the first industrial revolution was found to compare similarly to the condition in which we find ourselves in today, with journalism’s changing roles and boundaries that have created questions as to the application of previous codes of ethics in modern communication.

The elements of the 1923 “Canons of Journalism” are examined closely over several chapters and found to contain timeless values, despite their original application to now dated technology. The final chapter strips away the Canons’ basic elements and applies them to media today, in a way that interfaces with new technology while providing for an informed electorate.

5. What advice you have for other historians working/starting on book projects

Research what interests you and it won’t seem like work. I took that advice three decades ago and still love researching. One other thing is to try to find institutions willing to pay you to research what you love.