Transmitting Values: A guide to fairer journalism

(1) Selection
The stories we choose can tell our public something about what we value. Where we go, whom we interview, what perspectives we represent, all convey a message to the public.

When it works: When the scope of coverage shows communities in their fullest complexity -- all classes, all religions, race/ethnicity's, men and women, all political persuasions -- then there is greater chance that all groups will feel valued and will respect your news organization.

When it doesn't work: It produces reporting that largely ignores groups of disproportionately shows them in a negative or stereotypical way. Muslims as fundamentalist extremists; Serbs as terrorists; Albanians as criminals.

(2) Language
How we refer to people or incidents from the opening of a story to the end, can speak volumes to the public. Each phrase, each descriptive detail, each sentence has the power to signal to a viewer, reader, or listener that the reporter has a particular point of view.

When it works: Language is precise, direct, strong. It is not overly dependent upon sources and subjects. It is wary of single-word descriptors -- terrorist, aggressor, separatist -- that are used as labels by one person or group against another.

When it doesn't work: Inference or assumptions substitute for facts. Language is loaded. A woman "claims" she has been raped; a man "admits" that he is a homosexual.

(3) Images
Studies show that images can easily overpower words in broadcast and in print, and they can deliver a message that may or may not be what the journalist intends. Images shape impressions, and their effects, positive and negative, are long-lasting.

When they work: They portray diversity of people and offer a range of perspectives. They take the public where they might not ordinarily go. They're the work of informed photographers who are sensitive, balanced and fair.

When they don't work: They help from or reinforce stereotypes by portraying people disproportionately in a negative or stereotypical light. They hurt people unnecessarily. They provide the public with a false sense of the world in which they live.

(4) Play
The most important and immediate values transmitted from journalists to their public arrive via the "play" a story gets. Top of Page 1. A banner headline. Large letters. Urgent pitch. Journalists tell people who and what is most important. Which stories must be told now. Which can be relegated to the news briefs and back pages.

When it works: All people are valued equally. Success and tragedy stories about people of different ethnic backgrounds receive the same prominent play.

When it doesn't work: Journalists perpetuate a false hierarchy where one group's issues are given more emphasis and importance than another group's. Where Christian lives or worth more than Muslim lives. Or visa versa. Or where Serb issues are more important then issues involving ethnic Albanians. Or visa versa.