In an industry where public perception is at an all-time low, it is vital to evaluate the effectiveness of newspaper codes of ethics. Studies have evaluated the role of codes of ethics in the ethical decision-making process, but none have looked at the overall effectiveness of having a code. This study is a quantitative evaluation of one newspapers code of ethics, in relation to individuals ethical differences, code applicability and code agreement. Conducted at all bureaus of the Star-Telegram in Fort Worth, Texas, this study showed that employees think their code of ethics is effective mostly because it helps set guidelines and clear expectations of the employees. Although individual ethical differences (measured by locus of control) did not significantly predict effectiveness, age and tenure did have an effect, with the older and more tenured employees rating the code higher in effectiveness. Employees also commented on areas of the code with which they disagreed and revealed a discrepancy between their perception of code applicability to themselves as individuals and to those in other departments.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TCU/oai:etd.tcu.edu:etd-07072008-150022 |
| Date | 07 July 2008 |
| Creators | Housley, Emily Elizabeth |
| Contributors | Julie O'Neil |
| Publisher | Texas Christian University |
| Source Sets | Texas Christian University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf, application/msword |
| Source | http://etd.tcu.edu/etdfiles/available/etd-07072008-150022/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to TCU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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