Dan Gillmor opened a discussion on journalistic ethics. He points to several ethical codes, but concludes that simplicity is best:

...the basics are pretty simple -- "Don't lie. Don't sell out." -- though the devil, as always, is in the details.

I tend to bring it down to this even tinier admonition: Be honorable.

I thought that Google modeled their Don't Be Evil ethic on well run newspapers. It turns out that now, when discussing journalism, Google's simplicity has become the model.