The rules of journalism

American journalism has no universal set of rules. Every newsroom sets its own standards. This is sometimes perplexing for news consumers and even for journalists. As a journalism ethicist, I'm told by people all the time that they thought journalists weren't supposed to:

• Show dead bodies
• Report on a suicide
• Name a rape survivor
• Label someone as mentally ill
• Name children accused of crimes
• Publish hacked information
• Name a mass shooter (which is the topic we are about to address)

But newsrooms only have guidelines. When the founders of this country wrote the First Amendment, "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of the press," they created a system where the only regulating forces on professional journalism are self-regulation, civil courts and public pressure.

The only standards that can be enforced are those imposed from within, by the news organization itself. Although there are universal values that journalists agree upon, like truth and independence, across the thousands of newsrooms in America, there