Code of conduct

Listed below is the Earth-Touch.com Code of Conduct. To get back to the home page, click here.

• / Introduction

• / Editorial guidelines

• / Audiovisual guidelines

• / Working in the wild

• / Acknowledgements

Code of Conduct / Introduction back to top

Media coverage of wildlife and the natural environment requires professional expertise as well as specific wildlife knowledge. More importantly, it demands high levels of personal integrity that support the values of environmental awareness and concern. Earth-Touch editors, writers, film crew and staff as well as any other contributors – collectively referred to as Earth-Touch content producers – are required to have a genuine commitment to making entertaining and educational wildlife films and new media in ways that are environmentally and ethically sound. This is best achieved when high standards of journalism merge with profound respect for the natural world. Above all, Earth-Touch content producers must scrupulously avoid harming or disturbing their subjects or the habitats in which they live in the spirit of the project’s mission: to celebrate truth and the beauty of nature.

Code of Conduct / Editorial guidelinesback to top

Public Trust

Earth-Touch content producers are responsible for reporting fairly and truthfully, with integrity and independence. Their first obligations are to the environment and the public.

Earth-Touch content producers appreciate that they:

• Must uphold the public trust in order to protect Earth-Touch’s credibility.

• Must be aware of social diversity and differing viewpoints in wildlife and environmental conservation discourse. Therefore they must be cautious not to oversimplify the issues or events they report on.

• Must be aware that they are responsible for providing complete and accurate information.

Truth

Earth-Touch content producers are responsible for presenting content in context and as completely and accurately as possible. They are responsible for:

• Seeking and reflecting undistorted truth in context.

• Disclosing sources, including content from outside contributors.

• Ensuring they do not plagiarise content.

• Ensuring they do not manipulate visual or audio content in any way.

Fairness

Earth-Touch content producers are responsible for presenting editorial content fairly and impartially. They are responsible for:

• Treating all subjects with respect

• Presenting a diversity of opinions and ideas.

• Conveying information to the public, in context, and without bias or stereotype.

• Avoiding personal bias in reporting.

• Showing particular sensitivity to the well-being and protection of the environment and wildlife.

• Being aware of the potential impact their representation of their subjects may have on the public’s perception of wildlife and environmental issues.

Integrity

Earth-Touch content producers are expected to respect the dignity and intelligence of their audience and subjects and to display integrity and decency in presenting content.

Earth-Touch content producers may not accept gifts, favours or compensation from anyone who might influence content or coverage.

Earth-Touch content producers must always strive to:

• Identify sources.

• Use authoritative sources. Gathering information from websites that encourage users to generate content should be avoided wherever possible.

• Clearly identify opinion and commentary – whether their own or that of the public.

• Be aware of and avoid possible conflicts of interest.

• Use outside content only with permission of the creator or owner and publicly acknowledge the source.

• Be circumspect about coverage that does not advance a story, place the event in context, or add to the public knowledge.

• Use technology tools with integrity.

• Never sensationalise or distort facts or reality.

Independence

Earth-Touch content producers must be aware of the need to defend their own independence and that of broader media from individuals or groups who may seek to influence or control the media.

Earth-Touch’s content is governed by editorial decision-makers. The influence of sponsors, advertisers, sources, subjects, powerful individuals or special interest groups does not and must never dictate or influence editorial decisions.

Earth-Touch content producers must withstand efforts by individuals or organisations to intimidate, buy or influence their professional conduct, judgement or ethics.

Accuracy

Factual mistakes must be promptly acknowledged and corrected.

• Corrections must be clearly labelled, without using euphemisms like "fixes" or "changes".

  • Earth-Touch content producers must notify editors or senior staff about errors or potential errors in their own work or a colleague’s work as they become apparent.

  • Audience complaints must be promptly and appropriately investigated and addressed.

  • If an Earth-Touch content producer in the field provides information to another staff member who then writes the story, the original reporter will get a by-line unless the editor decides otherwise.

  • By-lines are given to Earth-Touch content producers who provide information without which there would be no story.

  • Earth-Touch content producers who do voiceovers or on-camera work must use their own names in credits.

  • Earth-Touch must not use images or scripts that could give the audience false or misleading information about a subject or its behaviour.

Accountability

Earth-Touch content producers must recognise that they are accountable to the public, their profession and themselves. They must:

• Encourage high journalistic standards.

• Be transparent about the journalistic process, especially if it results in questions or controversy.

• Not require unethical actions from employee or outside contributors.

• Encourage an environment in which professional ethical concerns can be openly discussed and addressed.

• Be sensitive to the environment and their personal impact on it. Wherever possible, they should behave in an environmentally responsible manner, for example by consciously limiting carbon emissions and reducing their individual ecological footprints.

Code of Conduct / Audiovisual guidelinesback to top

1. Readers must be alerted to any content containing potentially offensive material.

2. The editing of audiovisual content must not alter the original meaning. Editing is allowed provided the original meaning is not altered and cannot be misconstrued.

3. Other edits are permitted under special circumstances, such as a technical failure.

4. If possible, content should provide information about the setting in which it was acquired.

5. Pictures must always tell the truth. Photographs and film footage may not be altered or manipulated in any way, whether through altering, adding or deleting elements.

6. Minor adjustments such as cropping, dodging and burning, conversion into greyscale and normal toning and colour adjustments done in Final Cut, PhotoShop or similar programs are acceptable if necessary for clarity and accuracy. Significant changes to the original scene are not acceptable, including toning, blurring or eliminating backgrounds or heavily adjusting the density, contrast, colour and saturation levels of images.

7. Charts must be accurate representations of data and must be drawn showing accurate proportions. Data cannot be changed to fit a chart or graphic.

8. Sources for graphics must be credited, including those for which Earth-Touch content producers have created the data set or database.

9. When creating a graphic, it can be necessary to combine several photographic elements, requiring that parts of each photograph be altered. The criterion for such a composition is that it must not misrepresent any facts and it must clearly be a graphic so that it cannot be mistaken for a photograph.

10. Standard methods of improving technical quality (for example, adjusting video and audio levels and colour correcting) are allowed, provided the techniques do not conceal, obscure, remove or otherwise alter the content.

11. Like pictures and film, audio must always tell the truth.

12. The audiovisual content must be true and accurate. The content must not be added to, deleted, enhanced or changed unless to edit for length or, in the case of sound, to remove pauses or stumbles.

13. Audio and video footage may be edited for length, provided editing does not alter the meaning, change the facts or compromise the integrity of the original content. The same rules apply when adding graphical information (for example titles and logos) or editing to tone the image or improve audio quality.

14. Online techniques used to display photos and footage (for example, 360-degree panoramas or dissolves) can be used provided they do not alter the original images.

15. The dateline or information pertaining to location provided for video, audio or written content must be the location where the events actually took place.

16. If an Earth-Touch content producer has questions about audio or video editing or the use of technology tools that might alter content, they should check with their supervisor before making changes.

Code of Conduct / Working in the wild back to top

The fundamental principle of this code is the recognition that the welfare of wildlife and the environment is more important than any video footage or other content.

Earth-Touch content producers are responsible for making certain that their presence will not have harmful or negative consequences for the animals or the ecosystem in which they are working.

This means they must pledge never to damage, pollute, harass or unduly disturb any flora or fauna, whether that which they are filming, any in the general vicinity or any en route to or from a site.

While the effect of individual wildlife encounters may seem insignificant, the cumulative effects of repeated encounters may cause critical behavioural changes in animals, such as missed feedings or, more typically, habituation to the presence of humans and therefore a much greater vulnerability to poaching. Maintaining enough distance from wildlife so that they do not become habituated to humans is vital.

Earth-Touch content producers and their staff are responsible for being highly sensitive to the point at which human presence in the wild becomes harassment or disturbance.

For the purpose of this code, harassment is defined as "any human action that causes unusual behaviour or significant change of behaviour by an animal". Disturbance is defined as "to intrude upon, inconvenience or interfere with". Animal and wildlife means any creature – mammal, reptile, marine or bird life.

1. Earth-Touch content producers must always place the welfare of the subject above any other considerations, particularly time pressure and the cost of production.

2. Earth-Touch content producers must not do anything that may alter the natural behaviour of their subjects.

3. Feeding or attracting wildlife with food, decoys, sound or light disrupts normal feeding cycles and may cause sickness or death from unnatural or contaminated food items. It habituates animals to people. Habituated animals – including marine wildlife – are highly vulnerable to vessel strikes or poaching. Earth-Touch content producers must never jeopardise subjects through habituation, baiting or feeding.

4. Earth-Touch content producers must not leave equipment or personal belongings (such as tripods, cameras, backpacks, food containers or water bottles) scattered around their vehicle, camp or hide, as this may encourage curious animals to investigate. This increases the risk of animals becoming habituated to people or developing unnatural behaviour, such as eating human food. Earth-Touch content producers must discourage animals from becoming familiar and must report any such incidents to a game ranger or other official.

5. Earth-Touch content producers must display maturity and patience to get footage and must never recklessly invade an animal’s territory for the sake of speed or sensationalism.

6. Earth-Touch content producers must never pursue or harass wildlife. They must not block moving animals or chase after them on foot or in vehicles (including boats and aircraft).

7. Earth-Touch content producers must never surround or trap an animal that is trying to get away and must never trap an animal between a vehicle or vessel and its escape route.

8. Drugging or restraining an animal in order to alter its behaviour for filming, or to facilitate filming, is totally prohibited.

9. Trapping, restricting or restraining an animal in any way to attract a predator is totally prohibited.

10. Using food, calls, blinds, or altering the vegetation to attract animals is prohibited.

11. Earth-Touch content producers must never disturb or harass predators or scavengers at a carcass. They must maintain an acceptable distance so as not to disturb feeding or other behaviour.

12. Earth-Touch content producers must be aware that filming a den or nest site – particularly that of certain species of birds – could attract predators and/or drive away the parents, thus jeopardising the young. Earth-Touch content producers must conduct sufficient prior research to ensure they understand species’ behaviour so that they do not cause animals to abandon sites, dens and young or nests, un-hatched eggs or fledglings.

13. Earth-Touch content producers must never come between mothers and their young.

14. Earth-Touch content producers must never touch young animals, nests or dens and must maintain good physical distance, rather using long-range lenses to film.

15. In the case of marine life, when viewing from a boat, Earth-Touch content producers should move at low speed parallel to the swimming animals, avoid approaching head-on or from behind and not separate individuals from a group.

16. Earth-Touch content producers must never try to touch, handle or ride wildlife. Touching wildlife, or trying to, can injure the animal. In the case of marine life, the slimy coating on fish and many marine invertebrates protects the animal from infection. It is easily rubbed off and may leave the animal vulnerable to infection and possible death.

17. Earth-Touch content producers must be prepared to deal with unexpected conditions without damaging the environment or their subjects. This applies especially to managing people who may be attracted by filming activities, since they could put the subjects at risk.

18. Conserving the biodiversity of all natural habitats and animal life comes first. Earth-Touch content producers must adhere to all laws and regulations concerning the ecological sensitivity of areas where they work.

19. Earth-Touch content producers must make themselves aware of, and must follow, all local and national wildlife laws in the areas where they work.

20. Earth-Touch content producers must follow the lawful orders of park officials, rangers and guides.

21. Respect for the subject’s habitat, including vegetation and water sources, is as important as respect for the animals being filmed. Vegetation must not be cut, trampled or broken. Water sources must not be contaminated in any way. All sites must be restored to their original state before leaving. When walking or driving through the bush, Earth-Touch content producers must keep to tracks as far as possible to avoid damaging flora and to avoid unnecessary disturbance to ecosystems.

22. Human rubbish poses among the greatest threats to wildlife and the environment. Earth-Touch content producers will carry away with them their own and any other litter in the vicinity of filming. They will never burn, bury or otherwise discard or dispose of litter or waste material such as cigarette butts, engine oil or any other man-made, organic or inorganic debris either at a site or en route to and from a site. Any site, on land or water, must be left pristine.

23. Earth-Touch content producers will keep equipment and all staff at a sufficient distance to avoid disturbing the site or subjects.

24. Some species will permanently abandon a site because of human odour. Earth-Touch content producers must be sensitive to this. Prior to and during the shoot they must avoid wearing or using lotions, perfume, cologne, scented sprays, deodorants and other products that will exacerbate their presence in the wild. Wherever possible, they should use organic and/or biodegradable toiletries.

25. Earth-Touch content producers must stay away from wildlife that looks abandoned or sick. Young animals that seem to be orphaned may be under the watchful eye of a nearby parent. For example, some marine animals leave the water or are exposed at low tide as part of their natural life cycle. If an animal is in trouble, Earth-Touch content producers must contact the relevant local authorities.

26. Earth-Touch content producers must not enter wildlife closure areas. It is their responsibility to make themselves aware of, and to abide by, any such closures, for example, during certain species’ nesting or breeding seasons. Closures can vary from year to year, season to season or, in the case of emergency closures, from day to day. Updates on closures can be obtained from wildlife publicity offices, game rangers or other relevant officials.

27. Night shooting using artificial lights can make subjects vulnerable to predators. After conducting prior research to ascertain any risk posed to the subjects, Earth-Touch content producers must take genuine, careful precautions to ensure subjects are not put in harm’s way.

28. Earth-Touch content producers should commit to broadening their knowledge and skills to advance the practice of wildlife conservation and environmental protection. They should be sensitive to differing viewpoints on wildlife and environmental safeguards.

29. Earth-Touch must at all times exhibit exceptionally high levels of concern and respect for the earth and plant and animal life.

30. Earth-Touch content producers agree to abide by this code of conduct and to adhere in word and deed to both the letter and the spirit of this code.

Code of Conduct / Acknowledgements back to top

Many professional media and wildlife codes were researched in compiling the Earth-Touch code of ethics. We gratefully acknowledge the following organisations’ codes, which provided a useful foundation for the final text:

The American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) Statement of Principles.

http://www.asne.org/kiosk/archive/principl.htm

Society of Professional Journalists: Ethics Code.

http://www.spj.org/ethics.asp

The Associated Press Statement of News Values.

http://www.ap.org/newsvalues/index.html

Denali National Park and Preserve: Photographers Code Of Ethics.

http://www.nps.gov/dena/parkmgmt/upload/CodeOfEthics.pdf

Marine Wildlife Viewing Guidelines.

www.watchablewildlife.org.

Filmmakers for Conservation: Ethical guidelines.

http://www.filmmakersforconservation.org/index.htm