Ethics


When covering disability, avoid ableist tropes like the ‘pity trap’

Person-first or identity-first? Get answers to your questions on covering disability from the NPR journalists in this video.

A person with light-green wavy hair, wearing a green T-shirt and overalls, speaks into a microphone held by a woman wearing glasses and a light-blue hijab. The woman is not entirely opaque, and the background of purple rowhouses shows through her.

When interviewing sources, transparency is the key to trust

These best practices from NPR editors and producers will help you set clear expectations for what happens during and after an interview.

A search-engine field appears on a gradient background that goes from red to blue. The word "Latino" appears in the field, as if typed. Then, several choices of term appear below "Did you mean:" These are Latina, Latine, Latinx, Latin@, Hispanic, Person of Color, BIPOC, POC, Black, Brown, Indigenous, Argentinian, Chelean, Colombian, Peruvian, Venezuelan, Guatemalan, Brazilian, Mexican, Spanish, Puerto Rican, Cuban and Ecuadorian. The list ends with "See more."

BIPOC? Latinx? Here’s how to describe people accurately

Group descriptors require the same kind of research and scrutiny as other facts journalists report on. Here’s a guide to getting it right.

During the pandemic, cover those we’ve left out

In times of crisis, journalists have the responsibility — even more so than usual — to seek out people who are often passed over by the media, even as stay-at-home orders make it harder to reach them.

It’s not a ‘Chinese’ virus: Let’s avoid pernicious shorthands

“Chinese virus.” “Hindu mobs.” Using geography, ethnicity and religion as modifiers is questionable at best and dangerous at worst.

How to decide what to cut (or not) in an interview

It’s no secret that pre-taped interviews on public radio are edited, sometimes considerably.

NPR Ethics Handbook

The NPR Ethics Handbook is designed to help our journalists make thoughtful, principled decisions.