If there is one thing Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Branch wanted the University of Idaho to know, it was that ethical journalism is not an oxymoron.
Branch, a sports reporter for The New York Times, emphasized the importance of a rule of ethics — especially in regard to today’s society.
“On one hand, journalism is under so much heat these days … maybe more than ever, and on the other, journalism is so important,” Branch said.
For this reason, Branch said it puts a lot of pressure on journalists to do their jobs even better than before.
“We’re the watchdogs,” Branch said. 
On Thursday night at the Ethics Symposium, Branch gave his outlook on media ethics, providing students with a perspective on sports journalism.
In the era of fake news, Branch said there is a need for ethics. While there is an assault on what journalists do, it is important that journalists have a firm rule of ethics to follow, he said.
“I think it’s important for people to realize that journalists — good journalists — the best journalists play by rules,” Branch said.
While politicians and companies work to undermine and discredit what journalists do, Branch said now is the most important time to remain ethical and fair.
The New York Times works by a set of rules of ethics each employee must follow — 57 pages of them to be exact, Branch said. All of which help their reporters remain impartial and professionally neutral.
Branch said working as a sports reporter, several individuals assume he gets into games for free.
“I don’t get tickets to games … I can’t get autographs, I can’t gamble in sports, I don’t travel with teams, I can’t vote for awards,” Branch said.
These ethical scenarios emerge a lot for Branch.
“We practice ethics in a million different ways in this business daily without realizing it,” Branch said.
The daily ethical questions can come from choosing who to quote and how to quote them, to deciding how to describe something a person didn’t witness and what is fair, Branch said. But in spite of all of this, staying neutral and fair is the ultimate goal.
“Unethical journalists are not journalists at all,” Branch said.
Branch said in 2017, everyone has to have a bias, which threatens the perception that journalists remain objective and in the middle. Mainstream media plays a part in this.
“Even a strange term, ‘mainstream media,’ has been hijacked and turned into a political weapon,” Branch said.
Current mainstream media has been categorized into pieces, which blurs the lines of objectivity, Branch said. With more liberal and conservative media outlets that seem to be comfortable with staying that way, they become legitimized by those who trust one-sided information, he said.
“They don’t have to tell the truth or worry about such trivial annoyances like impartiality because their audiences don’t expect it,” Branch said.
What this means for the outlets that remain in the middle are stamped as the bad guys and the suppliers of fake news, he said.
Branch focused his presentation on sports journalism and emphasized the ethical dilemmas that arise when it comes to sports.
Practicing ethics has become a crucial role in sports journalism, Branch said. It makes it tougher for the doubters to find something to criticize, he said.
“There’s the assumption that we cheer for the teams that we cover,” Branch said. “What they don’t know is what I always tell aspiring sports writers — when you become a sports reporter, you lose your allegiances to teams.”
If a person’s favorite thing about sports is cheering, don’t be a sports reporter, Branch said. These are some of the ethical rules a sports reporter, like Branch, must follow.
With no sports jerseys, hats or shirts in his personal closet, Branch said he simply works to investigate and tell stories.
“Should we cover football without making every effort to understand the long-term impact of concussions?” Branch said. “Should we write about horse racing without investigating the treatment of animals? The Olympics without digging into doping?”
Branch said The New York Times has led coverage on these subjects in the past few years. Covering stories with real-world applications and implications is the core of ethical journalism, he said.
“We just did what journalists are supposed to do,” Branch said. “Uncover the truth.”
Savannah Cardon can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @savannahlcardon