Since its “Ethics Friday” over in the TV News Storyteller’s group, here’s some ethics from the past.

Among my files is a copy of the 1971 CBS Operating Standards for News and Public Affairs that I transcribed for everyone’s perusal. This particular memorandum was intended to restate the applicability of written CBS policies that dated back to the late 1950s, which means these are the rules that both Ed Murrow and Walter Cronkite had to work under as well as Charlie Mack, Leo Rossi, Marty Barnett and every other CBS News employee.

According to retired CBS cameraman Steve Vinckus, you had to follow these rules to the letter or quote “you risk deep trouble!!!” and if you messed up badly enough, even the union wouldn’t save you.

Reading through the document, some of these rules were quite obviously put into place to keep the former newsreelers CBS inherited in line. Most notably the section about staging.

There’s one particular graf in this memo that is rather interesting though. Lets just say it would clip the wings of many nat sound junkie photogs today…

Natural sound, whether on film or magnetic tape, may not be magnified or diminished from its actual level for the purpose of achieving a deliberate editorial effect. However, volume may be adjusted to meet technical requirements and the sound intelligibility of a story.

To read the actual memorandum, click here to view it on Scribd.