After reviewing Disney’s code of ethics, there are a couple of major things that I noticed right off the bat that are not in any way similar to a journalistic code of ethics.

One way that they are different is just in the setup of the code of ethics. The Disney code of ethics is 25 pages long, which is far larger than any of the examples of journalistic codes of ethic that we have seen as a class. This means two different things to me after looking at it further. Disney is covering all their bases by not just listing the surface-level ethics that are expected but explaining in detail what those ethical norms should be. There are also examples given in each of the chapters in the code which I don’t see as much in the other codes.

In the actual content of the code, one thing stuck out to me farther than all the other items. As a journalist, taking gifts is not an acceptable practice since it presents the prospect of a conflict of interests. In the Disney code of ethics, taking gifts is acceptable to a certain degree. In the code, it perfectly lays out the conditions of when it is acceptable and when it is unacceptable to take a gift. This section even includes a flow chart to give a visual representation of the gift-receiving situation.

The Disney code of ethics has several similar core values that the journalistic codes of ethic have, and for that matter most professional codes of ethic. The differences though, do stick out and make it clear that Disney’s ultimate goals aren’t the same as a journalist.