Extract from the professional ethics of the North American society of Editors

Fairness – A newspaper should not take it upon itself to attack a person’s
reputation or honor without giving him or her opportunity to put forward a defense
this opportunity should be offered whenever a serious accusation is made outside
the usual channels of justice... (… ) A newspaper does not have the right to enter
the private domain or to interfere with the person’s personal feeling without the
guarantee that this is in the public interest, and not merely to satisfy reader’s
curiosity.