By Amin Kef Sesay
Quality journalism that scrutinizes and criticizes social, political and economic authority – is in a constant state of vulnerability to manipulation and censorship, particularly from those with money and power.
Thus, professional integrity should be the cornerstone of a journalist’s credibility. This means that every journalist is obligated to operate by a Code of Ethics centered on public trust, truthfulness, fairness, integrity, independence and accountability.
As such, for journalists and the media to be respected by society they must first and foremost be always conscious that respect for the profession and its practitioners is derived purely from reporting the truth objectively, fairly and accurately without any bias or sentiment attached. To remove those aspects would be damaging to the very core of not just journalism but society’s dependence on the media for the truth.
Reporting the truth is almost never libel, which makes accuracy very important. Journalists should always know that private persons have privacy rights that must be balanced against the public interest in reporting information about them.
In which regard, to be very honest, in many offices and public spaces, people are not too pleased when the name of a journalist is called; even if he is just there to get information or to cross check the other side of a story in order to report it fairly, objectively and accurately.
The main reason why many public figures fear and loathe journalists at the same time and if they have their way would want nothing to do with them is that they claim that journalists not only willfully distort facts to suit their purposes but more troubling resort to blackmail by publishing unfounded stories and hoping to receive money from the person, institution or organization that is targeted.
Journalists, reporters particularly, are expected to be as accurate as possible, given the time allotted to story preparation and the space available and to seek reliable sources.
Journalists must properly use their sources and use accurate quoting and words from interviews or conversations.
Events with a single eyewitness must be reported with attribution. Events with two or more independent eyewitnesses may be reported as fact. Controversial facts are reported with attribution.
Independent fact-checking is desirable. Corrections must be quickly published when errors are discovered. These corrections are called corrigendum in newspapers; they feature after on the next issue published.
In reporting court matters, it should be known that defendants at trial are treated only as having “allegedly” committed crimes, until conviction.
Opinion surveys and statistical information deserve special treatment to communicate in precise terms any conclusions, to contextualize the results and to specify accuracy, including estimated error and methodological criticism or flaws. Through this, information can be properly analyzed and used without heavy bias.
