What is expected of a journalist?
Maybe this analogy will help. It’s very much like what we ask of jurors.
When the members of a jury are selected, they are asked whether they can be fair in coming to a judgement — whether they can put aside any biases or pre-existing opinions about the people and issues involved in that trial in order to come to a dispassionate, balanced decision based not on beliefs or prejudices but on the facts as established in sworn testimony.
They are also reminded of this pledge by the judge when they receive instructions just before they begin their deliberations.
The analogy is not perfect but what we demand of jurors is similar to what we demand of journalists when we send them out to gather the facts for stories.
Editors and news directors recognize that reporters are just like anyone else in that they have their own beliefs, opinions, biases, blind spots and flaws. That’s only human.
But what a good journalist, like a good juror, has to also possess is an all-consuming commitment to get it right.
That this is hard to do is obvious, especially when the truths we discover contradict our core beliefs, prejudices or assumptions. But, as I’ve said many times to young journalists, you can’t discover the truth as you wish it to be, you have to report the truth as you discover it to be.
The integrity of our legal system depends on jurors who can follow strict jury instructions in a search for the truth. The integrity of our media institutions depend on journalists who can maintain a similar discipline in their search for truth.
These roles matter — a lot. In fact, the future of our democracy depends on them.
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