Journalism needs to return to the basics, conclude journalists

Posted by Kelley Vendeland on May 12, 2008 at 12:46 PM

Journalists at last week's Global Inter-Media Dialogue, hosted by the Indonesian and Norwegian governments, stressed the need to "go back to basic tenets of journalism."

Particularly targeting American journalism as practiced under the current administration, the conference denounced the widespread use by journalists of loaded terms such as "war on terror" and "Islamic terrorists," without sufficient research into their accuracy.

Participants at the conference emphasized the importance of presenting the truth as closely as possible, promoting professionalism, independence, social responsibility and tolerance of other cultures.

A point was also raised regarding the immense value of placing journalists in the field, in order that they can gain the fullest possible understanding of all sides of a story.

For a journalist who worked in Bosnia for many years, this holistic knowledge was particularly prudent: "as soon as [journalists] write stories, especially when they represent a global media firm, people take their stories as impartial."

Morever, polls show that print is more trusted that web sources, making accuracy doubly important to in-depth newspaper reporting.

Source: AsiaMedia