Why it is Important to Tell the Truth

Mallory Laird
ml704211@ohio.edu

Truth is something that many of us are taught from a young age. It is always better to tell the truth. This same concept holds true in journalism. In order for a journalist to gain respect,credibility and trust from their audience, they must report the truth. There are ethical guidelines in place for journalists to follow to enable them to gain trust and respect from their audiences.

TheSociety of Professional Journalists and RTDNA both have codes of ethics for journalists to follow. Providing true information to the public is on the top of each of these lists. These codes of ethics are a platform for journalists to go off of. In order to be an ethical journalist, you must always focus on telling the truth.

Why Tell the Truth?

It is important for journalists to tell the truth because the public depends on them. The public depends on journalists everyday for information going on in their town as well as their country. If the public can't trust journalists to give them true news information, then who can they trust? It is the duty of journalists to take the time to gather true information before they report on a story. Once journalists start reporting on things that are not true, their credibility is lost. 

How Lies can Ruin Lives

The Boston Marathon Bombing was one of the most horrific incidents to occur in the United States. News of the bombings broke moments after the bombs had gone off. The initial story was told, but soon after, the question of who was responsible for this horrible incident became one in everyone's minds. The problem with wrongly reporting on the suspects of a story of this magnitude, is the consequences. Here is a list of all of the suspects wrongly linked with the incident.

The photo above was taken from Google images. http://capitolcommentary.com/2013/04/18/benghazi-attack-boston-bombing-and-things-not-adding-up/

Not only does reporting false information affect the individual, it also hurts the journalist. Reddit, NBC and the New York Post were all called out in this New York Times article. The publics attention was drawn to the fact that these three news sources falsely accused suspects of a crime that they did not commit.

Minimizing Harm

Another point in the code of ethics is to minimize harm when reporting a story. It is important for journalists to put out a true story without causing any harm. Above, with the Boston Marathon Bombing story, it is clear that much harm was done by reporting this story. The journalists were in the right by reporting this story, but they released stories with false information that changed the course of the lives of these wrongly accused. 

The code of ethics that are outlines for journalist are quite simple. All of them together help a journalist decide if they are being ethical or not. However, whether a reporter or journalist follows these codes of ethics is entirely up to them. A good journalist will always tell the truth in reporting a story, and try to minimize harm as much as possible.