Alan Rusbridger opened the Ethical Journalism Network’s international media ethics magazine - ‘Saving the News: Ethics and the Fight for the Future of Journalism’- with an urgent call for strong and independent journalism at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia on Saturday.
'Saving the News: Ethics and the fight for the future of journalism’, considers the difficulties faced by journalists in countries including Jordan, Kenya, Honduras, the Philippines and South Sudan. It also highlights the emergence of signs that point to a more ethically sound future for media practitioners.
EJN Chair Dorothy Byrne, introduces the report, by writing:
“Without strong and independent journalism you can’t have a free society. The lies of some of those populist politicians whose tirades captured so much of the public imagination over the last year are being found out; the public around the world are also waking up to the fact that much of what theysee on social media is piffle.
Byrne, who is head of news and current affairs at Channel 4 in the UK, goes on to say:
“If journalists have, perhaps, been too slow to stand up for the importance of our trade and too defensive, journalists across the globe are now speaking out more strongly in support of how vital truthful, ethical journalism is to society.”
Writing in the foreword, Rusbridger, who was the editor-in-chief of the Guardian, makes a heartfelt plea for higher ethical standards.
“We’ve moved from an age of information scarcity to one of almost infinite plurality. Only those with the highest professional and ethical standards will rise above the oceans of mediocrity and malignity and survive.”
“Set aside the politics and ask, what message do we want a sceptical public to believe about journalism? Is it primarily a craft of verification or opinion? Is it there to give a factual basis for debates society needs to have or is it there to push the beliefs of an individual proprietor or editor?”