“The Essence Of Journalism is a Discipline of Verification.”
An interpretation of journalism being “a discipline of verification” is that it is both the act of renouncing the illegitimate assumption that journalists are able to maintain complete objectivity (and are, then, not truly human) and the act of acknowledging the profession as one of upholding the highest standard of truth seeking and public service.
Fact checking, verifying sources and following the money all hold accountable those who attempt to and actually wield power. These are just elements of the five principles of reporting, as outlined in the the SlideShare deck below.
“When the concept of objectivity originally evolved, it did not imply that journalists are free of bias. It called, rather, for a consistent method of testing information – a transparent approach to evidence – precisely so that personal and cultural biases would not undermine the accuracy of their work.”
The only criticism is of the guidelines for deciding when to keep a source anonymous. There are concerns about anonymity; that it may purport a lack of legitimacy in reporting.
What are your thoughts on keeping certain sources anonymous?
Tiffany L. Rider 