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Integrity is in short supply in many newsrooms, argues Michael Newman, while Eddie O’Brien says journalists must do more to reflect opposing views in their reports
Clive Myrie nails down much of what is eating away at the heart of modern written journalism (What is journalism for? The short answer: truth, 11 March). His piece also neatly ties together the debate about Piers Morgan and his exit from ITV before joining GB News as he undoubtedly will. When I was a trainee, Sir Harold Evans was our hero. He was fearless and opinionated, but we never doubted that his opinions were based on the principle of reporting with inbuilt integrity. I built my journalistic career on those principles. Yet today’s print media is dominated by publications that lack honesty and integrity. Columnists run amok with untruths, smears and blatant racialism. Then they attack social media platforms for being out of control.
This from the fourth estate which hacked personal phones of hundreds of people, which accessed the phone of a missing child, and which ran a character assassination of an innocent man (Christopher Jefferies). That is the tip of the iceberg. We now have the spectacle of Mr Morgan, who was fired when he published fake photos of alleged British army atrocities. Is he a role model for modern journalism? I hope not. Our media is riven with these kinds of people. There’s a battle to be won. I hope the Guardian and other like-minded journals can win. Michael Newman Shefford, Bedfordshire Continue reading...