If there's anything that's important to a reporter, it is integrity. It is credibility.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
There is no higher claim to journalistic integrity than going to jail to protect a source.
In essence, I see the value of journalism as resting in a twofold mission: informing the public of accurate and vital information, and its unique ability to provide a truly adversarial check on those in power.
A journalist covering politics, most of us are aware of the necessity to try to be sure we're unbiased in our reporting. That's one of the fundamentals of good journalism.
Journalists hold themselves apart, and above, the common person. They have rules designed to ensure their objectivity and impartiality.
As a reporter you tend to seek coherence from your subject or your source - it all needs to add up and make sense. In truth, in reality, there's often a great deal of murkiness and muddiness, confusion and contradiction.
I personally think honestly disclosing rather than hiding one's subjective values makes for more honest and trustworthy journalism. But no journalism - from the most stylistically 'objective' to the most brazenly opinionated - has any real value unless it is grounded in facts, evidence, and verifiable data.
The ethics of journalism are one thing. Another thing is the ethics of business.
I think that that integrity is something that is important to voters.
A key purpose of journalism is to provide an adversarial check on those who wield the greatest power by shining a light on what they do in the dark, and informing the public about those acts.
Things said to a reporter in confidence should be kept in confidence.
No opposing quotes found.