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4 - Reaffirming truth and objectivity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Stephen J. A. Ward
Stephen J. A. Ward
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Madison
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Summary

I have argued that media ethics is not antithetical to the freedom to publish. Media ethics recognizes freedom as a necessary condition of a democratic press. Without freedom, a robust journalism cannot exist. Yet media ethics also values how that freedom is used. It values the use of media to promote fair and wise decisions in the public good. The last chapter considered one way that media freedom should be used – to promote deliberative democracy. Deliberative democracy is the ultimate aim of responsible news media.

This chapter examines two principles that are essential means to realizing democratic journalism and deliberative democracy: (1) the pursuit of truth, and (2) striving to be objective in the pursuit of that truth. Many other values are important to journalism but they are important insofar as they help to foster an objective and truthful press.

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Ethics and the Media
An Introduction
 , pp. 118 - 160
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

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