And so did most journalism practitioners throughout history. International Federation of Journalists’ list of principles consists of 9 items, the first of which says: ‘Respect for truth and for the right of the public to truth is the first duty of the journalist.’ (International Federation of Journalists, 2016) Most other codes of ethics developed by other professional organizations also put truth above all the other principles. For the most of its history though, truth in journalism had one significant flaw. Journalism served national audiences and therefore national interests. Truth, therefore, was limited to ‘our’ truth. The truth for Russell and his editor was the truth of British soldiers and their hardships, not the truth of the enemy’s side, and not even some ‘middle’ truth. That approach was good enough for the time, and it was good enough for more than a century. Russell himself brought down a government with his reporting and many others after him contributed to the cause of open society simply by telling the truth of the ordinary people.
And so did most journalism practitioners throughout history. International Federation of Journalists’ list of principles consists of 9 items, the first of which says: ‘Respect for truth and for the right of the public to truth is the first duty of the journalist.’ (International Federation of Journalists, 2016) Most other codes of ethics developed by other professional organizations also put truth above all the other principles. For the most of its history though, truth in journalism had one significant flaw. Journalism served national audiences and therefore national interests. Truth, therefore, was limited to ‘our’ truth. The truth for Russell and his editor was the truth of British soldiers and their hardships, not the truth of the enemy’s side, and not even some ‘middle’ truth. That approach was good enough for the time, and it was good enough for more than a century. Russell himself brought down a government with his reporting and many others after him contributed to the cause of open society simply by telling the truth of the ordinary people.