Journalism Matters: First, choose truth

Journalism has long been, first and foremost, a calling to seek and report the truth.

“Truth should be their idol, their first and last consideration always,” stated an 1853 article titled Truth in Journalism, published in Scientific American Magazine. 

“Seek truth and report it,” states the first ethic of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics, first drafted in 1926. “Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth,” echoes Principle 1 of The Elements of Journalism, the now classic 2001 work that speaks to the essential responsibilities of journalists. 

This year, on World News Day, a global initiative to draw public attention to the role that journalists play in providing trustworthy news and information that serves citizens and democracy, we draw together around the world to “Choose Truth.” 

World News Day is organised by the Canadian Journalism Foundation (CJF), the World Editors Forum and the South Africa-based Daily Maverick’s Project Kontinuum.

The annual September initiative was first launched by the CJF in 2018 to enhance the relationship between the news industry and its audiences. From the outset, the goal was to create a greater public understanding of why quality journalism matters – especially in a world polluted by misinformation. 

The theme of this year’s World News Day, “Choose Truth” is the first global campaign from Project Kontinuum, which was established by Daily Maverick founder and editor-in-chief Branko Brkic, to reaffirm journalism’s critical role throughout the world. This message could not be more critical or more timely. 

‘In a world in which we have increasingly witnessed fiction become fact and misinformation turn mainstream, choosing truth has perhaps never been more important – or more difficult.’ 

For the public, this means the need to distinguish between real news and rumours and falsehoods masquerading as fact, a challenge ever more difficult in this era of AI-generated digital content and “bad actors” intent on sowing public discord with malicious disinformation. 

For journalists, it means doubling down on our core principle to serve the public with truth grounded in thoroughly verified fact. To choose truth requires that trust be the foundation of the relationship between the public and the journalists who seek to serve the public good. 

But, as the 2024 Digital News Report of Oxford University’s Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, tells us: “... across the world, most of the public does not trust most of the news most of the time.” What does journalism’s obligation to seek truth and report it mean? It demands a staunch commitment to being trustworthy. 

That means being accurate and fair, dedicated to a transparent process of verifying the facts that form the foundation of truth. It means telling our audiences what we know and how we know it – being clear about our sources of information. It means understanding that on any given day, the facts we find may well be “the best available version of the truth” not the whole story and thus, we must always scrupulously update the facts as we learn more, and correct our mistakes when we err.

In a polarised world, too many can’t agree even on what is a fact and argue that truth is dead. That makes it all the more critical for both responsible journalists and the public to understand what constitutes trustworthy, evidence-based information. It is not simply a matter of delivering and consuming the news; it is about empowering people with the facts they need to navigate their world. 

Kathy English, chair of the board of the Canadian Journalism Foundation, served as public editor of the Toronto Star for 13 years.