I Believe in Journalism

I've been a journalist (professionally) now for just about 13 years, and I have yet to work with anyone who didn't give every effort to live the Journalist's Creed, written by Walter Williams more than a century ago (see below).

We as a society are bombarded by headlines all the time, everywhere, and many of us make assumptions based on those headlines: whether they're true, whether the organization who wrote it is reliable or trustworthy, whether whether whether.

What you don't see is the effort and hard work that goes into the story: the phone calls, the e-mails, the interviews, the rejections, the downplaying by official sources who don't want a story to run, the brushing off of journalists because they're young or are women or are Black or Hispanic or Asian or who speak in accented English.

What you don't see are the daily battles to find answers, to find what the truth of a thing is, and to bring that truth to viewers or readers. Do we mess up? Heck yes. But do we own it and fix it when we do? Again, heck yes. Those who do NOT fix and admit and don't try to improve may carry the title of "journalist," but they don't carry the banner like true journalists do.

Trust local news. Turn to local news before you turn to cable news. In fact, turn off cable news. You can find information on national and international events in places with far more reputability than CNN or Fox or MSNBC.

Go to the Associated Press. Go to Reuters. Go to Newsy. If you want international sources, go to BBC News or Al-Jazeera.

But trust the journalists who know YOUR community and YOUR area and YOUR issues. Because they're working every single day to live up to the Journalist's Creed.

When you attack "the media" (never mind there is no such thing as "the media," only individual news organizations), you attack journalists everywhere. When you criticize "the media," you criticize me and my co-workers and my students and my friends who are trying to be the best journalists we can.

If you see a mistake, let them know. Don't be an ass about it - be constructive, and let them respond. If they're a real journalist, they'll do what they can to fix it.

I don't have an agenda as a journalist, except to shine light in every dark corner of the world where maybe things aren't fair or equitable. That's my agenda. That's why I'm a journalist, and I'm proud to be one. 

Walter Williams Hall at the University of Missouri-Columbia

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The Journalist's Creed (Walter Williams, 1914)

I believe in the profession of journalism.

I believe that the public journal is a public trust; that all connected with it are, to the full measure of their responsibility, trustees for the public; that acceptance of a lesser service than the public service is betrayal of this trust.

I believe that clear thinking and clear statement, accuracy and fairness are fundamental to good journalism.

I believe that a journalist should write only what he holds in his heart to be true.

I believe that suppression of the news, for any consideration other than the welfare of society, is indefensible.

I believe that no one should write as a journalist what he would not say as a gentleman; that bribery by one’s own pocketbook is as much to be avoided as bribery by the pocketbook of another; that individual responsibility may not be escaped by pleading another’s instructions or another’s dividends. 

I believe that advertising, news and editorial columns should alike serve the best interests of readers; that a single standard of helpful truth and cleanness should prevail for all; that the supreme test of good journalism is the measure of its public service.

I believe that the journalism which succeeds best — and best deserves success — fears God and honors Man; is stoutly independent, unmoved by pride of opinion or greed of power, constructive, tolerant but never careless, self-controlled, patient, always respectful of its readers but always unafraid, is quickly indignant at injustice; is unswayed by the appeal of privilege or the clamor of the mob; seeks to give every man a chance and, as far as law and honest wage and recognition of human brotherhood can make it so, an equal chance; is profoundly patriotic while sincerely promoting international good will and cementing world-comradeship; is a journalism of humanity, of and for today’s world.