The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : `Compromise on truth has led to erosion of ethics in journalism'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 14, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

`Compromise on truth has led to erosion of ethics in journalism'

Staff Reporter

Veterans address students of journalism at Bhavan's seminar

BANGALORE: Ethics and values will never go out of fashion in journalism, and newspersons must always work towards keeping their reporting balanced and objective, the veteran journalist and former Chairman of Kannada Development Authority Patil Puttappa said here on Tuesday.

Addressing students of journalism at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan at a seminar on "Is Ethics necessary for the Media?", Mr. Puttappa said, "No other profession is as exhilarating as journalism is. And no other profession gets closer to the passionate seeking of truth."

However, though the journalist tends to forget the problems weighing him down at the personal level as he seeks to solve the problems of the world, temptations are in plenty to lead him astray, and "truth, seeking a home to rest in, waits in vain to be invited."

Though the news of 11 MPs who have been caught on camera accepting payment to raise "proxy" questions in the Lok Sabha, he said, is not uncommon, their getting caught is what makes news.

"Perhaps these people, who have never known affluence, feel justified in accepting payment for doing their job as elected representatives. For the journalist, this is an opportunity to hold a mirror to society, play the watchdog, and by being ethical and objective in reporting, demonstrate that it pays to make the right moral choices," he said

V.N. Narayanan, Principal, Bhavan's Harilal Bhagawathi College of Journalism, who is a former editor of "Hindustan Times", said the MPs' accepting pecuniary gratification was "inevitable" in these times of plummeting moral standards, but it is certainly not "ethical".

A journalist has to remember five important aspects of ethical journalism — freedom and courage, incorruptibility, fairness and concern for accuracy, individual integrity, and respect of privacy.

With commerce entering the field of journalism, and news being increasingly peddled as a commodity, instances of compromising on the truth have led to the erosion of standards and ethics, he said.

"Socrates, Christ and Gandhiji are remembered today for their passionate espousal of truth, and that is what endures," Mr. Narayanan said.

Veteran journalist S.V. Jayasheela Rao also rued the fact that ethics is respected more in the breach these days in all fields, including journalism.

"But it is not difficult for the journalist to choose the ethical way. You must just remember that your first duty is to inform the public in such a way that the public may form opinion on men and matters in the right way," he said.

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