ABSTRACT
Commitment to truth and accuracy in news reporting is recognized as a fundamental obligation of journalistic ethics. The requirement is emphasized by Tunis Wortman in his now classic 1801 work, A Treatise Concerning Political Enquiry and the Liberty of the Press. Wortman offers one of the earliest efforts to articulate the obligations of media always to tell the truth:
Some commentators on the rights and responsibilities of the news profession similarly contrast the freedom of the press with the requirement to avoid false or inaccurate misinformation. The 1947 Robert M. Hutchins Commission on Freedom of the Press similarly finds the following important qualification whereby freedom to report the news is carefully distinguished from the wanton license of journalists to say whatever they want regardless of its truth or falsehood:
The point is that news information has the potential to be used, and its use carries implications for the welfare and happiness of others. In extreme cases, the true or false content of a news report can make a difference between life and death for those who choose to act on what they believe to be the information the news contains. It is the consequences of presenting persons with what purport to be facts, information, and truths about the world, knowing that such persons may well make decisions that can affect many aspects of their lives, that is an important source of the professional moral responsibility journalists have in reporting the news. It is the basis for the moral requirement of professional journalistic ethics that investigators and reporters hold themselves to a high standard of truth telling.
