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The Post’s Road Map To New Media Journalism
Washington — Last week The Washington Post published a list of principles to guide its emerging web presence. They called it their Ten Principles for Washington Post Journalism on the Web.
Eric Sevareid, CBS News Correspondent and Philosopher
When I read the Post’s list I wondered what Eric Sevareid, CBS’ venerable conscience and philosopher, might have thought about codifying ideas and concepts he took for granted during his tenure at CBS. When I examined a discussion about the state of television news between Sevareid and NBC’s Martin Agronsky [ broadcast by WGBH ] I realized even men as articulate as they could have benefited from a clearer statement of issues and standards they found difficult to clearly speak about.
After several days of thought and re-writing, here’s what I think might be a good starting place for serious people thinking about these issues at the network level.
Twelve Principles To Guide Television News
Television news is a public service we willingly undertake to inform our fellow citizens about the world in which we live, the state of our nation, and the security of our communities.
We shall diligently secure and broadcast information that our fellow Americans can rely upon in fulfilling their role as involved citizens and informed voters.
We will broadcast only relevant, probative, insightful and credible news from sources we know to be accurate and reliable.
Our purpose is only to inform; neither to speculate, adulterate, or hyperbolate information for purposes of promotion or entertainment.
We shall strictly adhere to editing standards that assure that packaged reports are journalistically sound and absent sweetening, devolvement, or dramatization.
We shall replace sound bites and out-of-context quotations with images and/or commentary that more fully and accurately describes the actions, events or statements of persons or witnesses.
We shall exploit the television medium in all its power to communicate the information, ideas and events of the world around us as fully and accurately as is practicable.
We individually and collectively pledge to be accurate, fair and transparent in news gathering, editing, production, programs, and media.
We shall not express our personal opinions except as part of clearly identified discussion programs, or commentary segments.
We pledge to focus exclusively on substance, issues that matter, to the exclusion of the incidental or trivial.
We shall cover every political candidate’s positions as clearly and effectively as possible without becoming in any way involved in the minutiae, or horse-race speculation.
We shall not substitute polling for news, nor shall we in any way suggest or advocate that any poll is either probative or reliable.