The Ideal Journalist
In this section we will publish each week a simple remark or a piece of advice… concerning idealism in journalistic work.
The ideal journalist is a neutral person, who does not show bias…
He has no beloved people whom he praises no matter how much they do wrong, just as he does not consider some to be enemies whom he criticizes no matter how much they do good, hiding their virtues from people and preventing their publication…
The ideal journalist is owned by all. He does not represent a particular angle or a special group; rather, he is a public man. And for this reason he gains everyone’s appreciation.
The biased journalist is not on the side of truth. He has his readers and he has his enemies. And people look at his news from this angle. Everyone knows that it represents only a point of view, and that it does not represent pure, neutral truth, absolute truth.
When people read the news or articles of a biased journalist, they say: certainly the other point of view has a response to this talk.
Thus the man loses people’s trust, and his word loses its strength. And it is weighed only next to the reply to it.
The biased journalist may try to defend himself, claiming that he is neutral and not biased. But his words always expose him.
The reader has his intelligence and sensitivity, and can uncover the biased from the neutral without effort.
An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – in Al-Keraza Magazine – Sixth Year – Issue Forty-Two – 10-10-1975 AD
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