Corroding public trust

Charles Lipson writes,

Editors may have their own slant on which stories matter most. The left cares more about income inequality and cheating corporations; the right, more about high taxes, bad regulations, and government overreach. But whatever the stories, we expect them to be truthful.

...Brian Williams was shredding his job description when he made up false, first-person accounts of events and reported them as actual news. He should not be put on “temporary leave” and quietly eased out. He should be publicly fired for cause. The problem is not just that he harmed the “NBC brand,” though he surely did. The problem is that he violated a reporter’s basic responsibility to tell the truth. His mistake wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment one, which might be forgiven after a sincere apology. He repeated a deliberately false narrative multiple times and added newly-fabricated details as he went along. Williams’ transgression hurts all reputable news organizations because it corrodes public trust in reporting.

...When reporters forfeit their credibility by making up stories, sources, or quotes, we are right to mock them. When their violations are significant or repeated, they should be fired. That’s what happened to Jayson Blair at the New York Times and Stephen Glass at the New Republic. When the Washington Post discovered its reporter, Janet Cooke, had fabricated her most important story, she had to pick up her severance pay and return her Pulitzer Prize. Demanding honest reporting has nothing to do with the reporter's politics, personality, or personal life. It is about professional standards and our reasonable expectations. As viewers, readers, and democratic citizens, we must be able to distinguish between Walter Mitty and Walter Cronkite, between the Onion and the NBC Nightly News. It’s essential for our news organizations, and it matters for our democracy.

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