September 7 1998

ARTICLE TOOLS

Find similar articles E-mail this page

As we write this, the Brenda Starr comic strip is featuring an Internet-rumormonger-turned-journalist named Ratt Sludge. Like most of her real-life counterparts, our high-minded heroine is appalled at the way gossip now masquerades as reporting, and the pursuit of circulation and ratings these days trumps the pursuit of truth.

Brenda Starr has a point. Americans have plenty to be worried about as journalistic irresponsibility has grabbed headlines on the front pages, stimulated self-flagellation and self-righteousness on the editorial pages, and, yes, spawned satire on the comic pages.

• The Cincinnati Enquirer in June published a front-page apology to Chiquita Brands because one of its reporters had allegedly stolen thousands of messages from the banana firm's voice-mail system.
• CNN and Time, also in June, conceded they did not have adequate proof to back up a lengthy report alleging that the U.S. military had used deadly sarin nerve gas to kill American defectors in Laos during the Vietnam War. Correspondent Peter Arnett got his hands slapped. Two producers got fired.
• The Boston Globe, earlier this year, apologized after one of its most popular columnists admitted to having fictionalized people and quotes.
• The New Republic owned up to multiple fabrications and fantasies on the part of a young hotshot writer.

One such trespass might be the result of an individual, irresponsible, rogue reporter. But this epidemic of journalistic felonies (violation of privacy, fraud, unsubstantiated allegations) is evidence of something bigger: The practice of reporting the news has lost its moorings in telling the truth, plainly and simply.

In 1996, the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) overhauled its ethics statement, ...