Media has a duty to be rigorous
Leaks, manipulations, lies and misinformation should sound alarm bells for society and journalists, writes Trevor Manuel
The important question that confronts us has to be how, in the space of less than a generation, have we descended from the lofty heights of a nation held up by the world as a beacon of success to what we have become. What is the responsibility of each of us — the politicians and the electorate, the employers and the workers, the trade unionists, the priests and the congregations, students and teachers, writers and readers? How do we conduct ourselves when we are not instructed? Or what do we do when we think nobody is looking? What can we get away with when there appear to be no consequences? How far are we prepared to slip? Let us start that conversation in earnest — not to admonish the media in general, but to open a conversation about who we are or ought to be. In the past few decades, the focus of editors has increasingly shifted away from editorial to commercial success. Increased pressures on the bottom line have seen newsrooms, not only in this country, but across the world, ...
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