Editorial: Walter William’s Journalist’s Creed
By Kate Austin
11/19/08
Editorial: Walter William’s Journalist’s Creed
“I believe that a journalist should write only what he holds in his heart to be true,” this, written by the first dean of the Missouri School of Journalism Walter Williams, is one glitch in “The Journalist’s Creed.”
It is true that to write effectively, a journalist must believe in the cause; they must be devoted to the good of the public and of the world and that must resonate in the core of their being, the heart. But, a journalist’s opinions will not always be aligned with the news that they must report. To believe something in one’s heart is to hold it as the truth, but the heart is linked to emotion and therefore to personal truth over worldly and objective truth.
This line of “The Journalist’s Creed” would better read, “I believe that a journalist should write only what is true.” Passion and heart for their work should lie within the journalist and their devotion to report the truth, but the ultimate truth will not always be what they feel in their heart to be true.
The one other part of the creed that would be better off altered is in the final section. It is telling of the time in which Walter William wrote “The Journalist’s Creed,” but does not withstand the acceptance of differences that the idealistic today holds. It reads, “I believe that the journalism which succeeds best – and best deserves success – fears God and honors Man.”
In the world today where many people from differing religions practice journalism and are successful reporters, there is no need for good journalism to be God-fearing. In no way does this apply to the worth of the writing itself.
The completion of the final segment of the creed holds many important criteria for successful journalism, “independent, unmoved by pride of opinion or greed of power, constructive, tolerant but never careless” and others, therefore it would be beneficial to take out the God-fearing criteria to better encompass the differences of faith in people of the world.
