buckworks - 9:52 pm on Dec 8, 2011 (gmt 0)

Journalism does not need to be balanced or fair

On my planet it does.

Accuracy on its own is not enough.

The defense to defamation is the truth.

It's not always that simple.

It's entirely possible to present facts which are true in themselves but which nonetheless create a seriously distorted impression of something.

Suppose I wrote a story which reported that Tangor had grabbed a woman, picked her up bodily and carried her out of the room screaming. She was later treated for extensive injuries, and the police were looking for Tangor.

Would you consider it sufficient for good journalism that everything I said was true and could be verified?

How would a story like that affect Tangor's reputation? If he had in fact done everything I said he did, would he deserve to have people start thinking he was some kind of thug?

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Is it okay for me to leave out the fact that Tangor was carrying the woman out of a burning building, at great risk to his own safety?