[Vision2020] Journalistic integrity

[Dale Courtney]

Greg writes: 
>   Further, the "journalistic integrity" slug to this thread 
> is a red herring. The New York Times incident was about 
> integrity and ethics, this seems more like quibbling.

Greg, 

I encourage you to read the AP's "Code of Ethics":
http://www.apme.com/about/code_ethics.shtml

Under accuracy, it reads: "The newspaper should guard against inaccuracies,
carelessness, bias or distortion through emphasis, omission or technological
manipulation. It should acknowledge substantive errors and correct them
promptly and prominently."

In this case, Alford missed every one of these points: 

1. Inaccuracies abound -- First, the History Conference is not, nor has it
ever been, about slavery. See:
http://www.christkirk.com/HistoryConferences/9thHistoryConference/Topics.asp
. Second, there has never been any intent to give a defense of slavery. And
finally, it is not a UI conference.

2. Carelessness (taking an anonymous, inflammatory flier as truth!)

3. Omission -- instead of presenting all of the details, only the most
sensational were printed. Alford decided to print the other half 4 days
later (he told me so on the phone). 

4. The errors *still* have not been acknowledged or retracted. Do you not
think that a head-line article that says a slavery conference will be held
in Moscow in February (when it's not *about* slavery at all) is not a
substantive error? 

5. Bias or distortion -- you'll have to decide for yourself if they were not
trying to spin this. If not, they should be jumping at the opportunity to
correct their mistakes. Since they are not...

Best,
Dale