BBC Journalist To Colleagues: “Report More Honestly”

John Simpson, BBC World Affairs Editor, told the Churches Media Conference that the media needs to “report more honestly” and regain a moral sense. “We are at a stage in British journalism where any sense of a moral context is starting to vanish. If things are going to improve, we have got to get back to that. The answer is more honesty – and this could be said for every aspect of public life – but journalism in particular needs to report more honestly.” He pointed to the tabloids as an example of effective but amoral journalism. “Newspapers – particularly tabloids – prize mere efficiency. The tabloids are extremely efficient and will regularly spew out stories about people’s personal lives which are either not true but heavily misinterpreted. But at its heart is a complete vacuum of a moral sense. It doesn’t matter what the story is.” Read more here.