- Oct 9, 2006
- 22,755
- 29,515
- AFL Club
- Hawthorn
- Other Teams
- Super Tottenham....from the Lane.
Funnily enough if you go back to the Collingwood board, I defended his right to write the drug story back in March. I copped mega abuse for that. Even thought I think he is far more hit and miss than Caro could ever be. Once again, the way to make your point is to challenge their facts and debate their opinions.
But I stand by their right to write their stories and to every so often get them wrong because if you don't have the press probing, questioning, challenging the institutions, then you get what you deserve. So if someone wanted to drown any journo for being the 'enemy' of the ol boys club, then I'd tell them to go forth and multiply too. The press should be encouraged to do what they do freely here. There are enough mechanisms to keep them relatively on the straight and narrow including the threat to tenure and legal implications.
I absolutely believe in freedom of the press. The only proviso for me (and I might need to go back to the 1950's) is that they don't lie and that their facts check out before anything is committed to being published. Or, the piece is clearly marked as an opinion piece. Having lived in the UK I can tell you that their press is disgusting. The "journalists" there quite literally publish whatever they like without ramification. If you need evidence of how dangerous this can be and the subject matter interests you then have a look at how the Sun (UK) reported the Hillsborough Disaster in 1989. The fallout from the disgusting lies told by the Sun are still being felt today.
And that is why I believe that journalists must before anything else, behave with integrity. It is not good enough to be close enough or to take an educated guess.