Dealing with Journalist's principles and responsibilities

Reading chapters 14 and 15, I found a few issues that are important for journalists to follow....

One of the first issues I looked at was the need for accuracy. In our book, it says "at a bare minimum, accuracy means getting the facts straight." To me, it's one of if not the most important thing you can do as a journalist.

To have a real story, you have to make sure your facts are correct and not just something made up. Getting the source to state their name, age, profession and title is a start. The book states the best way to make sure your facts are straight is to check information obtained from interviews against original sources. A reporter should never assume anything, and if you have to double check and triple check things, it's always better to do that then just assume things are correct.

Another issue of importance is linking to source materials. When comparing online material to traditional news formats, linking to source materials is a way to lead readers to the conclusions that a reporter comes to. It's just another way to connect everything in a story and give it some more background as well as making it more of a well-rounded story.

And the last one that I came across was being forthright about mistakes. Dr. Lieb mentions that despite the best intentions, a journalist might make an error that could potentially be libelous. It's truly important to retract a statement as soon as possible, so as to not get yourself in trouble. It would be harder for the offended party to prove actual malice. Important to note is that retractions should be frank, and should dispel any idea of possible reckless disregard for the truth. The libelous material should never be reprinted.