Please read these two comments on the role and purpose of the press and media. “It is a newspaper’s duty to print the news and raise hell”—Wilbur Fisk Storey, publisher The Chicago Times, 1861. “A legitimate journalist is someone who throws tomatoes at the powers-that-be, constantly”—Filipino freelance writer, 2020.
Mr. Storey was a staunch supporter of the US Democratic Party and backed its candidate Stephen A. Douglas in the 1860 presidential election won by Abraham Lincoln. Storey became particularly interested in “raising hell” after Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation that changed the legal status under federal law of more than 3.5 million enslaved African Americans in the secessionist Confederate states whom “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”
When Storey died in 1884, one obituary from a rival newspaper read: “He was without conscience, without any sense of propriety, had no regard for morality, decency, or the good name of any living creature in his desire to give ‘the news.’”
As to our local journalist, this person became extremely interested in throwing tomatoes after the 2016 Philippine presidential election. Until then, apparently the powers-that-be were doing an admirable job at least in the mind of a “legitimate journalist.”
In times of increased and intensified national concerns—whether war, political upheaval, or as now a critical health crisis—the press and media have a crucial role to play informing the public. Even then some hell raising and tomato throwing is necessary and beneficial to the nation and the people.
Every member of the BusinessMirror staff—as with all other newspapers and media outlets—has his or her own views, prejudices, political and social biases, and personal agenda as to how the world should be. Yet our founder Ambassador Antonio Cabangon-Chua made it crystal clear from the first day that this newspaper is a public trust. While press freedom is absolute in that we can say whatever we wish to say, we as journalists were told we had the obligation and responsibility to tell the truth as honestly and factually as possible.
The opinion section is reserved for opinion. You may notice that at times our editorial journalist may be at odds with our cartoon journalist. One opinion columnist may completely disagree with another on exactly the same topic, perhaps even in the same issue.
However, when justified, we strive to raise hell and throw tomatoes regardless of who might be deserving of our disapproval. Certainly, sometimes we do not reach the high standard that we strive for but that does not keep us from trying even more to reach our founder’s goal.
Why is this so important? Once again another study of attitudes toward the press conducted by Knight Foundation and Gallup released last week shows that nearly half of all Americans describe the news media as “very biased.” That is probably true for the Philippines also.
The study found 73 percent of Americans feel that too much bias in news reports is a major problem, up from 65 percent two years ago.
John Sands, director of learning and impact at the Knight Foundation: “Our concern is that when half of Americans have some sort of doubt about the veracity of the news they consume, it’s going to be impossible for our democracy to function.” We agree.