In our Journalism Ethics class this morning we were asked this question, what is "truth"?
I guess the question is very much relevant because we are "future journalists", as what we often call ourselves. As journalists, we strive for the truth, we want the truth.
Truth is the guiding principle of journalism. But how much of what we are reporting is true? What is truth?
Our instructor told us to give our definition of the word TRUTH and I wrote, "Truth is an idea that is never absolute. It is subjective and depends on a person's perception of things. Something is true (for me) if I believe in it or if I have substantial facts to support it."
As I think about the subject, it dawned on me that truth never really exists. Truth is not true. Its there but its not there. There is no truth in this world. Everything is an opinion. We define things the way we see it which means that there is a possibility that our definition might be or might not be right. I mean, its something that would not exist if you don't put a name on it.
Its like colors, we know that the sky is blue because we were told that the particular color we are seeing is blue. Right? What if nobody put a name on it? What if nobody defined it as blue? Will we know that its blue? We see the chair as a chair because we conditioned our mind that what we are seeing is a chair, if we haven't seen a chair our whole life it would be nothing but a piece of wood.
When you testify in court you take an oath and say that what you are going to say is the truth and nothing but the truth. But is it? Truth depends on how we see things and perceive things. And that varies. So how are we going to tell the truth and nothing but the truth? I mean we can only say the truth the way we see it, and it might not be right at all.
Truth is the ultimate abstract. Intangible and simply undefined.
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1 comment:
If you step in front of a car moving 20 mph today or next week, the result is repeatable and predictable injury. This is truth. This is a fact. The resulting injuries may vary but the laws of physics are a measurable and permanent truth.
How I feel ot think about the car or injuries are relative. But the physical facts--water turns into snow or ice at certain temp. or other physical fact are the closest thing we have to perfect truth.
See our web site http:www.stinkyjournalism.org. We do case studies that look at holding the media accountable for telling the truth. If someone used Photoshop and created a fake photo the media outlet ethcially should tell the truth--the fact that the photo is fake. But sadly they often don't admit their errors or wrongdoing. Our program is based on determining facts and holding media accountable for telling the truth about them.
Why give up your blogging ...you have a voice and people will hear and respond to you.
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