Suppose you take a pillow full of goose down, climb to the tallest belfry in town and whilst ringing the bell loudly, scatter the feathers into the wind. Then, after a day or so, try and get them back into the pillow. Can’t be done. Gossip or innuendo published as NEWS by a large newspaper or broadcast network is like those goose feathers scattered all over town.

The Right of Reply Bill appears to be headed for the garbage heap as even the Palace has hinted at a veto. But I think there really is a problem involving the element of FAIR PLAY in our mass media that the bill’s supporters are rightfully calling attention to, but are wrong-headedly trying to solve with absurdly draconian or simply impossible measures. It is a seriously mistaken notion anyway that a private or public person could effectively reply to and combat the effects of innuendo packaged in a banner headline with a mere reply of the same length; that one could contain the malicious gossip incorporated into what appears to be a serious breaking national news story; unfair or skewed reporting on so-called “news talk radio”; and the other measures that seek to give equal access to the public, including public officials, to the vast resources of the Mass Media.

The proposition here is that all stories sold by the commercial mass media as NEWS ought to be labelled as such, and by-lined by a licensed professional journalist who is governed by legally-binding Code of Ethics. Just like doctors, dentists, nurses, xray technicians, the professionals who report the NEWS are helping the Public diagnose the illnesses of their society and government by passing on truthful and timely information about what is going on. Just like those critical service workers, journalists who purport to report NEWS ought to be tested, licensed and regulated.

By way of definition, a licensed professional journalist is one who is legally authorized to write NEWS articles for the commercial mass media, much like a licensed surgeon is required to perform heart bypass operations at a privately-owned and operated hospital. Below is a bare bones law that would govern licensed professional journalists who are entitled to write commercial news stories. I would appreciate comments on this proposed legislation to be administered by the Professional Regulatory Commission.

Section 1. Licensed professional journalists shall scrupulously report and interpret the news, taking care not to suppress essential facts or to distort the truth by omission or improper emphasis. Licensed professional journalists recognize the duty to air the other side and the duty to correct substantive errors promptly.

Section 2. Licensed professional journalists shall not violate confidentiality of information given to them by their sources.

Section 3. Licensed professional journalists shall resort only to fair and honest methods in the effort to obtain news, photographs and/or documents, and shall properly identify themselves as representatives of the press when obtaining any personal interview intended for publication.

Section 4. Licensed professional journalists shall refrain from writing reports that will adversely affect a private reputation unless the public interest justifies it. At the same time, Licensed professional journalists shall fight vigorously for public access to information.

Section 5. Licensed professional journalists shall not let personal motives or interests influence the performance of duties, nor shall they accept or offer any present, gift or other consideration of a nature that may cast doubt on professional integrity.

Section 6. Licensed professional journalists shall not commit any act of plagiarism.

Section 7. Licensed professional journalists shall not, in any manner, ridicule, cast aspersions on, or degrade any person by reason of sex, creed, religious belief, political conviction, cultural and ethnic origin.

Section 8. Licensed professional journalists shall presume persons accused of crime of being innocent until proven otherwise. Licensed professional journalists shall exercise caution in publishing names of minors and women involved in criminal cases so that they may not unjustly lose their standing in society.

Section 9. Licensed professional journalists shall not take unfair advantage of a fellow journalist.

Section 10. Licensed professional journalists shall accept only such tasks as are compatible with the integrity and dignity of the profession, invoking the “conscience clause” when duties imposed on me conflict with the voice of conscience.

Section 11. Licensed professional journalists shall conduct themselves in public or while performing duties as journalist in such manner as to maintain the dignity of the profession. When in doubt, decency should be the watchword.

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