If they gave their emotions free rein, the report would not be broadcast. Rather than being a factual picture of what happened, it would be a mere one- sided lament. The editor in chief would reject it without hesitation for being biased, unbalanced, partial; for adopting one point of view while ignoring others; for lacking objectivity; for being unprofessional… and, therefore, for being unfaithful to the truth. Impartiality is essential. To give the full picture, we need to present both the torturer and the victim, without taking either side. This preserves the audience’s freedom to form their own opinion, having
seen all sides of the story. Presenting all sides of the story is the essential guarantee of presenting the truth. Only thus does media gain credibility. Only thus does it achieve its proper purpose: to inform the public and, therefore, to empower them - “knowledge is power.” I do not say the ‘whole truth’, simply because it cannot be ‘the truth’ unless it is whole. Certainly ‘truth’ here cannot refer to the ‘absolute truth’ discussed by philosophers, but it does mean the factual truth. Similarly, the impartiality of which I speak concerns news coverage, not other types of reports and programmes, in which this is less of a constraint.
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