Impartiality and Truth in Media
Where, then, are those overflowing emotions that were mentioned above? Here, in this book, we find them wonderfully depicted. The writers of these accounts have revealed what had been stored up in their memories over years of doing their work with strict professionalism, never crumbling in the face of heart-breaking human situations. These indomitable journalists kept up the highest standards of professionalism without losing their humanity. As I read these texts, I was bowled over by their authors’ courage and compassion. Their courage let them face wars and natural disasters and the like in order to bring the truth to Al Jazeera’s audience, but it does not numb their deeply felt emotions and their warm sympathy for the victims. This “professional courage”, deeply rooted in their human conscience, is firm yet tender. These authors, along with many others who have not contributed to this book but have faced similar challenges, deserve a world prize for humanitarian/journalistic heroism. I am deeply proud to be part of the organisation to which they belong, where we believe that “Working at Al Jazeera is not merely a job, it’s a mission.” These authors have, of course, broadcast and produced many stories showing their overflowing sympathy with the victims of such tragedies. Such stories have created sympathy among others, resulting in significant philanthropic aid to the victims. Such stories, however, were produced not as part of news coverage of the event, but as part of other types of media content, in particular feature stories.
“Al Jazeera is on the side of humanity” – this is the motto that Al Jazeera upholds in all of its work. It stays on the side of humanity by always trying to present the truth as it is, without distortion or spin. It works to expose corruption and fake news by revealing the truth. Impartiality, for Al Jazeera, means neither more nor less than complete adherence to the truth. Adhering to this sound premise, its only bias is towards humanity. Al Jazeera thus seeks to empower humanity by providing knowledge in as much detail as possible, believing that people armed with knowledge have the right to choose and the tools to make choices. That is why tyrants and corrupt officials attack Al Jazeera and spend so much money and time on demonising it. Their open war on Al Jazeera is a war against the truth. One cannot be silent about them, or impartial towards them; for “when the truth is under attack, impartiality is high treason”.
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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