Does Truth Matter?

By Emma Lopez

In today’s contentious political world, where skepticism, doubt, and charges of out-and-out lying are thrown at every source of information, some people question whether truth matters, or if there really is just one truth.

This is dangerous to our democracy, as it makes it vulnerable to corrupt politicians and even fascist powers who can hide their intentions and their machinations to seize power behind a wall of overwhelming public distrust.

This makes the work of good professional journalists more important than ever. And their reputation as a credible source is equally important and must be protected by the way they operate.

Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth. The dedication to truth is what separates journalism from propaganda and entertainment. It is this pursuit of truth that matters. If journalists are not found to be pursuing the truth, then they lose credibility.

However, it’s important to recognize that the truth being reported by journalists is relative to the social context. It is different than the black and white truth of a simple math equation.

Journalists Should Be Held to Reachable Standards

People in other professions are given reachable standards of truth. Teachers strive to provide their students with honest lessons. Honest scientists strive to find unbiased results from their experiments. Journalists should also be held to reachable standards, not unattainable higher standards.

The main goal of professional journalists is to give citizens enough information to make up their own minds. Mere accuracy is not what the public needs. A free society needs the information to be coherent enough so that it can be easily understood by everyone.

Putting the information into meaningful context can make it vulnerable to claims of it being untrustworthy. Journalists must use their intuition and common sense, which some might see as blurring the lines surrounding truth. However, it’s just as important for citizens to use their intuition and common sense to seek out and identify credible sources of information.

It is this pursuit of the truth by both professional journalists and citizens that matters, because in the end, the truth matters.