With #coronavirus #COVID19, journalism confronts a historic challenge. It's a matter of life and death. More than ever, therefore, journalists have an obligation to inform the public accurately and responsibly. More than ever, people need trustworthy information. 1/6
Put it another way: the requirements of readers and viewers must come first. Nothing else matters – not politics, not agendas, not rivalries, not sales, not clicks, not old scores, not careers. Because getting it wrong may kill. 2/6
This does *not* mean that journalists should slavishly promote government policy. Even if that policy was in line with consensus it would have to be questioned. But given that UK policy is aberrant in international terms, journalists must force ministers to justify it. 3/ 6
Whether ministers can or can not justify their policy convincingly is a matter for readers to judge and for opinion writers to opine about. It is not fit subject matter for speculation by news reporters or those producing instant tweets. 4/6
As for dodgy sourcing ('a senior government source' etc), it is almost never appropriate, but when so many lives are at stake it is monstrous and shameful. Journalists need to be rigorously clear to their readers and viewers who is saying what, and on what authority. 5/6
Like everyone else, journalists make mistakes. They deserve some slack. But remember, they also tend to be intolerant of the mistakes of others. The fair thing is to hold them to the standards they would apply to you if you got something so important wrong. 6/6
