Long before I became a capitalist and had to do people's appraisals I've been dismayed about the infantile ultra leftism of the National Union of Journalists. I resigned over their stance on Northern Ireland and now I notice they are now advocating a boycott of Israel. Please.
One journalist has pointed out already that such resolutions seem to go against some of the core ethics of journalism that we are here to protect, such as balance and objectivity. I don't think any representative body of journalists should be taking a side.
See here and here for more of the same.
It also seems to clash with point 3 of the NUJ's code of conduct:
A journalist shall strive to ensure that the information he/she disseminates is fair and accurate, avoid the expression of comment and conjecture as established fact and falsification by distortion, selection or misrepresentation.
And in the midst of this terribly complex and often dangerous conflict I don't believe that it's the Israelis that have kidnapped BBC journalist Alan Johnston.
Hat tip: Norm
1 comment:
Michael,
90% of the blog entries and comments tie in with what you say.
You either have to boycott everyone that the union members believe does not live up to their moral standards _ China over Tibet, Russia over Chechnya, US over Guantanamo Bay, Palestinian Authority over restrictions in reporting and failure to be more proactive in freeing Alan Johnston - or no one.
But with another round of redundancies at the MEN for instance and the changes in online journalism, surely the union should have its hands full fighting for its members
Rob
Artisan
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