"News may be true but it is not the truth, and reporter and officials seldom see it the same way" (James Reston, journalist).

The first 200 words of this essay...

"News may be true but it is not the truth, and reporter and officials seldom see it the same way" (James Reston, journalist)

In modern society, journalists have a responsibility as public watchdogs. It is the role of the media to report facts in an objective and unbiased manner. But reporters are only human and one person's perception of the truth may not be the same for everyone.

Mark Twain once stated:

"If you don't read the newspaper, you are uninformed; if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed."1

People cannot simply accept what the media has to say as the truth, but must read between the lines to detect any bias or infliction of political agenda.

Journalist Rabbi Shagra Simmons identifies seven "violations of media objectivity"2 which I will look at as a basis for investigation into how true the "truth" portrayed in newspapers and through broadcast news really is.

The first of these violations outlined by Simmons is the use of misleading definitions and terminology.

This can include changing the wording of a story to give more or less impact from a story.