st and the public he or she serves. The stronger that foundation, the stronger the ties between writer and reader. But that strong foundation is rarely obvious to the reader, or for that matter the writer. Ethics almost always remain in the background, usually only becoming evident when there is a problem (ôEthics Essayö).
Politics is a sensitive topic that few news media seem able to report with complete objectivity. The temptation to sway public opinion and affect politics is too great for many journalists, who do it with impunity and without apparent regard for the consequences of employing the mass media for personal aggrandizement or to satisfy personal political objectives. Newspapers that report political stories as news should be scrupulously unbiased, exercising their persuasive power through sheer facts except in OpEd pieces. News should be clearly labeled as news; opinion should be clearly identified as opinion. Any ev
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