I watched Runaway Bride the other day (dont JUDGE me!). In it Richard Gere is a journalist and he relays the story of the runaway bride (Julia Roberts) for his paper. But he doesnt fact check and writes about how shes a man eater, left men at the altar 7 times... etc. She finds out and writes a letter back to the editor in rebuttal. The editor calls Richard into her office and says, You broke the first rule of journalism... You didnt check your source so youre fired. At that point I was like OMG! Does FOX know about this rule of journalism??? So then the editor PRINTS Julias rebuttal and posts a retraction next to the rebuttal, along with a note that the journalist responsible was FIRED. So the whole rest of the movie is Richard attempting to learn the real story about Julia and falling in love with her... blah blah blah. I cant help but think if this movie was about Todd Starnes it would end with Julia writing a rebuttal. The journalist wasnt fired, the rebuttal wasnt posted... The retraction wasnt made. The movie ends with Julia sending an angry letter. Maybe it would flash ahead a few months where Julias man eating, 7 times at the altar is used as an example as to why American is going to hell in a hand basket. Thankfully the first rule of journalism is alive and well for every other journalism outlet. You will often hear about journalists and editors fired because they broke that rule. But it must be horrible for them to see that ONE place where no matter how many times they break the rule they still keep their job. Looking up first rule of journalism you will find it boils down to Dont lie. Second rule, Dont slander/libel. Third rule, Dont be an asshole.
Posted on: Sat, 08 Feb 2014 18:43:00 +0000
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