I look around my newsroom and the Internet and watch and listen and read and I fear greatly for the future of my beloved profession of journalism.

There is so much to remind my colleagues, both mainstream and amateur. So much to warn against.

For instance, the freedom to speak, to write, to report on events of the day is not absolute and must never be absolute.

For the hallmarks of ethical journalism, however it's delivered, are accuracy, responsibility and accountability.

And accuracy, responsibility and accountability do not appear to be high on the list of priorities for the Twitters, Facebooks, MySpaces, blogs and fervid “citizen journalists” of this anarchistic new Internet world.

Instead, personal opinion is taking over in both mainstream and Internet journalism.

This means it’s up to the next generation of journalists, whether professional or otherwise, to rescue ethical journalism from chaos and its inevitable consequence — a deeply damaged, perhaps destroyed, democracy.

To do that, we all have to do a lot better in the area that matters most of all — being, and being seen to be, in public service — than we’ve done in recent years.                               

It is demanded of all ethical journalists that, in our communication of information, we put the people’s interests before either our own or those of the powerful.

Our first loyalty is not to our employer, union, nation or cause.

Our first loyalty is and must be to the truth. To serve the people — and the people’s democratic right to honest, accurate and reasonably balanced information.


(Samantha Jones is the nom de plume of a Canadian TV journalist who's memoir "My Life In The Great Sexual Window" is published on www.Lulu.com and Amazon.)