The Primary Obligation of Journalism is to be Truthful

The Primary Obligation of Journalism is to be Truthful
Ethical Perspective
Scientific communication refers to the dissemination of information covering topics related to science. Through communication, scientific communicators seek to achieve several objectives. These objectives include increasing the public’s excitement and interest in science (Besley et al., 2017). Similarly, they seek to enhance understanding and perceptions and demonstrate listening and caring. In addition, they seek to influence how people make decisions regarding scientific issues in society. They also seek to show that societal well-being is a significant interest of the scientific community. To comprehensively achieve these objectives, communicators should embrace several key ethical practices. This is because ethical communication scales up human worth and dignity (Medvecky & Leach, 2017). Some of the ethical norms that science communicators should embrace include being accurate and truthful. Of equal importance, they should observe accountability, the harm limitation principle, and the principle of independence, among others.
Being truthful as a science communicator is profoundly important since truthfulness is a fundamental principle in communication, and especially journalism. As a matter of fact, the primary obligation of journalism is to be truthful (Govaert et al., 2019). This means that all journalists should desist from deceiving their audience through fabrications and unverifiable information. However, to become more popular, some journalists decorate their articles with untruthful information. Consequently, this significantly compromises the level of trust bestowed on journalists and their reputation once the truth gets out. For science communicators to maintain high levels of truth and accuracy, they must use credible sources. As such, they must take time to critically analyze and verify those sources and the information they entail. In this regard, and according to Medvecky and Leach (2017), one of the science communication norms suggests that scientific claims should only be accepted after being critically examined and tested. In a word, all scientific journalists who hope to consolidate their reputation must uphold truthfulness and accuracy in all their works.
The harm limitation principle is another critical ethical practice that science communicators should always embrace. This principle dictates that communicators must weigh the public's need for particular information against the potential harm that would result from making the information public (Medvecky & Leach, 2017). Information can be deemed harmful to the public if it is fake and misleading. It will be a great disservice to the public if the information they access is not factual. This is because the misinformation may lead them to make wrong decisions. Just as important, scientific journalists must carefully weigh the psychological impact that their articles may have on the public. Ethical journalists, in this regard, and despite the gains involved, must prioritize the welfare of their readers before releasing information.
Further, scientific journalists must exercise the principle of independence in their line of duty. This principle, in essence, means tha...