So injurious were the scandals, in fact, that I left San Francisco with one group s examination of lessons from a year s worth of lapses. The Freedom Forum report was presented as a wake-up call in hopes that we would return home with a renewed sense of mission to pursue accuracy in the interest of credibility. Credibility has always been the most important quality of newspapers, and I returned home believing it will become even more important. Never before in this Internet age have so many had the ability to send so much information so quickly. Anyone with computer access can transmit to anyone else with access.
Millions can build sites that offer up fact and fallacy alike.
Our readers are seeking credibility and authority. They violated fundamental standards like those codified in ASNE s Statement of Principles. We rely on such principles and traditions. But every day s paper is published with a sense of mission, standing on the journalistic traditions of building credibility and honing reader trust.