List ranks print journalists low on trust, ethics

We blush with embarrassment to report to you that print journalists are way down the list on "honesty and ethical standards" in a recent Gallup Poll.

The poll found that 5 percent of those sampled gave newspaper reporters very high scores for honesty, 16 percent high, 50 percent average, and 28 percent low or very low.

The highest rated profession was nurses, followed by teachers, people who run small businesses, military officers, and police officers.

Poor people and protestant ministers ranked above print journalists, as did doctors, accountants and professional athletes. Even rich people made the cut over print journalists.

So why this level of distrust over the ethics and honesty of print journalists?

There could be several answers.

What print journalists do is very permanent. The printed written word is saved, sometimes from generation to generation.

Unlike television journalists (who ranked above us, by the way), print journalists leave an indelible mark because our work isn't gone at the end of the latest newscast.

And as a rule, print journalists tend to cover issues that upset people on one side or the other.

It's pretty hard for television to air a rousing segment on TennCare, affordable housing or homelessness. Actually, it's pretty hard to do that in a newspaper too, but we digress.

So on any given issue, half the population may perceive that a reporter didn't represent their side satisfactorily and is, therefore, ethically suspect.

Since the vast majority of those being sampled in polls have probably not had direct contact with a print reporter, it's probable that their opinions are based more on perception that actual experience.

But there is some reason for those who have come face-to-face with a reporter to question their honesty and ethics.

In some schools of hard knocks, reporters are raised to be confrontational and cynical. In some cases, reporters do come to a story with a preconceived opinion.

We hate to admit that, but in all honesty, it's true.

We pledge at The City Paper to earn your trust and confidence. Maybe we can do better on the list next year.