“So,” writes former Associated Press staffer and author Robert Mims. “the Vatican has weighed in on the growing scandal with media mogul Rupert Murdock’s News of the World cell phone hacking scandal. The Holy See’s newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, opines that its high time the news media to adopt what His Holiness has termed “info-ethics.”

“I heartily agree,” writes Mims, “as a veteran journalist who has watched my profession’s once-unassailable dedication to balance and fairness shredded over the years.

“But let’s also be brutally honest: We are in a time when what is covered, and how it is covered is increasingly determined not by news value but the number of “hits” or “page views” a story might get on the Web …”

CLICK HERE to read more

More from Beliefnet and our partners
Close Ad