The truth hurts

EMBARKING on employment as a cadet journalist more than a decade before Andrew Bolt (“When glory beats truth”, 8/9), I was told by a senior colleague: “Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story”.

His admonition that it’s better to adopt a sense of amusement rather than abuse towards media celebrities now seems so axiomatic, it’s truly alarming.

Maybe as youngsters in journalism we were all deluded by believing in “the truth business”, but realistically, truth has usually been perceived, if not often regarded, as a focus of individual perspective and possibly even self-censorship.

The truth can be very complex and confusing as well as difficult to discern, with sadly too many journalists simply uninterested in investing time and effort in trying to discover it.

That “you can be proved wrong but still get to keep awards” seems a tragic indictment of journalism now.