Audience
“Loving the truth, which is fundamental for all of us but especially for journalists; living with professionalism, something which goes far beyond rules and regulations; and respecting human dignity, which is much more difficult than one might think at first sight”. These are the three indications that Pope Francis gave to the representatives of the Italian journalists whom he received in audience this morning. “Loving the truth – he pointed out – means not only affirming it, but rather living it, bearing witness to it in your work. That is, living and working while at the same time showing coherence with respect to the words that you use in a certain newspaper article or TV show”. “The issue here – he highlighted – is not that of being or not being a believer”. “The issue here is being or not being honest with yourself and with others”. Although “it is not always easy to get to the truth”, or at least to “get as close as possible to it”, and in journalism too, it is necessary to know how to discern between the shades of grey in the events you are called upon to narrate”, the “difficult and at the same time necessary” “mission” of a journalist is to “arrive as close as possible to the truth of facts and never to say or write something that we know, in our conscience, to be untrue”.
