“A free press is essential to a healthy democracy. There is a purpose to journalism, and it is not just to entertain. It is not to pander to political power, big corporations and rich men. Newspapers have what amounts in the end to a constitutional duty to tell their readers the truth.”
So said Peter Oborne, the former chief political correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, on his resignation from that paper following its fraudulent coverage of the recent HSBC tax dodging scandal. As Oborne, pointed out, the biggest losers were the Telegraph readers: a leading UK newspaper had abdicated its responsibility to tell the truth about an issue of vital public concern. He added: “If major newspapers allow corporations to influence their content for fear of losing advertising revenue, democracy itself is in peril”.
