Freedom from bias

It’s ironic that we are discussing freedom from bias when the stand Thomson Reuters is taking as a company is to declare that it supports legislation that will allow it to treat all its employees equally, regardless of sexual orientation. Thomson Reuters is not alone among companies with news divisions to declare its position publicly. As for Reuters journalism, for all that the Trust Principles say, it has never been free from bias, from the conscious choices about what stories to cover to the deliberate or unconscious choices about how to cover them. News organisations must strive for fairness but cannot and should not always give equal weight to all sides. If they did, the Hitlers of this world would get the same amount of ink as their victims and those who stand up to them. ■