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“Build the News on the Rock of Truth”

By Mark D. Roberts | Saturday, March 21, 2009

During my recent sojourn in Dallas, I was surprised to see a giant inscription on the wall of the Dallas Morning News building.

It reads:

BUILD THE NEWS UPON
THE ROCK OF TRUTH
AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
CONDUCT IT ALWAYS
UPON THE LINES OF
FAIRNESS AND INTEGRITY
ACKNOWLEDGE THE RIGHT
OF PEOPLE TO GET
FROM THE NEWSPAPER
BOTH SIDES OF EVERY
IMPORTANT QUESTION

According to the Dallas Morning News website, this inscription was based on an address to employees by George Dealey in 1906. Dealey was an executive in the company who said of the founders of the newspaper: “They built The News upon the rock of truth and righteousness, conducting it always upon the lines of fairness and integrity, and acknowledging the right of the people to get from the newspaper both sides of every important question.” This became a guiding statement for the paper, so it was inscribed on the building when it was built in 1949.

I’m not familiar enough with the Dallas Morning News to know if they live up to this inscription. But I do know that it sure would be refreshing if more newspapers in America sought to follow Dealey’s wisdom.

Topics: Texas |

4 Responses to ““Build the News on the Rock of Truth””

  1. Joe Arnett Says:
    March 21st, 2009 at 6:15 am

    “But I do know that it sure would be refreshing if more newspapers in America sought to follow Dealey’s wisdom.”

    AMEN and AMEN.

  2. A Familiar Name, A Familiar Place, and a Feeling of Sadness | www.markdroberts.com Says:
    March 23rd, 2009 at 12:02 am

    […] “Build the News on the Rock of Truth” […]

  3. Evan Says:
    March 23rd, 2009 at 6:55 am

    I am confident that the folks that run the Dallas Morning News believe they scrupulously follow the inscription (well, they would likely balk at the “righteousness” part, but would especially embrace the last sentence.) It is very difficult to actually accomplish. A certain camera angle, an unflattering pose, the insertion of a “mildly” loaded word, the snipping of a quote just so, a failure to mention party affiliation in one instance and blaring it to the skies in the next… you don’t have to practice Yellow Journalism to still get the effect you want.

    It is not partisanship in the “news” that I find so bothersome as such, it is the shrill protestation of absolute neutrality when the “news” sounds like an editorial. Nowadays, once must always “consider the source” and seek out multiple sources of news. The DMN is hardly alone in this, but having perused their product over the years, their inscription is ironic at best, if not downright Orwellian otherwise.

  4. Adelani Aderemi Says:
    March 27th, 2009 at 4:54 am

    When Newspapers start to follow these guidelines they will have strated preaching the gospel, for they will loudly proclaim that Jesus is the way the truth and the life. But as it appears now, there is difference between the Real Truth and what the world dresses us aa the Truth.

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