Journalists' Rights Day

Apparently today is Journalists' Rights Day. Now I'm all for "rights" in general, but this is a profession that, in my limited experience, doesn't make good use of the rights that they have.

Take UK journalism. The best way to sell newspapers, apparently, is to make up scandals. Any journalist who fabricates a story just to create sensation, or sets a trap for a celebrity, loses his entitlement to any rights.

Then we have the blatently biased reporters, both in the UK and in Portugal. They record interviews when they have already defined their personal objectives for the resulting article. That's hardly the best way to ensure that their rights are respected.

As for the journalists who write and present articles that they have no technical competence for..... Need I continue?

Admittedly, journalists rights are threatened in many countries, even in Portugal from time to time (particularly in Madeira), but perhaps the journalists should reflect more on the way those rights are wielded.