Good morning,
Are all opinions worthy of respect? Is anything fair game? When did being loud start mattering more than being right? Where do we draw the line between free expression and harmful ideas? And what happens when we stop questioning the opinions around us — or our own? These are questions I ask myself often, and there are no easy answers.
These days, we often confuse the right to express an opinion with the respect or weight that opinion deserves.
In an online video I came across recently, a philosophy professor argued that we live in a crisis of argumentation. He blamed our lack of reading, not just news, but long and dense texts. Opinions, he argued, are only respectable depending on their content and reasoning behind them. After all, some opinions are racist or sexist, and that alone makes them unworthy of respect.
In the middle of this constant info-storm, with an endless stream of memes, tweets (Xs?), posts and photos, like scrolling with the phone fused to your hand, I believe citizens need more than content that just feeds the algorithm or chases clicks.
We need depth.
We need argument.
We need transparency.
We need perspective.
We need diverse sources.
Ethics in this profession isn’t optional. It’s part of the job. But too often, it’s nowhere to be found.
At EUobserver, we are not a news machine, we offer quality over quantity, stories with a different focus, underreported topics, investigative journalism, 25 years of archives and the courage to question the status quo and ask again: are all opinions really respectable?
- Elena Sánchez Nicolás, editor-in-chief
This year, we turn 25 and are looking for 2,500 new supporting members to take their stake in EU democracy. A functioning EU relies on a well-informed public – you.
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