“I choose to make it my job to not automatically believe what the U.S. government says…My job is to be skeptical. Skeptical of people like Edward Snowden, and skeptical of the U.S. government. My job is to not take for granted when somebody says ‘Oh, this is all just a made-up, phony scandal’ or ‘What this person did put the U.S. government at risk.’ It’s the exact opposite of my job to take what the government says at face value and say ‘This is the truth because the government says it, and the government never lies.”
—-CNN anchor Jake Tapper, in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Friday.
Jake Tapper, as he demonstrated frequently during his tenure at ABC News and has frequently in his news show host role at CNN, actually tries to be an objective, conscientious, unbiased reporter. As such, he is a shining beacon in the murky ethical wasteland known as American journalism
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Source: The Blaze
Ethics Alarms 
Agreed. Tapper has long been one of the handful of truly conscientious reporters covering Washington. He was while he was at ABC and continues to be so while at CNN.
I can’t think of too many others. Sharyl Attkisson at CBS is pretty good. Jamie Dupree at WSM Radio (Atlanta) is also really good.
I personally don’t believe that it’s possible for media outlets and reporters to be objective. But it’s nice to know there are still some out there who try.
Sometimes Cooper will surprise you. I think Don Lemon has potential. Bob Shieffer does the best he can, with his entrenched biases. I used to admire Candy Crowley.
_Sharyl Attkisson_? The rabidly antivaccinationist filicide apologist whose “reporting” has repeatedly embarrassed the profession?
Are we even remotely talking about the same person here?
Yes, Alexander. She screwed up big time on the vax story, but she did extraordinary work on some government investigation. Near as I could tell with a fast look, she hadn’t done anything definitively anti-vax for three years or so. If she has done so since, you’re quite correct – she doesn’t qualify as a journalist attempting to be objective and if the case, I apologize for including her on my list.
Her latest effort was last year, in relation to the Spourdalakis affair. In addition to her usual antivaccine approaches, she also engaged in really, really blatant filicide apologism.
See, for instance, http://sciencebasedpharmacy.wordpress.com/2013/09/01/no-autism-doesnt-justify-murdering-your-child/ for some discussion. (I have other links as well, but that’s the first one that turned up).
Thanks for that. Consider my list shorter by one.
I think the NSA scandal is ugly. Glad the message comes through.
How about Gretchen Morgenson?
This might be unpopular to say, but Brett Baer and Britt Hume should be on the list. Yes they work for the dreaded Fox News but they are exactly what they say they are…fair and balanced. Certainly more balanced than Cooper or Lemon.
I would tend to agree on Hume and Baer, wyogranny – though would note that they’re both anchors, long since having been reporters. There’s a difference. Of course, Tapper is an anchor now, too – but his actual reporting isn’t that long ago.
I do agree with Jake Tapper’s statement being the ethical quote of the week. Too bad it’s so unusual that it isn’t the typical quote of journalists everywhere every week.
Bingo.
A few generations ago skepticism was as much part of being a reporter as an alcohol problem and a cheap hat.
They may or may not have been objective back then but an honest person who actually goes out and digs up stories is (would be, sorry) an asset to society even with bias.
Jake Tapper strikes me as a journalists and news show host as a guy with integrity. I had a chance to hear him at a local Presidential Library speak on his book *The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor* which is extremely well written about a remote outpost in Afghanistan which was overrun by Taliban types in massive numbers. It was a tragedy that not enough people are aware of but showed the valor of U.S. troops defending it.