Editorial: Truth can be hard to find at times

It was difficult to come to work today.
The news that I was a member of one of "the least trusted" professions in New Zealand has been weighing heavily on my mind. Shame on me, I have constantly thought.
Yes, "Journalists" came second in that unloved category of the Readers Digest magazine annual poll, just behind estate agents. Talk about kicking a profession when it's down - about a quarter of agents having given up on the trade over the last year. The continuing recession has stopped them from fulfilling their trusted role of selling our houses at any price.
Then the list rolled down: celebrities, lawyers, financial planners, CEOs, tow truck drivers, taxi drivers, accountants and bankers.
Hmmm - I'm wondering how Martin Devlin's feeling right now. Broadcaster (journalist?) and celebrity. If he keeps acting like a clown in public he might be a tow truck driver soon. They get to jump on bonnets too.
But back to my personal "shame".
I have to understand the public's frustrations with journalists: "you can't always believe what you read in the paper".
Well, you won't get any argument from me.
Here's a recent example. Yesterday we overestimated the time it took after a truck crash for the Napier-Taupo Road to reopen.
Now for the punch line. One of our most experienced journalists spent more than an hour and several phone calls trying to track down the exact amount of time the road was fully closed and when it reopened to one lane.
One source, who will be concerned they are not in the top 10 "most trusted" showed no interest in finding out for her. Then the always helpful New Zealand Transport Agency initially offered incorrect information, before ringing back after deadline with the correct detail.
An exasperated reporter immediately informed me that we had printed a falsehood, her distress clear. That is the level of pride she has in her work, even though it wasn't a major.
Such problems are common. A few years back I covered an air accident where two men died. The press release spelt both of their names wrong. We didn't, and more than often we don't.
It's true that newspapers are guilty of angling stories (often for your readability and entertainment), and sometimes fail to add the balance as they should. Occasionally the public mood is misread, or headlines don't match the reality. Sometimes information is incorrectly transferred to print, or there are spelling mistakes. And we have the odd unscrupulous individual in our ranks (not at Hawke's Bay Today, though). All of that is regrettable.
But remember the gestation period of the paper you open up, and expect to be perfect for the price of less than half a cup of coffee, is 24 hours. Whether there's a disaster to report on, or an accident 30 minutes before deadline that time doesn't get any longer. Mistakes will inevitably occur.
Keep that in mind if Reader's Digest gives you a call next year.
For now though - shame on me. I should have been a firefighter.