I'm Anthony Mason.

Hello.

I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

Speeding.

Just report on the state s welcome to World News from Al Jazira News.

You are fake news, sir.

What is legitimate journalism?

It is news that has been verified by an independent organization that is accountable for the information verification.

Independence and accountability are the characteristics of quality journalism.

Let's examine verification.

It's the process of establishing that information is truthful and accurate.

Journalists collect information with the goal of providing the most accurate version of events they talked to sources dig through information and provide accurate documents to back up their stories.

In 2000 for CBS News broadcast 60 Minutes two claimed it had documents critical off the National Guard service of President George W.

Bush.

But CBS News failed to authenticate the documents, and they were in fact forgeries.

Several journalists, including anchorman Dan Rather, were fired independent.

It is a freedom from control or influence combined with impartiality.

Independence includes objectivity, fairness and balance.

But what is fairness?

What is balance and how do we determine that?

Let's take, for example, the myth that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is the cause of autism.

This claim has been completely discredited.

Yet several Hollywood celebrities continue to endorse it.

Some backing an anti vaccine film made by pseudo scientists by 2030 to 80% of the boys born will end up on.

Should journalists reporting on autism give time to the position of the anti vaccine believers?

No, they're not scientists.

Their opinions cannot be balanced against scientific knowledge and certainty.

Both sides are not equal, and it is misleading to treat them equally accountability.

The process of taking responsibility for the reporting news organizations should be clearly identified and journalists contact information easily obtainable.

But most importantly, any news organization or journalist should be prepared to admit errors when they've been made.

In 2005 New York Times asked veteran reporter Judith Miller to resign after it became clear for reporting about the Iraq war was wrong.

The Times wrote an extraordinary critique of its own editorial process that is also accountability, verification, independence and accountability.

These are the three main elements of journalism and what distinguishes it from other kinds of information.