The exclusive characteristic of a professional journalist

What distinguishes a journalist from any other professional when it comes to reporting? What is the exclusive characteristic of the professional journalist, the one that must make their work unique and different? Is that characteristic enough to prevent artificial intelligence from becoming just another intruder in the profession?

These are good questions to ask today, May 3rd, the day chosen by UNESCO to commemorate World Press Freedom Day, which this year focuses on the impact of artificial intelligence on press freedom and the media.

After nearly three decades working as a journalist in various communication roles, I believe that what should differentiate us from intruders is the strict adherence to the Code of Ethics of the Profession.

When journalists fail to comply with it, we become equal to intruders who attempt to do our work, who are not obliged to respect it, whether it is a person or ChatGPT.

It is true that a specialized professional (a literature professor, an art historian, an expert in organic chemistry or aeronautics) has deep knowledge of their field, which makes them essential interlocutors, primary sources for journalism professionals. But never journalists.

And I do not mean to say that they are not honest professionals; I am sure they work for the highest quality and excellence, but that does not prevent contamination by bias, personal interests, or any other kind of influence from appearing at a certain moment or depending on the subject to be reported.

Building trust in journalism

I also do not mean to say that journalists are perfect; on the contrary, any citizen, and any professional, could point out cases of partial, lying, disrespectful journalists... What I can assure is that we are the only professionals obliged to adhere to an exclusive ethical code regarding the treatment of information.

A code designed so that citizens can trust that journalists' work is done with honesty and rigor. We often repeat that without journalism there is no democracy, and we do so thinking that rigorous and honest journalism is fundamental to the democratic system.

There is a quote from the French thinker Regis Debray that could also apply to this profession: “The artist is a tightrope walker trying to stay upright on a slackrope.” The French cartoonist Plantú used this quote in the cartoon that heads this article, which he drew to commemorate World Press Freedom Day of 2017 (gallery).

This tightrope is the ethical code we must respect in every article we write, in every piece of information we publish. It depends on us, as seen in Plantu's drawing, not to end up sinking into the abyss.

---

Documents:
UNESCO Document on World Press Freedom Day 2025 (pdf)
FAPE Code of Ethics (pdf)