Truth in the media

My research has been on the reporting of armistice in the Sydney Morning Herald from 1902-2003, which covers 7 major wars Australia has been involved in. Reading the news is a good way of finding out about what's going on in the world around us - it has been for more than 500 years, since the first newspapers were put together for the purpose of informing European merchants of the goings on that might affect the progress of their trade shipments. But the news can never claim to have been 'the whole truth' because what we find out about the world around us in the news is brought to us from human perspectives. Human perspective, the Bible tells us, is not only limited (e.g. Job 42: 2-6), but also inherently flawed (e.g. Romans 3:23).
I think we need to be careful about expecting too much in the way of 'journalistic truth'. This is not to say that we should not expect journalists to do the best job they can in reporting the events that go on in the world around us. Rather, we need to be clear on where 'truth' can be found, and what is a reasonable expectation of our fellow human beings.
Human journalists, who are made in the image of God just like everyone else, can bring us just a fraction of what can be known about the world around us. No one person can know - or bring together - everything that is relevant to a topic or event. Only God - who is all-seeing and all-knowing (omniscient) - can do that.
The Bible tells of Daniel, an Isaraelite scholar who was exiled to Babylon, who undertook to interpret a strange dream for the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, a dream that was beyond the powers of interpretation of the Babylonian wise men. Daniel prayed for wisdom to understand the dream (otherwise he and all the other wise men would have been destroyed because of the king's rage!), and when the mystery was revealed to him, he praised God for his wisdom and knowledge of all things, saying (Dan 2:20-22):
²⁰ "Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
wisdom and power are his.

²¹ He changes times and seasons;
he sets up kings and deposes them.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning.

²² He reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what lies in darkness,
and light dwells with him.

I do not wish to criticise journalists in particular for what they do, but to encourage all consumers of news in all its forms to recognise that they will not find "the truth" in the news - only perhaps a small fragment of it. Humanly speaking, there is not, and never has been, a 'right' way of reporting an event. We all notice different things about the world, and attribute significance to events in different ways. Why should we expect that journalists in particular will notice and bring out all the things that we think are significant or worthwhile?
The truth we need to know about our world and our place in it comes from God. The Psalmist praises God, saying (Ps 119:160):

All your words are true;
all your righteous laws are eternal.

And in Isaiah, the prophet tells us (Isa 45:11-12 and 18-19):
¹¹ "This is what the LORD says—
the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:
Concerning things to come,
do you question me about my children,
or give me orders about the work of my hands?

¹² It is I who made the earth
and created mankind upon it.
My own hands stretched out the heavens;
I marshaled their starry hosts.

...

¹⁸ For this is what the LORD says—
he who created the heavens,
he is God;
he who fashioned and made the earth,
he founded it;
he did not create it to be empty,
but formed it to be inhabited—
he says:
"I am the LORD,
and there is no other.

¹⁹ I have not spoken in secret,
from somewhere in a land of darkness;
I have not said to Jacob's descendants,
'Seek me in vain.'
I, the LORD, speak the truth;
I declare what is right.