What Journalism Can Learn from Yom Kippur
As I observe the Day of Atonement, I see a template journalism urgently needs: reflection, accountability, and a promise to do better.
At sundown on October 1, Yom Kippur began. It is the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, a day of fasting, prayer, and hard questions. Where have I fallen short? How can I do better?
Journalism should be asking the same.
Trust in the press does not collapse overnight. It slips away piece by piece. A missed correction. A sensational headline. A failure to listen. Yom Kippur offers a different rhythm. Reflection, forgiveness, and renewal. Lessons that journalism can learn and apply.
1. Cheshbon HaNefesh: Self-Accounting
Yom Kippur begins with honest self-audit. For journalism, that means a steady practice of asking: Did we pursue truth with diligence? Were we fair? Where did bias creep in? Did we correct mistakes in a way that the public could see and believe? It means looking at last year’s coverage and naming what went wrong, not in a post-mortem buried in the trade press, but in view of the audience. This is not weakness. It is discipline. It is how credibility is kept.
2. Accountability and Forgiveness
Jewish tradition teaches that harm against another person cannot be forgiven until you seek their pardon directly. Journalism should take the same view. A correction hidden at the bottom of the page does not repair harm. It insults the reader. Real accountability looks like this: We got it wrong. Here’s how. Here’s what we are doing to fix it. And here’s how you can hold us to it. That is how you begin to rebuild trust.
3. Teshuvah: Repentance and Return
Teshuvah is not only regret. It is the choice to act differently next time. Journalism’s version is moving beyond the habit of saying “we could have done better” and actually doing better. Less outrage. More context. Less noise. More depth. A return to the best of what the profession can be.
4. Fasting From the Frivolous
On Yom Kippur, fasting clears space to focus on what endures. Journalism could use its own fast. Less energy spent chasing metrics and outrage. More attention to stories that truly matter. Fewer live-blog updates on cable news soundbites. Fewer “BREAKING” tags on stories that are not. Fewer headlines engineered for rage-clicks. The kind of work that informs, empowers, and serves the public.
5. Lashon Hara: Harmful Speech
Words can wound. Jewish teaching warns that even truth, handled carelessly, can cause lasting harm. Journalists know this. Every decision about what to print and how to frame it carries weight. The task is not to avoid difficult truths. It is to ask: Does this serve the public, or does it serve the story? Does it inform, or does it merely inflame? Those questions do not always have easy answers. But they must be asked.
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, does not end in perfection. It ends with a promise. To try again. To repair what has been broken. To do better in the year ahead. That is how I will close my observance at sundown tonight. Journalism could use the same ritual. A time to pause, reflect, and recommit. Not only to truth, but to trust.
What would your newsroom’s Yom Kippur look like?
P.S. - If you found this post helpful, would you please consider restacking it and sharing it with your audience?
This spreads the word and keeps me writing the types of content that you have enjoyed.