"We must go beyond what has already been done in restating and toughening the rules under which we operate," said Peter K. Bhatia, ASNE president and executive editor of The Oregonian, Portland. "We must go beyond words to find understanding of the assumptions that drive our daily operations. We must get to the soul of our newsrooms. We must question conventional thinking every step of the way."

Bhatia told the audience of 500 editors gathered at the ASNE annual convention that the great majority of journalists are honest and ethical.

To see the speech, click here.

"But we must come to realize that our franchise is at risk over these issues," he said. "Our readers are watching. It is time for new thinking, experimentation and real, meaningful dedication to fixing the conditions under which deceit can occur. Our work, our hope, our cause, our dream require nothing less."

Bhatia also called on editors to put more energy into the fight to keep government information open to the public.

"There is no doubt about what is happening in this country: The avenues for the public to get vital information about the conduct of its government are being systematically shut down by a secrecy-obsessed administration. This, in turn, has emboldened equally recalcitrant state and local governments, which were on the non-disclosure bandwagon already."

Bhatia told the editors it is time for newspapers to take back their story. It is a ringing irony that an industry that depends on advertising does so little to advertise itself."

"We must invest in explaining who we are -- how we gather the news, why we make the news decisions we do, and why those decisions contribute to an informed public and a strong national conversation, and why an unfettered flow on information is crucial to our democracy."

In conclusion, Bhatia told editors, "We must work every day, every minute of our lives in newsrooms to keep what we have worked so hard to establish and to rebuild what has been lost. We must champion what is right and noble about what we do, and we must challenge ourselves to confront that which is broken in ways we have not."

With 750 members, ASNE is the principal organization of American newspaper editors. It is active in a number of areas, including open government, freedom of the press, journalism credibility and ethics, newsroom management, diversity and readership.

For more information contact Kevin Wilcox, kwilcox@asne.org, 202-624-1705.