Category Archives: Writing

Essay for Reporters and the Reported module at CJS

From the emergence of the first newspapers in the early 17^th century, to the advent of commercial radio broadcasting in the 1920s, to the launch of the Cable News Network in 1980 which began the modern era of 24-hour television news coverage, journalism has responded to new media with increasing speed and versatility.

The modern age of digital media offers new challenges to the reporter. As well as providing news organisations with new means to deliver reports using blogs, social networks and multimedia content, the internet has allowed the readers and audience access to the same tools.

Given the ease with which news can be reported, consumed and discussed online, and the increasing number of people actively engaging, how will journalists be able to retain their standards when the emphasis on breaking news as quickly as possible becomes more and more important?

We have seen the damage that rushed reporting can do, and the speed with which its message can now be distributed.

On January 8, the day of the shooting near Tucson, America’s National Public Radio news service incorrectly announced the death of congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

While the error was only broadcast on air once, it was posted on the NPR website, sent out by email alerts, and rapidly spread through Twitter. Giffords’ husband heard the media reports, and was led to believe the worst.

It was not until the next day that a correction was aired accompanied by an apology from executive editor Dick Meyer.

Clearly this was not good enough for a media organisation of NPR’s standing and reputation. In an article on the NPR Ombudsman blog, Scott Simon, host of NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday, said:

“There should be no room for doubt when a news organization declares someone dead.

“They should wait until the medical authorities directly involved declare death, or close family members announce it. There is simply no way that anyone else – not local police, not witnesses, not ‘two governmental sources’ – would be in a position to know for certain.”

The challenges of new media

In the BBC trust report From Seesaw to Wagon Wheel: Safeguarding impartiality in the 21st century, published in June 2007, new forms of media are identified and evaluated in terms of their implications for reporting.

It outlines the five trends which are altering the power balance between the traditional news broadcasters and audience – convergence, mobility, personalisation, on-demand news and user participation.

According to the report, the rise of user-generated content in the form of blogs and web channels has already made a mark on the media landscape:

“Britain has now had its first major news story broken by bloggers – the contacts disclosed in summer 2006 between John Prescott and the American billionaire Philip Anschutz.”

As media law is constantly playing catch up with the advances of online media, bloggers have consistently been able to outdo traditional media by breaking embargoes and even revealing withheld identities – the site Indymedia posted names and photographs of the undercover police officers described as ‘Officer A’ and ‘Officer B’ in the mainstream press following the Mark Kennedy scandal.

So how can journalists continue to convince the public of their worth as credible news providers?

Journalistic standards

Unfortunately, mainstream journalists have some uncomfortable statistics of their own to face.

In his lecture to Cardiff School of Journalism students, Charles Reiss, former political editor of the London Evening Standard, revealed that only 36% of the public trust broadsheet journalists, and a mere 10% trust tabloid journalists.

Mr Reiss, who is a member of Independent Review of Government Communications, said:

“Statistics are almost infinitely open to manipulation, but they do show that there is a real lack of trust for journalists.

“We need to change attitudes, and we have to try to tell the truth – truth breeds trust.”

He also warned against the journalistic impulse to rail against those in authority:

“A journalist should not approach any interview with a politician while thinking ‘Why is this lying bastard lying to me?’.

“It paints a false picture, and is selling the public short. I am not suggesting journalists should become tame, but it needs to be an intelligent response, not a knee-jerk response.”

In the wake of the Hutton inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly, a number of changes have been made to the BBC, as well as other news outlets, in order to improve transparency, accountability and, above all, honesty.

The Neil Report, which examined the lessons to be learned from the Hutton Inquiry for the BBC, concluded that there were a number of ways the organisation needed to shape up.

As well as logistical recommendations, such as the keeping of extensive and accurate notes of all interviews, and avoiding breaking news with serious allegations during live two-ways, the report stressed the importance of fairness – particularly to anonymous sources.

Richard Tait, a member of the BBC Trust and former editor-in chief of ITN, recounted how Alex Thomson, chief correspondent of Channel Four News, refused to reveal his sources from Bloody Sunday when pressed to do by Lord Saville in 2004.

Professor Tait, in a lecture at Cardiff School of Journalism, said:

“If Alex had revealed his sources, it would have had a chilling effect on journalism.

“It was the right thing to do and avoided reputational damage. The reputational damage caused by dishonesty is enormous.”

In his lecture A Meltdown of Trust, Professor Tait further explained the standards that an impartial journalist should live up to – neutrality, open mindedness, distance from subject and respect for the reader or audience.

Balance

As we all know, the internet has cast a shadow over the economics of journalism, especially print media.

As news sites turn to paywalls and charging for mobile apps, it is easy to believe that the main priority for media should be to squeeze every penny, and chase the most scandalous stories to secure cover prices.

But when Peter Preston, former editor of the Observer and the Guardian, addressed Cardiff School of Journalism, he stressed it was not the chasing of funding that will save the print media.

Mr Preston gave an ominous prediction – seven national newspapers would almost certainly be out of business in 10 years.

He insisted it was those newspapers that looked after the interests of their readers rather than their shareholders who would survive.

The message we should take away is that there will always be a balance to be found between accuracy, fairness, and speed in reporting – and journalists should not see the emergence of digital technology as a confrontation to traditional journalistic ethics.