Face of news in new world order
Binoy Barman peeps into a journalistic affair and finds it engrossing
26 October 2007, 18:00 PM
Information Age Journalism: Journalism in an international context
Vincent Campbell
Arnold
Technology has changed, by degrees, the face of journalism throughout history. The invention of printing machine, telegraph, camera, radio, television, satellite, computer and lately internet and cell phone have had a profound impact on journalism. The impact is realised through changes in the mode of news collection and presentation, determination of objectives of journalism and the relationship between media and society. Vincent Campbell in his book, Information Age Journalism: Journalism in an international context, has measured how information technology has influenced journalism. The theme is curious because we all live in the information age which determines our patterns of thought and action in a distinctive way.
Declining readership is seen as one of the major problems of print journalism today. Readership is consistently falling all over the world mainly due to opening up of alternative avenues of information. Internet, satellite television and mobile telephony have played a vital role in changing people's engagements. Surveys show that British national daily newspaper circulation fell from about 15.5 million in 1988 to 13 million in 1998; US national daily newspaper circulation fell from about 63 million in 1988 to 56 million in 1998; and German national daily newspaper circulation fell from about 30 million in 1989 to 25 million in 1997. There might be similar trends in Bangladesh too. Here people prefer right-on-the-day television news to one-day-after newspaper news. The impact of online news and mobile news is not yet clear as these are at their fledgling stage and people here have just started to avail themselves of the opportunities.
Shrinking diversity of newspaper, growing tabloidisation and concentration of ownership in a few hands are identified as other problems of journalism today. In the market economy, financial problems have forced many publishers to stop their ventures or merge with others. Some have resorted to the levity of tabloids to attract readers. Some have to depend more on advertisements with weakening moral stand since the advertisers have direct and indirect influence on the media. In Bangladesh's context, we can say few will write against the malpractices of estate companies and mobile phone companies as they give advertisements to newspapers and television channels. A big pitfall of market-based journalism is its ownership mould. Media entrepreneurs are usually moneyed men who have their political affiliations and in most cases doubtful sources of income. This kind of ownership has two repercussions: first, the owners try to use the power of the media to protect their personal and party interest, and second, they influence news activities in an ominous way close to distortion. Journalism in Bangladesh is little exception to it. Just look at some newspapers and TV channels, and see who the owners are. Black money holders have captured the media here. Consequently, we do not get people's journalism -- we get corporate journalism, always profit-oriented and sometimes anti-people.
The relationship between journalism and the state is intriguing as it is explained with four well-known theories of the press proposed by Siebert, Peterson and Schramm (1956). The authoritarian theory, libertarian model, social responsibility model and communist model have their intrinsic weaknesses and to a large extent lose their value in the present day context. Colin Sparks' media/state model fixes six possible roles for the state -- patron, sensor, actor, masseur, ideologue and conspirator. The state plays one role or the other in relation to journalism. In Bangladesh we get a mixture of several roles for the state, more negative than positive. Asians (especially in the Far East) have a different values and it is where the concept of development journalism emerged. Journalism is seen there as a development partner of the government and journalists inform people as well as share development ideas with them.
Journalism takes distinct shape depending on the political and economic systems of a particular country. Nations may be divided into three categories 'free', 'partially free' and 'not free', and journalism may also be categorised accordingly, as it enjoys varying degrees of freedom. Journalism enjoys maximum freedom in a 'free country', moderate freedom in a 'partially free country' and minimum freedom in a 'not free country'. Freedom House's Press Freedom Survey of 2001 reveals that 100% countries have free press in North America, 75% in Australia, 60% in Europe, 55% in South America, 28% in Southeast Asia, 11% in Africa and 7% in the Middle East. In total, 39% of world nations had a free press in 2001. The survey makes it clear that the economically underdeveloped and politically more authoritarian parts of the world have smaller proportions of press freedom than in the developed world.
Powerful institutions and people as source of news tend to influence news coverage. They make the primary definition of an event which the journalist follows as a secondary definer. Sources always try to get their voices positively heard in the media and they resort to various strategies toward that aim. Spin is one of the commonly used tactics for governments to influence the media. Campbell observes, "In Britain and the USA (and in some other countries) the extent to which governments and political parties have developed sophisticated methods for dealing with the news media is something of a persistent concern." (p. 88) In the US, Thomas Jefferson carefully kept his name out of the newspaper, and it was President McKinley who first allowed journalists into the White House, which led to the formation of a White House press corps, of late much criticised as a 'propaganda machine'. Cunning information management has been heavily exercised by recent US Presidents, including Clinton and Bush. They laboured mightily to generate favourable headlines to protect their preferred image on the vast screen of the media establishment.
The criteria of news value and process of news selection are tricky matters. News selection accomplished by news desk working under some organisational framework often comes down to subjective judgement. While selecting news, the 'gatekeepers' have to weigh the newsworthiness of a report. Newsworthiness is principally determined by news value, intrinsic properties of a report that make it presentable to the readers/audience. Several models of news value are found in theoretic literature -- Galtung and Ruge (1973), Gen (1979), Golding and Elliot (1979), Hetherington (1985) and Shoemaker, et al (1985). All the models have their own sets of criteria with particular area of focus. It seems there is no elaborate universal formula. News values are not necessarily consistent and realisable, nor are they universally held and adhered to.
Ethical questions in journalism are equally important. Journalists are sometimes alleged to take to unethical, if not immoral, practices. A 1995 survey showed that some 77% MPs in Britain regarded journalists as having 'low' or 'very low' standards of honesty and ethics. They are often engaged in naming and shaming of personalities, breaching confidentiality, intrusion into privacy, gory depiction of story, bribery, fabrication and libelling. National authorities usually try to control the behaviour of the journalists by imposing professional codes of ethics on them. These codes, however, are not comfortable for the people intended for, as these undermine their personal and professional pride.
The moral strength of the media stems from the exercise of objectivity. Objectivity, i.e., presentation of news without any subjective view, may be achieved through separating facts from interpretation and constructing reality in a reliable way. In practice, objectivity is difficult to attain and maintain because there is no 'pure objectivity' per se and partly because a reporter is part of the reality he/she reports about. Therefore, everything is bound to be biased in one way or other, although it may not be discerned easily, since in most of the cases it remains implicit. Bias may be directed towards particular ideology, system or practice -- towards democracy, communism or secularism -- towards truth, beauty or welfare; or towards the whole negative paradigm. The 'journalism of opinion' and 'journalism of attachment' -- as opposed to hardcore journalism -- have given bias some sort of legitimacy, but not without debate. Journalism viewed as 'impartial chronicles of facts' and journalist as 'neutral witness to history' is still most desirable. Objectivity, however illusory it may appear, is still the most valuable principle in journalism, as Campbell notes: 'Objectivity retains a forceful presence at least in Western discourses' (p. 176).
When we talk of hardcore or mainstream journalism, putting utmost importance on political, economic and such news in newspapers, radio or TV, we set up a sideline of issues which are subsumed in what is called alternative journalism. It comprises sports, entertainment and lifestyle, among other things. Over the years these particular fields have matured via television shows and magazines with growing popularity. HBO and Star Movies are popular in the west and east alike. Channels like ESPN, Star Sports and TEN Sports are tremendously popular with sports enthusiasts in our country. Very few domestic viewers in the subcontinent would like to miss 'Kasautti Zindagii Kay' on Star Plus or 'Desperate Housewives' on Star World. The young generation will probably be more interested in music programmes on MTV, Channel V and Zee Music. Some may be attuned to Radio Foorti, Radio Today and Radio Aamar. Knowledge seekers would certainly like Discovery, National Geographic Channel, Animal Planet and The History Channel. Give your children a choice between Cartoon Network and candy, they will opt for the former, I bet.
Other forms of alternative journalism are talk shows, investigative satire (as 'Private Eye' in Britain), development talks (as 'Hridoye Mati O Manush' in Bangladesh), literary pinch (as 'Down and Out in Paris and London' by George Orwell) and true crime writing (as 'In Cold Blood' by Truman Capote). But alternative journalism might have a bad side of it. Think about photojournalism and celebrity chasing. Diana was killed in a car accident while being chased by paparazzi!
The tasks of global and local media are changing rapidly with the impact of new technology and rocking events. International news agencies AP, AFP and Reuters and news channels like BBC, CNN and Fox News are trying to cope up with a new world order. The terrorist incident of 9/11 and subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have also had a profound impact on the plane of journalism. People have witnessed the emergence of Al-Jazeera in the tussle of east-west interest in the media. The journalistic job has been more significant and challenging than ever. In Campbell's words, "The only thing that can tentatively be said is that journalism, in its multiplicity of meanings, is absolutely central to the emergence of the information age." (p. 256)
Now, from all these accounts, what idea do you get about contemporary journalism? Campbell rightly draws our attention to the information and communication technology (ICT) while recounting its widespread impact on journalism. He analyses journalistic phenomena in an international context, touching on theory and practice relevantly and sufficiently. Information Age Journalism is the result of Campbell's hard-laboured research evident in the lost list of references, 496 in total. The book is rich in information, extensive in scope but intensive in investigation. While shedding light on contemporary scene, the writer delves deep into historical background for better understanding of different journalistic concepts. His observation is acute and apt, and analysis unequivocally cute and compelling. I am confident his scholarly work will be appreciated by people concerned -- practising journalists, media activists, researchers and students.
Dr Binoy Barman is a writer and Assistant Professor at Bangladesh University.
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