14 February 2000
Fakery, Hypocrisy and Public Trust in Journalism
Media folk will not be too astounded by the allegations made in this week’s News of the World about the Roger Cook school of investigative journalism. The wheels came off the Roger Cook roadshow years ago – when he thumbed his nose on air at the (then) Broadcasting Standards Council for having the temerity to in favour of a complainant wrongly vilified by the burly investigator.
The public may be annoyed to find their goodwill abused by cynical journalism. Rumours have abounded for years about his techniques and the accuracy of his claims – and several years ago PressWise received complaints from people who believed their lives had been put at risk by his antics in Northern Ireland. However, it ill behoves the News of the World to claim to be the doyen of ethical investigative journalism. Only last week we received copies of tapes relating to NoW stories that demonstrate how easy it is to trap people into saying things they will later regret – and run sensational stories on the thinnest of pretexts and then claim the moral high ground when their victims complain.
Some of Mazher Mahmoud’s so-called investigations would not stand up to much scrutiny. His techniques have already been criticised by the courts as tantamount to entrapment. Senior executives at the NoW appear to care less for the human consequences of their search for ever more sensational headlines than for their circulation figures. Meanwhile their chief investigation reporter Neville Thurlbeck – whose naked form adorns our office walls as living proof that not all NoW reporters ‘make their excuses and leave’ – is currently facing charges over an allegedly corrupt relationship with a police officer.
None of this helps to build the sort of trust that journalists should be earning from the public. At an International Press Institute gathering in Vienna last year editors from around the world bemoaned the fact that the credibility of newspaper journalism is slipping fast everywhere. They recognised that a commitment to ethics and the rebuilding of a contract of trust with readers is paramount if newspapers and magazines are to survive as reliable sources of information.
So, while it’s great to have journalists keeping an eye on each other’s techniques, the NoW‘s mock incredulity about the fakery of others will serve merely to reinforce the prejudices of those who believe that journalism and hypocrisy are synonymous; unless and until journalists themselves begin to assert the importance of abiding by codes of conduct and opening themselves up to greater public scrutiny.
The Case of the Missing Sub-Editor
Earlier this month we had Piers Morgan, the Editor of The Mirror, admitting that he didn’t read everything in the paper before it appeared in the newsagents (See ‘Whoops!’, Bulletin No 6). This week PressWise came across another equally bewildering lapse. A local newspaper ran an article calling for help in the recovery of a bracelet of sentimental value to a woman, living alone, who had recently been burgled.
The story contained an undisputed quote from the woman indicating that the house still contained valuables and providing the woman’s work telephone number for anyone wishing to call her with information. Whether the reporter was hoping the burglar might offer to make a deal (isn’t that blackmail?), or that others would quickly move in to scoop up the rest of the treasures while the householder was at work – publication of the story caused more anxiety than the original burglary.
If the reporter had not the sense to appreciate the risks attached to running both the quote and the daytime phone number (especially after the victim had expressed second thoughts about whether to go ahead with her appeal), surely a sub-editor might be expected to query such copy…
No codes of conduct may have been broken, but the perils of sloppy journalism are illustrated yet again.
RAM Project Latest
PressWise is to take part in an internal training day for BBC World Service staff, looking at print coverage of refugees and asylum seekers – in particular the more bizarre angles from which the tabloids have been viewing the current Afghan hijacking crisis.
Children, Violence and the Media Seminar
Speakers at the upcoming PressWise/NUJ/IFJ Seminar (24/25 Feb) will hear from psychotherapists Sira Derman, Sheila Melzak and Gladeana McMahon, along with media analysts Ann Jemphrey and Eileen Berrington, as well as Norman McLean of the Broadcasting Standards Commission and Bettina Peters of the International Federation of Journalists. About two dozen journalists and programme makers are expected to take part in the seminar which will look at how journalists report on violence against children, and how violence affects children and media professionals.
Leading the two day seminar will be former BBC radio producer Sarah McNeill (Unlimited Productions), journalist and trainer Charlotte Barry (Cornwall Reports) and PressWise Director Mike Jempson. This is the first event in a series (funded by the EC Daphne Initiative) which are expected to result in new training programmes to improve media coverage of violence as it affects children.
(Bulletin No. 7)