The writer served as executive editor of The Express Tribune from 2009 to 2014
Ethics in the News, a report compiled by the Ethical Journalism Network (EJN), has thrown some light on challenges for the media and gives journalists some key tips on ethical survival techniques. The report analyses fake news and how journalism with a public purpose can be overwhelmed in a do-it-yourself world of communications that has led to a so-called post-truth movement in which facts and expert opinion are left on the sidelines of public discourse.
According to the report, this is a global media crisis. Almost all over the world, the question is equally relevant. Many countries are said to be on the frontline of a catastrophic and ongoing assault on free expression and a full-scale information war is going on between a number of countries.
The report highlights two areas of particular ethical practice that make journalism a cornerstone of reliability and trust: firstly, a tribute to all the whistle-blowers and sources who make public interest journalism possible through the eyes of the reporter; and, second, a thoughtful examination of how we use images to tell stories, focused on refugees. Ethics in the News also provides tips for journalists on how to stick to the facts, protect sources, report fairly on migration, identify hate speech, block fake news and guard against war-mongering and propaganda.
The report notes a growing movement to strengthen the craft of journalism and how, in every part of the world, even where megaphone politics is in power, journalists committed to the values of accuracy, humanity and transparency are doing good work and connecting with audiences.
But more needs to be done to support the media. The EJN report calls for action to strengthen media professionalism and for new directions in public policy: 1) to develop practical and sustainable solutions to the funding crisis facing independent journalism; 2) to support the public purpose of journalism through more investment in public service media; 3) to launch campaigns to combat hatred, racism and intolerance; 4) to provide more resources for investigative reporting and ways of promoting minority voices; 5) to encourage attachment to ethical values in the management and governance of journalism; 6) to put pressure on social networks and internet companies to accept responsibility that as publishers they must monitor their news services; 7) to support expanded media and information literacy programmes to make people — including politicians and others in public life — more aware of the need for responsible and tolerant communications.
Aiden White, the moving spirit behind setting up ETJ, has contributed a brainy piece to the report, excerpts of which follow: “We also look at the role of war-mongering media in India with bellicose journalists stoking up the prospects of a new conflict between these nuclear states.
“The world’s changing culture of communications, driven by the imperial power of internet companies and social networks, not only encourages users to create personal echo-chambers at the expense of information pluralism, it has also shredded the market models that used to nourish ethical journalism.
“Many observers inside media are not overly optimistic about the future, but although there may be more rumour, speculation, fake news and misinformation as the information market moves online, there is a growing movement to strengthen the craft of journalism.
“Public trust will only return when people have confidence that powerful institutions — government, the state, corporate power — are accountable and listening to their concerns… The crisis outlined here is not just one of professionalism, it is a watershed moment for democracy and requires political will to invest in open, connected and pluralist systems of communication. What is needed are new directions in public policy.”
Published in The Express Tribune, January 19th, 2019.
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