New media have edged out old-school journalism

Saturday, 22nd January 2011

WikiLeaks is the latest proof that there’s no substitute for rigorous editing

The media has always and will always be an elusive friend. It lures and yet repels politicians, corporate leaders, sports stars and even those nurtured by the media in the first place. Think Susan Boyle: lauded for her voice and then criticised for her looks.

Dealing with the media, as I have done for nearly two decades, has been both frustrating and rewarding. But the rewards are becoming fewer and fewer. Frustrations are now commonplace. And sadly, anger is frequent.

The media’s inquisitive nature is critical and must never be lost, in order to support democratic societies. An element of trust is also fundamental, but trust in the media among many community leaders is disappearing. While many will say it is not the media’s place to be a friend, it is surely the responsibility of anyone operating in a professional capacity, even a reporter, to be trusted.

Many of us are made uncomfortable by the fact that old-school journalists and their practices appear to have become obsolete. The media diet is no longer the press with television and radio playing strong supporting roles. New media has exploded, but tweets, blogs and other online operations mean dealing with it on a trusted basis has made it the paradise of a potential fool.

Senior newspaper journalists, previously paid to cogitate then commentate, are now told to blog, to write prescient words online, to do some in-house television, perhaps some radio, and then write their piece for the following day’s newspaper.

The experienced journalist, and there are still many, works in an environment established by the traditions of old media, particularly print-based. But modern media has changed the game and introduced new pressures. Discretion is a thing of the past.

News cycles are now measured in seconds, not minutes and not hours. If one outlet receives an announcement before another, if only by a tick of the clock, then there is hell to pay in the newsrooms of the usurped.

While being first means being exclusive, it can also mean being wrong and/ or unnecessarily alarmist.

The experienced reporters are being replaced by inexperience and excessive exuberance. Young reporters chase stories with little self-regard. They can be promised relevance by some editors, often acting purely out of sheer hatred for their competition.

The News Limited vs Fairfax rivalry has gone from being mildly amusing to dull, and both should get over it.

Excitable young scribes may have been tolerable when inexperience meant covering the shipping news, but it is altogether different when they cover mergers and acquisitions or high-level politics.

An inexperienced reporter, now as common as the cold, will respond in disbelief when told ‘no comment’. That cannot be right, they say. Surely some background, some flavour, some feel? However, despite their pleas, at times bordering on the actions of a stalker, they are told that it is not in anyone’s interests to make a comment on a false rumour or on issues taken completely out of context.

It would be funny if it was not so serious.

For example, with regulators watching companies’ every move, an inaccurate story about, say, a capital raising can have far reaching and costly ramifications. Even when denied, stories are still written along the lines of: ‘Although denied by the company late yesterday, rumours still circulate about an impending rights issue…’

Political news suffers a similar fate. Frequently such news is chitchat and of questionable interest. Tweets from journalists inform us unnecessarily of the activities of politicians that we once had no need to know. Sadly, some politicians make this worse by participating themselves in this form of mindless media. Discretion is lost among politicians too.

With gossip filling more media, many walks of life once respected are undermined by minor incidents which gather undeserved momentum. That is not good for anyone in the end.

Then we have another bizarre trend.

Journalists appear to speak with journalists more than they speak to people in the real world. Sky and ABC 24 are now joined by the television-style interviews online run by Fairfax and News Limited. They need to fill space, so they simply speak to one another.

Self-indulgence is rife as one scribe congratulates another for ‘breaking a story’ or ‘leading the debate’. What claptrap.

WikiLeaks has been lauded as a positive by many. Sure, it has led a debate, but at what cost? WikiLeaks may have exposed intrigue and perspectives of world leaders, but it is random and ill-disciplined and in many cases just idle gossip. Without priority or editing, it simply unravels and gets messy.

The future of the media should not be about censorship, but it should be about a return to discretion, good management and good judgement.

WikiLeaks is the most extreme example yet of a lack of control, and a media industry that is getting out of control is surely no different to any other.

The experienced names in media now have a responsibility to reinforce some sense of self-regulation and to teach ethical codes to the next generation.

For centuries documents have been leaked and gossip has been peddled, but the situation has never hit the lows of today’s modern media.

The dramatic fall in circulation of once proud mastheads is not just about new media’s impact, but also about poorer content and dwindling trust. A lack of quality control, the drive for exclusivity, the tendency to hyperbole, the desperation to lead debate and the desire to crap on the competition all make for a worrying outlook.

The ethics of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange are being questioned, and rightly so. But the questioning should not stop there. The ethics of many in the media deserve further scrutiny. And without some recognition of their excesses, reporters face more ‘no comments’ than ever.

Ian Smith is a partner in corporate advisory firm Bespoke Approach and a former Liberal staffer.

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