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Journalism and Trust
Nicholas Jones
Nicholas Jones was a BBC correspondent for thirty years. He is the author of Sultans of Spin and The Control Freaks and a member of the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom.
In advance of the NUJ/Mediawise conference on Journalism and Public Trust, former BBC correspondent Nick Jones regrets the decline in standards of reporting since the early days of his career as a journalist.Of all of the changes which I have experienced in over forty years as a journalist, Nicholas Jones writes, I would say that by far the most profound has been in the phenomenal growth in un-sourced and un-substantiated stories. The widespread failure to attribute facts and quotations has become a cancer eating away at the ethical standards of news reporting and the probity of the British news media.
Among the worst offenders are three of the most prominent branches of journalism: politics, sports and show business. All three have a great deal in common. Much of the reporting tends to be personality-led and speculative. So fierce is the competition between newspapers, magazines, websites, television and radio, that the relevant journalists are no longer judged solely on their reputation for fairness and reliability but more often than not on their hit rate when it comes to delivering exclusives.
Another significant similarity is that the news media’s relationship with the leading practitioners in all three areas is increasingly controlled by spin doctors, celebrity agents and the massed ranks of the various specialists in public relations and public affairs. Access to leading politicians, players and performers tends to be strictly limited and is often dependent on a pay-back, either in the form of favourable publicity or straightforward commercial promotion.
My greatest expertise has been in political reporting and I hope I can describe with some degree of authority the step change which has taken place. A glance at a newspaper like The Times would illustrate the point I am making. It is not uncommon for the main stories leading the front page to be based entirely on anonymous sources.
Having worked on The Times as a parliamentary and political reporter in the late 1960s and 1970s I can say with some certainty that thirty years ago it was rare indeed to find a lead story in the paper which offered the reader no direct attribution for any of the facts or quotations. Former sports and celebrity journalists have told me their experiences reflect mine.
So great has been the transformation that even the humble caption to a celebrity photograph can no longer be trusted. Invariably the anonymous quotes tend to be attributed to ‘an onlooker’. Snatch pictures taken by the paparazzi fill acres of space in the popular press and, as the only witness to an ‘event’ has usually been the photographer, the caption writer effectively has carte blanche to dream up the best possible story line.
I keep a file on what the ‘onlooker’ says and these stereotyped quotes have become a cliché. If, for example, a footballer gets caught on camera with a model, our friendly ‘onlooker’ has a pocket book full of suitable one-liners with which to embellish the story: ‘They could not keep their hands to themselves…they were cuddling all the time…they certainly gave the impression of being an item’.
When it comes to political reporting the quotes are likely to be equally imaginative although our ‘onlooker’ is usually invested with far greater gravitas: ‘An Downing Street insider says…the Prime Minister’s aides believe…one cabinet source revealed…’ and so on.
Of course I readily accept that exaggerated and un-sourced stories have been part of the lifeblood of Westminster for centuries but I do believe there has been a further deterioration in the level of public trust in political reporting since Tony Blair became Prime Minister.
Instead of seizing an unparalleled opportunity to do his bit to help push up the levels of accuracy and fairness in political coverage, Alastair Campbell took advantage of the commercial pressures which have driven down journalistic standards. Both he and the rest of the New Labour spin doctors under his control failed to speak on the record whenever possible or to insist that their own quotes were properly attributed.
In exploiting the demand for exclusives, by offering access and interviews in return for favourable coverage, he encouraged the trade in off-the-record tip offs and the growth in un-sourced stories. Obviously previously governments have been as guilty as Blair’s administration in seeking to manipulate the media but the reliance placed on selective briefings during Campbell’s six and a half years in Downing Street further undermined what is, after all, an essential foundation stone for democratic government, a free and fair flow of information from the state to the public and equal access for all journalists.
Given the commercial pressures which drive the intense competition within the media, journalists left to their own devices are unlikely to take the initiative and clean up their own act. Therefore I do think it is incumbent on the government of the day -- and this applies to all those involved in public affairs - to make the first move.
Instant access for all media outlets and the public can be provided via the Internet and the massive expansion which there has been in websites. There is no reason why Whitehall departments and state agencies could not provide a level playing field.
Televised lobby briefings would open up to public scrutiny what is in effect the last closed shop in British journalism and help bring about a new culture of openness. Unless there can be a new presumption that whenever possible government officials speak on the record, a culture of secrecy will continue as will the inherent tendency of much of the Whitehall machine to go on supplying information to journalists on an off-the-record basis which only encourages the fabrication of stories by those reporters left out of the loop.
If the Prime Minister fails to seize this chance to reform the lobby system and if he does give way in the face of protests from vested interests in the House of Commons press gallery, Labour can hardly go on complaining about the growth in un-substantiated political stories.
I have never understood why the government does not see the value in treating all journalists equally. Do ministers not realise it would make it so much harder for us to exaggerate or mislead if we all had simultaneous access to the same information. In that way reporters inside the magic circle, as well as those outside it, really would be tested because the more official sources there are, releasing information to all comers on an on-the-record basis, the harder it would be to defend sloppy, cynical journalism. At least there would then be a chance to drive up editorial standards.LINKSJournalism and Public Trust - the conference
Last modified: Thursday, November 25, 2004
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Notices
Events & Announcements
World Press Freedom Day
More reporters are currently imprisoned in Turkey than in any other country in the world. Only a matter of weeks ago lawyers failed to persuade a Turkish court to release a 76-year-old journalist from a Turkish internet news station.
World Press Freedom Day on Friday May 3, 2013 is being marked in Britain by a rally to highlight the dangers facing journalists in Turkey and in this podcast, Nicholas Jones speaks to Barry White, Organiser at the Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, and Sam Bamford, the TUC's policy officer for Eastern Europe and Africa about the importance of a campaign to highlight international press freedom.
The World Press Freedom Day rally is being staged by the National Union of Journalists at the NUJ head office, Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1 on Thursday May 2, 6pm-8pm.
DATELINE: 27/4/13
UK launch of EU media campaign
DATELINE: 13/3/13
The UK launch of a 'European Citizens' Initiative' calling for EU rules against concentration of media power will take place on Thursday March 21 from 11:00am – 12:30pm in Committee Room 4A at the House of Lords, London. Guest speakers will include actor and activist Hugh Grant (pictured), media consultant Claire Enders, Professor Steven Barnett, Barry McCall (President of the NUJ) and Marc Gruber (Director of the European Federation of Journalists).
A European Citizens' Initiative is an official petition, like a Downing Street petition. If it succeeds in gathering a million signatures across the EU, the Commission is obliged to respond.
This petition calls for the EU to act to protect media pluralism and press freedom.
CPBF Annual General Meeting
DATELINE: 1/3/13
Make a note in your diary
Saturday 13 July 2013 from 10.00am
NUJ HQ, 308/312 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1.
Leveson, media ownership, CPBF future work.
DOWNLOAD FREEPRESS NOW
DATELINE: 26/3/10
Download Freepress in PDF, ePub or mobi format. Issue 194 now available.
MEDIA FOR ALL CONFERENCE
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Papers from the Media for All Conference
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DATELINE: 26/3/10
The media’s job is to inform and entertain us but we rely on them too to tell us what our rulers and representatives are up to. In the run-up to the Iraq war the government used spin and disinformation in the media to create panic and mislead people. The truth is coming out now, but we need stronger, more independent media to be able to scrutinise governments and make informed choices.
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Previous stories
Government Policy
Save Public Broadcasting
The future of non-commercial local radio & tv
BBC Charter review hearings
DCMS review of BBC digital radio published
Is Wife Swap a public service programme?
Public Service Broadcasting Campaign: E-activism site launched
A new framework for Public Service Broadcasting
THE BBC’S FUTURE
Fox censured by Ofcom
ITV Franchise Fees Review
BBC Charter Renewal Debate - Winning a voice for licence fee payers
The Graf report on BBC Online
BBC CHARTER REVIEW (July 2004)
More from Ofcom
New Ofcom documents
CPBF Response to Ofcom Review of Public Service Broadcasting, Phase 1 – Is Television Special?
Defending Public Service Broadcasting
The danger of top-slicing
Campbell’s alter ego
Without Comment
Privatising spin
Submission to the DCMS on the Review of the BBC’s Royal Charter.
Backing the BBC
Where is liberalisation taking the British media?
DON’T BE COWED: The BBC after Hutton
GCHQ whistleblower gagged.
A Spin Free Regime for Blair?
The end of public service information
Hutton, Kelly and the BBC
What public policies are needed in the face of the marketisation of the audio visual sector?
