Who Drives the News

international | arts and media | opinion/analysis Wednesday February 15, 2006 18:23 by Liam Mullen - Freelance journalist

INTRODUCTION.

Journalism, in my opinion, is driven by big business needs. Nowhere is this more evident than in the power of advertising. Editors need to strike a balance between what hard news they can report, and soft news can often be used in conjunction with advertising.
In times of crisis an insatiable demand for hard news from the public may drive the demand for hard news, and journalists and editors need to meet this demand. Sales of newspapers can often increase in times of war, for example. The public demand is for immediate, uncensored news. This was very apparent during the Falklands War, post 9/11, and the Iraqi invasions. Demand for hard news can also increase during certain times when something momentous is happening – examples including the Clinton/Lewinsky affair, the death of Princess Diana, the tsunami in Asia, and the recent flooding of New Orleans.

Events like these have always caught the imagination of the general public and have driven the demand for news. The history of press freedom was won in battles against the state; including the “abolition of the Star Chamber in 1641, the ending of press licensing in 1694, Fox’s Libel Act of 1792, and the repeal of press taxation – the ‘taxes on knowledge’ – in the period 1853 to 1861.” The authors also find a link between the growth of advertising and the “Fourth Estate.” (Curran & Seaton 2003, pp. 3).
Early radical newspapers like the “Poor Man’s Guardian, Northern Star, and Reynold’s News” were driven by journalists and “activists” who saw themselves as part of the “Working Classes” movements and the “Chartists.” (Curran & Seaton 2003, pp13). The authors identify that the radical press titles came under pressure from newspapers that attracted sufficient advertising revenue to mount a successful challenge to their dominance of the market, and newspapers willing to curry favours from successful businesses and “capitalists.” (Curran & Seaton 2003, pp12-13).
At a time when Europe had undergone the 1848 revolutions, a number of societal changes were taking place. “Free market” thinking was beginning to take hold, “middle-class reform”, and a push for better public services like “libraries.” (Curran & Seaton 2003, pp 21).

THE GROWTH OF ‘DAILIES’

A number of popular dailies eventually overtook the radical press, fuelled in part by big business interests and the press barons. These included the “People (1881), Daily Mail (1896), the Daily Express (1900), and the Daily Mirror (1903). Circulations increased, and so too did start-up costs that could make newspapers break even. Newspapers came to rely heavily on advertising to fund their editorial ambitions, with even the Reynold’s News succumbing to this new type of market pressure despite drawing criticism from sociologists like Karl Marx. (Curran & Seaton 2003, pp18 –32).
The “press barons” were beginning to consolidate titles in the newspaper industry. Influential ‘barons’ included the “Harmsworth Brothers – Lords Northcliffe, Rothermere, and Sir Lester, the Barry Brothers – Lords Camrose and Kemsley, Colman, Lord Beaverbrook, Dalziel, Riddell, Lloyd, Pearson, Astor and Cadbury. (Curran & Seaton 2003, pp40). Modern day ‘barons’ include Robert Maxwell and Rupert Murdoch. Such men ruled their newspaper empires with “ruthlessness” and consolidated their empires by buying out their competitors. They also formed what became known as the “opinion leaders”, newspapers with such clout like The London Times, the Washington Post, Der Spielgel, and the Guardian that they drove the editorial thinking behind lesser known newspapers and news outlets. ((Noelle-Newman & Mathes, Classnotes, p397). Studies by Funkhouser and others though noted a difference between how the media reported an event and how the public generally perceived it. (Funkhouser, 1973: 62-75, Classnotes).

WHO CONTROLS THE NEWS?

According to Conor Brady “nobody really controls a great newspaper, not an editor, not a manager, and not a proprietor.” Brady edited the Irish times from 1986 to 2002, and writing in his new book ‘Up With The Times’, his experience of the newspaper industry makes for entertaining reading. According to Brady “a newspaper has an identity and a personality that constantly evolve, drawing upon the past while being shaped by the present.” (Brady 2005, pp1). Having spent sixteen years editing the Irish Times, Brady is in a position of knowing what drives the news, but many might not agree.
John Whale is one who puts forward the view that “the broad shape and nature of the press is ultimately determined by no one but its readers, because newspapers must reflect their reader’s views and wants if they want to survive in the marketplace.” (Classnotes, 27/10/05).
The influence of Murdoch on news values is all-pervasive. A number of media ‘watchdogs’ keep a tight watch on media matters and their websites can sometimes present an alternative view of the news: www.indymedia.org, www.corporate.watch.org, www.democracynow.org, palestinenews.org, truthout.org, and others that cater for specific groups in society like feminists. Rupert Murdoch operates Newscorp, a giant corporation that controls various news media worldwide. His tentacles reach into the “production and distribution of motion pictures, television, satellite and cable broadcasting; the publication of newspapers, magazines and books, the production and distribution of promotional and advertising products and services, the development of digital broadcasting services and business interests which include major sports teams.” (http://www.corporatewatch.org). Some of his newspaper interests stretch from the ‘New York Post’ to ‘The Times’ and ‘The Sunday Times’ in London, ‘The Sun’, and a huge array of Australian titles. (http://www.newscorp.com). He also owns major studies like 20th Century Fox, the Fox news network in the US, and the publishers HarperCollins.
Murdoch has been closely linked with Thatcherite policies, and his newspaper ‘The Sun’ regularly espoused Conservative views. Editors who failed to toe the Murdoch line didn’t last like Barry Askew of ‘The Sun’, and Frank Giles of the Sunday Times. (Curran & Seaton, 2003, pp.70-71). When Andrew Neil took over from Giles, he “moved the paper further to the right.” Murdoch was rightly seen not just as a newspaper baron cut from the same mould as Conrad Black, Robert Maxwell, and Sir Tony O’Reilly, but as a ruthless businessman, as evidenced when he crushed the printing unions by moving his publishing interests to Wapping, and by blocking the publication of Chris Patton’s book in case it damaged his newfound Chinese business interests.
In television, politics and media interests often clashed. Thatcher had a number of run-ins with the BBC, particularly with its coverage of the Belgrano sinking in the Falklands, and Northern Ireland politics. (Curran & Seaton, 2003, pp.210-211). The recent controversy over the Andrew Gilligan affair show that clashes between politicians and media elements are inevitable.
In many ways powerful barons like Rupert Murdoch can drive the news, and deliver content over a number of media platforms, including new media like the Internet, by sheer manipulation and pursuit of the bottom line: profits.

WHAT ABOUT THE PEOPLE ?

To a large extent the way ordinary people receive the news is stymied by government regulations, and by the news presented to them by huge conglomerations; hence the rise of independent news sites like www.indymedia.org and blogs. Censorship of the news has always played a part. During the Northern Ireland conflict, the Irish national broadcaster RTE often tripped itself up over the rules imposed under Section 31 – which forbade interviews with terrorists or with people who had subversive links.
In certain corners of the world strict press censorship is the norm – Cuba, Zimbabwe, Nepal. Chomsky himself notes “in countries where the levers of power are in the hands of a state bureaucracy, the monopolistic control over the media, often supplanted by official censorship, makes it clear that the media serve the ends of a dominant elite.” (Chomsky & Hermann, 1994). In an interview given to myself earlier this year when working as a news reporter with Griff FM, a spokesperson for the organisation ‘Reporters without Borders, Vincent Russell spoke about the “Predators of Press Freedoms” throughout the world, and cited China, Iran, Eritrea, and particularly Cuba.
Russell confirmed his organisation had no compunction about naming and shaming what his watchdog refers to as “Predators of Press Freedom”. He adds that these rulers need to bear responsibility for their actions and that this is the reason “we denounce those in charge of repression.” The “predators” could be classed as a “ruling elite.”
The “predators” reads like a roll call of state-sponsored terror and includes: totalitarian figures like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Fidel Castro of Cuba, and Tan Shwe of Burma. Another organisation battling corrupt regimes is the ‘Committee to Protect Journalists’. In a similar telephone interview to Griff FM earlier this year, its Executive Director, Ann Cooper, stated that “press freedom is so vital to democracy around the world,” and her organisation campaigns against these injustices. Cooper says we all have a role to play. She says international pressure can work, and that “EU pressure” is effective.
Of the 29 independent journalists “swept up” by Castro’s regime, imprisoned for filing stories to websites outside of Cuba, eight have been released on what the Cuban authorities call “medical grounds”, but Cooper insists they were released after “international pressure” was brought to bear. The sentences these journalists were handed down reveals a story in itself, and to date the Cuban embassy has not responded to a demand for a proper explanation.
The Committee works on a worldwide basis, citing the case of Russia, where “journalists are killed every year in contract style killings, ever since Vladimir Putin came to power, and nobody has been brought to justice over it.” According to Cooper this “kind of impunity and lack of justice perpetuates the situation,” and she adds starkly: “You can probably kill a journalist and get away with it.”
The Philippines is another area of concern to her organisation. Her organisation also monitors individual cases, as with the case of missing French/Canadian journalist Guy-Andre Kieffer, a freelance journalist and commodities expert who was attempting to expose corruption in the cocoa and coffee sectors when he went missing on the Ivory Coast. These scenarios conform to Chomsky’s findings that “the media compete, attack and expose corporate and governmental malfeasance,” when advocating “free speech” and the common good. (Chomsky & Hermann, 1994).
British Minister, Bill Rammell, recently lobbied Cuban Minister, Felipe Roque, in a two-hour meeting in relation to human rights’ abuses, and pressed the Cuban Minister for the release of all political prisoners, including the journalists in prison. A spokesperson for Rammell’s press office confirmed that the Minister met with opposition leaders in a telephone conversation with myself earlier this year. (Exact date unknown).
In “advocating greater press freedom,” Cooper urges people to get involved, stressing that they can make a difference. By logging onto the website www.cpj.org, people can sign petitions that might make corrupt regimes sit up and take notice, and this approach is also emphasised by Vincent Russell of ‘Reporters Without borders’ who says people can log onto www.rsf.org, and register their disapproval. Cooper urges people to write their own “protest letters”, and to lobby their own governments to act on these issues.
The latest figures issued on World Press Freedom day show that the role of the journalist in our society has become much more dangerous.
In working towards these aims we should all bear in mind the resolution adopted by the United Nations in relation to press freedoms:
"Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."(www.un.org)
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 19
Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly,
December 10th, 1948
THE ROLE OF THE PROFESSIONALS

It seems obvious that journalists and editors can be hampered in their roles by over-zealous media owners any by governmental decree. We’ve already seen the way in which detractors from the views of Murdoch were treated. By purporting to act as the “Fourth Estate” (Class-notes) and act as a true ‘watchdog’ for the public, whilst upholding democratic values, journalists and editors need to stick together. Organisations like the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) can help by laying down frameworks and ethics that all journalists must aspire to. To do less would be to demean our profession.
Journalists of the calibre of Rory Carroll who was recently released from captivity in Iraq are out to break the toughest stories, and the very fact that journalists are out there is sufficient proof that the public want solid news stories that tell the ‘truth’. The truth behind stories like ‘Abu Ghraib’ and ‘Guantanamo Bay’ need to be told, so that in the words of Carroll, “the British and the Americans can be held to account for what is happening there.” (Newman, Christine, 2005, Irish Times).
In looking at the question of who drives the news, the owner, the professionals, or the public, it is obvious that there is a fourth dynamic at work. Politicians. In their book, Curran and Seaton note how the British government has always exerted some type of control over the BBC through the ‘licence fee’ issue. Organisations like the Broadcasting Council can also veto the news. Even in so-called democratic nations like the US, the power of men like George W. Bush in controlling media content is very evident.
The RTE journalist, Carole Coleman, drew criticism from the Bush administration during her televised interview with the President, but she hit the nail on the head when she declared: “It’s the journalist’s job to lead the interview.” (Coleman, Carole, 2005, p16).
Chomsky also noted how a “propaganda model” could influence the news, and listed a number of “filters” as highly significant:
· “The size and concentrated ownership, owner wealth, and profit orientation of the dominant mass-media firms, like General Electric, Knight-Ridder, Gannett, Hearst, Scripps-Howard etc.
· Advertising revenues.
· The reliance of the media on government sources, business interests and ‘experts’.
· ‘Flak’ as a means of disciplining the media
· Anticommunism, which has since being supplanted by ‘anti-terrorism’.” (Hermann, Edward, S & Chomsky, Noah, 1994. pp5-31).
The media theorists, Galtung and Ruge, noted four key elements in the way news was dissected by journalists and editors: “frequency, reference to persons, reference to negative events, and consonance.” (Noelle-Neumann, Elisabeth & Mathes, Rainer, 1983, p399).

CONCLUSIONS

Until politicians get their heads around the fact that it is the journalist’s job to “lead the interview” there will always be clashes of opinion between media practitioners and government dictats, and organisations like the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations will continue to be busy. (http://www.cjes.ru).
McDonald notes that Hannah Arendt finds a link between how the news is reported and what politicians want to put out: “…seen from the viewpoint of politics, truth has a despotic character.” (Merrill, Barney, 1975). He also notes the views of the Freedom of the Press Commission in 1947, when they declared that “the press owes to society ‘a truthful, comprehensive, and intelligent account of the day’s events in a context which gives them meaning.” (McDonald, Donald, 1973, p69, classnotes). He notes the comments of one reviewer – James Agee – as significant in that any event reported upon has to be separated from the “chaos of facts.” (McDonald, Donald, 1973, p71, classnotes).
The comments in relation to George Orwell still carry weight today: “In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.” Orwell also speaks of “euphemisms” and the language of reporting. (McDonald, Donald, 1973, p73, classnotes).
It seems obvious that in order to deliver on impartial reporting the journalist needs to tread a fine line between his own outlook and his nationalist ideals; the reporter needs to weigh the news-value of a piece in light of the public’s right to know with the editor’s and proprietor’s needs; he/she needs to report with a true conscience, and to write from the heart. My final conclusion is that although big business can drive the news, for example by taking the employer’s side in a labour dispute, a delicate balancing act must be achieved if a newspaper or news outlet is to maintain public credibility and to remain loyal to its readers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS
Brady, Conor, 2005. Up With The Times. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan.
Chomsky, Noam, Hermann, Edward S, 1994. Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, A Propaganda Model, London, Vintage.
Coleman, Carole, 2005. Alleluia America! An Irish Journalist in Bush Country. Dublin: The Liffey Press.
Curran, James, Seaton, Jean, 2003. Power without Responsibility: The Press, broadcasting, and new media in Britain. London: Routledge: Sixth Edition.
Galtung, J, & Ruge, M.H, 1965. The Structure of Foreign News: the Presentation of the Congo, Cuba, and Cyprus Crisis in four Norwegian Newspapers, Journal of Peace Research 2: pp64-90; reprinted in Tunstall, J. (ed), 1970, Media Sociology: A Reader, pp259-88, London, Constable.
Merrill, Barney, 1975. Ethic and the Press. Classnotes.
Noelle-Neumann, Elisabeth & Mathes, Rainer, 1983. The Effect of Media on Media Effects Research, Classnotes.

NEWSPAPERS
Newman, Christine, 2005. ‘Strong Media Presence in Iraq Vital,’ says Carroll. ‘It’s fantastic to be home, it’s been a real roller-coaster’ in The Irish Times, 24th October, HomeNews, pp3.

WEBSITES

http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=357 {ACCESSED 30/10/05}

http://www.newscorp.com/operations/newspapers.html {ACCESSED 30/10/05}
http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html {ACCESSED 30/10/05}
http://www.cjes.ru/bulletin/?lang=eng {ACCESSED 30/10/05}