The crumbling estate - Page 3
From Griffith REVIEW Edition 25: After the Crisis
© Copyright Griffith University & the author.
Written by Geoffrey Barker
EIGHTH, AND ANOTHER PRODUCT of the quest for money, is the breakdown in the separation between the editorial and advertising functions of newspapers. The long-term credibility and reputation of newspapers demands strict quarantining of editorial from advertising; both departments, as well as readers, benefit from it. But in an era of lifestyle journalism, special supplements and advertising features, newspapers compromise their independence to satisfy the demands of advertisers for some editorial quid pro quo. Perhaps no newspaper is more blatant than the Canberra Times. It publishes supplements in the middle of its editorial pages and acknowledges only in the tiniest visible letters that they are advertising features. Yet each advertisement on each page is accompanied by a puff piece about the product or service offered by the company that has placed the ad. Even The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald are not immune. Media Watch recently revealed that they published unlabelled and arguably misleading advertisements disguised as fun holiday supplements for children.
Ninth, there is now little sustained investigative journalism undertaken by Australian newspapers. Newspaper managers and editors seem reluctant to release journalists from daily reporting duties in order for them to conduct enquiries that might or might not produce publishable material. They seem appalled by the possibility that an investigative team might spend time and money on a project and then conclude that there was nothing worth reporting. There seems little sympathy for the view that the reputation and circulation of a newspaper is likely to be substantially boosted if it produces the occasional major report following sustained investigation.
Tenth, newspapers are closing expensive foreign bureaus and bringing journalists home to serve local markets. This is a result of cost-cutting, but it also reflects a desire to downplay systematic coverage of foreign and even national news in favour of local news. Major newspapers that once had international and national reputations, notably the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne's Age, now emphasise state and local stories involving political, administrative and criminal scandals. Their foreign news coverage, much of it purchased from overseas, tends to be limited and patchy. Vast regions of the planet are simply ignored.
AGAINST ALL THIS IT might be replied, ‘It was ever thus.' Newspapers have always been hotbeds of tension between the demands of journalism and the demands of commerce. There have always been managerialists whose natural inclination is to slash and burn, and there have always been journalists who defend newspapers' public trust to inform and persuade. Yet the strategic decisions made by newspapers to defend themselves against technological change and economic difficulties have only worsened their situation. Rather than seeking to raise their standards, newspapers have raced for the bottom. Rather than honouring their social role, they have chosen to cheapen it.
If there is any room for optimism, it is that few Australian newspapers are beyond redemption. Most still employ good journalists and most still publish much valuable information that is relevant to readers. But they also publish much that is dubious and, despite their vigour, newspapers are increasingly at risk from their misguided attempts to save themselves. They will remain in decline and compromised until they find a way to rebalance the imperatives of commerce and journalism. I hope they succeed in doing so. Free, independent, muck-raking journalism is more important than ever in a world dominated by political, bureaucratic and corporate authoritarians supported by armies of flim-flam communications advisers whose mission is to conceal and mislead, and who are delighted to see readers distracted with a fast-food diet of sex, sport and celebrity scandal. ♦