Filed under: Journalism, Politics | Tags: Catherine O'Connor, Churnalism, Decline of newspaper sales, Deidre O'Neill, Fourth Estate, Journalism, Journalism Standards, Leeds Trinity and All Saints, Newszak, PR, Press releases, Public Relations
In my first blog post, I discuss a journal article entitled The Passive Journalist which can be accessed here written by Deidre O’Neill and Catherine O’Connor; two academics from Leeds Trinity and All Saints university. This article is mainly concerned with contemporary journalistic standards and how journalists use sources of information.
Source noun is defined by the Cambridge University online dictionary as “the place something comes from or starts at, or the cause of something” while this may not be a literal definition of a journalist’s source, it is possible to acknowledge that a source can often act as the basis of a story and are often at the “heart of news selection and production.” There are plentiful sources of news, in a seminar our group of four students named forty sources whereas Harcup (2004) lists seventy-two. However, it is argued that journalism has become slack and lazy, whereby it has become a common sight in news rooms across the country to see journalists glued to their desks all day waiting to package press releases and becoming dependant on a small number of sources who are able to put a spin on what information they provide.
A constant source of discussion among academics, scholars and journalists is the apparent decline of sales and therefore circulation of print newspapers, something that has seemingly affected nationals (red tops, middle market and broadsheets) which is attributed to many factors, online news the most often accused. A lack of sales is not without consequences, as revenue declines so do many argue the number of sub editors, journalists and time afforded to writers.
However, the variety of local newspapers might be declining but profitability has remained higher than that of the nationals (Bob Franklin), although, much like the national and even international press there are emerging monopolies such as Trinity Mirror, Newsquest Media Group and Johnston Press which dominate the local news market; which leads to the accusation that journalists are ill afforded time to become a part of the local community and develop an array of contacts. As I mentioned in the paragraph above the ever more capitalistic nature of newspapers leads to less journalists doing more work with less time. As local newspapers become detached from their respective communities it is important that local news “should offer independent and critical commentary on local issues”. Is it too easy, bearing in mind the less than ideal conditions that a contemporary local journalist has to operate under to become reliant on propagated packaged news from dubious sources such as press officers and PR firms – and is this the reason why we’re ending up with what is described as “churnalism”.
The Passive Journalist study focuses on the type and number of sources reported in 2979 news stories published in four daily West Yorkshire papers, owned by the three main proprietors of local newspapers in the United Kingdom; The Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Trinity Mirror), Bradford Telegraph & Argus (Newsquest) and The Yorkshire Evening Post and the Halifax Courier (Johnston Press). Reliance on sources reinforced the above views, with seventy six per cent of those stories that used a single source rarely being contentious or critical of the source that provided the story which leads to the accusation that “This seriously undermines the trust that the public can place in information from local papers.” While this might be a slight exaggeration in my opinion it does lead you to question the qualities of local journalists.
Local government reporting was particularly interesting to me, as they were found to have an unquestioning reliance on council press officers and press releases; where does this leave the supposed bastion of the fourth estate? The study also shows that two thirds of local government sourced stories had no discernible secondary source. This kind of journalism provides no questioning of the accountability of local government and as such local journalism isn’t providing a suitable watchdog role over local MPs and councillors. I can see no reversal of this frightening trend, and can only hope that journalistic standards somehow are able to improve whereby critical journalism can flourish.
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I completely agree with your last statement, that one can ‘only hope that Journalistic standards somehow are able to improve whereby critical Journalism can flourish’. I think we live in a society where journalists have got bad press (the irony) for how they have gone about finding and researching stories. We have journalists today who I feel are almost afraid to do the required work needed in order to be an honest and ‘good’ journalist. It is critical journalism that has produced reliable journalists who have been able to get the true story. However as it shows in Deidre O’Neill and Catherine O’Connor’s article, journalism has given into the ‘capitalistic nature of newspapers’ and the pressure of writing what is affordable, easy to read and easy to research. I feel journalism needs to go back to basics, back to when journalists had to find their sources themselves, and find their stories. This article has made me question, have journalists forgotten their role and responsibility?
Comment by rohannaphillips October 21, 2009 @ 8:58 amI think the role of the journalist as watchdog will never be the same again. The MPs scandal did bring this aspect of press responsibility back into the spotlight, but the days of Watergate and The Washington Post are long gone!
Comment by Laura-Emily October 21, 2009 @ 3:26 pmI do not always think it is the journalists fault though. They are a product of the industry. The have to fit in with the values and deadlines of the paper. I have been witness to this working at a local paper myself, and I can tell you local news reporting is highly unrewarding and the experience turned me off it for life. But if we want critical journalism to flourish, then the owners and editors of these homogenous local newspapers should be challenged first.
Comment by ashpercival December 2, 2009 @ 12:32 pm