Task 10!
- 1. TASK 10 (RESPONSIBILITIES AND OBLIGATIONS OF WRITERS) Alan Smith
- 2. Social and Cultural awareness To define social awareness it would be that you should know what is socially acceptable from you in society and you should act in that manner. Cultural awareness however means that you should know the different cultures reading the newspaper for example or other media products. You should respect and appreciate the differences. Understanding and following these are important when studying to be a journalist because the way people are presented in your work may form the opinion of the public reading it. It is vital your work is fair and unbiased. To learn which aspects in writing you should be very accurate and balanced with, the NUJ have produced a list that you can follow. Learning this as a trainee of the union can give you the best possible start. Terrorism, Race, Asylum and Immigration, HIV, Age, Disability and Suicide are all part of the guidelines you should follow when reporting on a story given to you. By following and taking these topics into account when producing your work you will avoid any upset within the public reading the media as well as stopping any further discrimination by adding to the readers beliefs and misconceptions about people in these categories already.
- 3. The NUJ's code of conduct was first developed in 1936. The union has an ethics committee which is responsible for developing the NUJ's policy on ethics and provides advice for members. The 12 rules set should be followed at all times. 1) At all times upholds and defends the principle of media freedom, the right of freedom of expression and the right of the public to be informed. This first point explains the need for the public to be informed. They must be informed with correct information and not opinion. Opinion can be used, however as it states about media freedom and expression. 2) Strives to ensure that information disseminated is honestly conveyed, accurate and fair. This second point makes it very clear that the information is accurate and fair rather than you, the journalist making it sound like something it is not to fit in with your opinion. Honest information should be presented so the reader can make their own opinion. 3) Does her/his utmost to correct harmful inaccuracies. This third rule looks into the correction of harmful inaccuracies. These can be in relation to the guidelines on the previous slide.
- 4. 4) Differentiates between fact and opinion. This can often get confusing in articles when writers get very passionate about their topic. It is important to remain professional and realise that you are providing a service for the public and they want news not your opinion on it. 5) Obtains material by honest, straightforward and open means, with the exception of investigations that are both overwhelmingly in the public interest and which involve evidence that cannot be obtained by straightforward means. Many of the rules cover the same issues concerning the importance to produce honest, reliable and straightforward articles that clearly show the difference to what is fact and what your opinion on the matter is. These rules are to make sure the journalist understands and abides by them. 6)Does nothing to intrude into anybody’s private life, grief or distress unless justified by overriding consideration of the public interest. This covers over harassing people to gather information to produce a good story. This is wrong. If the public can benefit from you going out of your way to cause grief then it can be seen as acceptable, however in most cases this is a rule that needs to be followed. 7) Protects the identity of sources who supply information in confidence and material gathered in the course of her/his work. It is important that if a source asks not to be mentioned, you respect their wishes and not include the name as this goes against their right to privacy.
- 5. 8) Resists threats or any other inducements to influence, distort or suppress information and takes no unfair personal advantage of information gained in the course of her/his duties before the information is public knowledge. Again, this looks over the idea of taking the power of the occupation into your own advantage. This is wrong, you should be providing information to the public as they have a right to know and this should be as soon as possible. If you have the information then you must produce it and inform the public. 9) Produces no material likely to lead to hatred or discrimination on the grounds of a person’s age, gender, race, colour, creed, legal status, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation. All the rules have equal importance, however this one you must make sure you abide by. Producing material that can lead to discrimination is something that should not happen. If the reader already has hatred towards one of these groups then adding to it through the idea of ‘news’ then this can have bad consequences. The work you produce should avoid any material in relation to disability or race or any other important aspect. Unless you can portray them in a clear manner which does not lead to hatred.
- 6. 10) Does not by way of statement, voice or appearance endorse by advertisement any commercial product or service save for the promotion of her/his own work or of the medium by which she/he is employed. You should not promote you work in any way to get your article or piece out there. Forcing information to the public is not right. Providing the service should be the public wanting to choose for example the newspaper you work for over another. 11) A journalist shall normally seek the consent of an appropriate adult when interviewing or photographing a child for a story about her/his welfare. This is a very delicate rule and needs to be understood. When working with children your story, it is very important that a parent or guardian has allowed you to do so. 12) Avoids plagiarism. This can be a very common factor within the media industry and that of taking credit for someone else’s work. This is wrong. If you want to include extracts from a piece then you must state clearly where it is from and by who. The NUJ code includes a new 'conscience clause’ This states that can refuse to produce work in breach of the code and will be given the support of their union if they do so. A good example of the backing towards the clause was from Lord Justice Leveson recently. Sir Brian Henry Leveson is an English judge, currently the President of the Queen's Bench Division. Leveson chaired the public inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the British press, prompted by the News of the World phone hacking affair.
- 7. In this piece by the NUJ, they are announcing that their long standing conscience is still being supported and by the high figure of Lord Leveson. This first section is very clear and concise. It is mentioning about the fact that the union has been campaigning for years against employers and that they are ‘delighted’ that the journalists voices are finally being heard. The text goes on to explain about Lord Leveson listening to them and their concerns however the last paragraph is what caught the eye. "It is disappointing that Lord Leveson has not made recommendations in relation to media ownership and plurality - it is significant that the unfolding scandal at News International happened in a company with a 35.15% share of the market and in a workplace where the NUJ has been effectively blocked by Rupert Murdoch for years. The report is looking into the idea that the NUJ can finally start to look up with the support of big names. The last sentence in this paragraph is very interesting. NUJ being blocked by Rupert Murdoch for years. With this phone hacking scandal there was no room for the union to take great action.
- 8. According to the Oxford Dictionary a Connotation is an idea or feeling which a word invokes for a person in addition to its literal or primary meaning. For example the word ‘discipline’ has unhappy connotations of punishment and repression. A connotation is in fact the opposite to denotation. A connotation is something that is implied when a word is used, whereas a denotation is the actual definition. In relation to journalism and the way they produce their work it is important that the correct words and phrases are used to describe a person. The way in which you describe someone or something can influence the reader. The reaction to connotations can be either cultural or emotional. There are positive and negative connotationsthat feature in pieces of text. For example; Dove meaning peace, Hollywood meaning fame and Wall street suggesting wealth. With this there must be negatives as well. Using words such as Chicken meaning coward or referring to a woman as babe. Mistakes can easily be made in your work so the NUJ have set more guidelines, this time to set out what words you should use. There is also a contact number to ask someone who is there to help. Examples include; Bum- Homeless, Childish- Childlike, Difficult- Challenging, Fat- Overweight, Fired- Terminated, Job- Career, Conceited- Self confident. The way you as a journalist phrase one word can determine how successful you become and how many people you may anger. You need to make sure that all your work is fair, Balanced and does not harm any of the readers.
- 9. 31 percent of headlines and 53 percent of text about asylum across all newspapers has negative connotations. Is it any wonder why many of the readers are becoming extremely angry. In an article by Chitra Nagarajan. ‘How politicians and the media made us hate immigrants’ it is mentioned that the problem is not immigration but socio-economic inequality. ‘Media outlets often inflate or speculate about numbers of asylum seekers, refugees and immigrants. Newspaper and TV images play into the dominant stereotype of the young dangerous man breaking into Britain and threatening ‘our’ communities’. ‘Language used to describe immigration is highly hostile across all newspaper types, with ‘illegal’ and ‘bogus’ the most commonly used terms to describe immigrants and asylum seekers’ ‘In addition to mis-reporting, there is also ‘over-reporting’. In 2002, for example, 25 percent of Daily Mail and 24 percent of Daily Express articles were about asylum’. This idea of over reporting ties in well with the idea of bias and not balancing articles. These newspapers such as the Daily Mail and Express make an article to suit their own agenda and is made in a way to relate to their opinions on the matter. http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/08/we-need-change-very-language-we-use- talk-about-immigrants https://www.opendemocracy.net/transformation/chitra-nagarajan/how-politicians-and-media- made-us-hate-immigrants
- 10. The NUJ have clear guidelines on all aspects in relation to making sure you are not being offensive in the work you produce that is a service to he public. Guidelines on reporting immigration and asylum: Use the term "immigrant" with caution, it is still wrongly used to describe people born in Britain. Asylum seeker, refugee or EU migrant worker? Get the terminology right. Asylum seeker is a person who has left their home country as a political refugee and is seeking asylum in another country. A refugee is someone who was an asylum seeker but who has now been granted refugee status. An EU migrant worker is someone who has moved to the UK to work. Their stay in the UK may be temporary or longer term. When quoting politicians or public figures, verify if their statements on immigration are factual. Ask experts who can help set the context and ensure you check details with a reputable source. Many allegations are made about asylum seekers, ensure you substantiate them, if they are unable to be verified, make this clear. Don't use terms such as "bogus", "illegal" or "failed" asylum seeker. If necessary, use "refused" asylum seeker instead. A fairer term to use for someone who has outstayed their visa is "undocumented" or "irregular". Don't use emotive, value-laden language, such as "floods" of immigrants. Stick to facts. These guidelines are very clear and detailed. You must stick to these, if you are not sure at any point during the process of writing and article. Make sure you ask the union. In terms of general guidelines you must only include a person's race if relevant. Check that you have it right. Would you mention race if the person was white? Do not assume a cultural background from a person's name – check with them or their community. Remember that Black communities are culturally diverse. Get a full and correct view from representative organisations. Exercise care, balance and proportionality when covering race relations issues. https://www.nuj.org.uk/work/nuj-ethics/ The union can help with ethical issues via the NUJ ethics council, ethics helpline and email support.
- 11. Alternative readings When journalists write they have an image in their mind on who the reader will be. It is from this that the language used may be changed to relate to them as the journalist will see them as sharing the same opinion. That is not the case. Anybody could pick up the newspaper or magazine and find to be insulted by it. Is from this that you as the writer needs to make sure that the piece is well balanced, accurate and does not cause any offense. When looking at producing work to those who you believe share the same ethics and beliefs it is important to look at Stuart Hall a Jamaican-born cultural theorist and sociologist. There is a huge amount of detail concerning Hall and what he wrote about. Reception theory is something that can be relevant towards journalists. Also known as audience reception, this is when a group of readers have a shared cultural background and interpret the text in similar ways. It is likely that the less shared heritage a reader has with the artist, the less he or she will be able to recognise the artist's intended meaning, and it follows that if two readers have vastly different cultural and personal experiences, their reading of a text will vary greatly. From this it explains that the less the person reading about the article knows about the writer the more offended they will be, this is due to not understanding their meaning behind it. The idea of different cultures is important. People may not understand the way you have written something as it may be something they have not experienced before. This means that as a journalist you must expect people to have never read from this newspaper before and you must be careful and balanced with every topic as people can interpret things in different ways. Making sure your article causes no offense is all that can be asked from you.
- 12. Credibility The Oxford Dictionary describes credibility as ‘the quality of being believable or worthy of trust’ This is vital for journalists because without the trust of the readers they will find it difficult to believe any piece of text that is written. Once seen as not credible then journalists will see value on stories go down. In order to be credible a journalist much follow five aspects. They must be Objective, Accurate, Truthful, Fair and Balanced in all the work they produce. Objective: Journalists should be impartial for any subject they write about. It is important to avoid having an agenda in your work and you should not include an article to enhance your beliefs and influence the reader to agree with you. To be credible you must understand how to present information and avoid being prejudice. This idea of an agenda is demonstrated well in newspapers. The idea of choosing between left and right wing. Left being papers such as The Independent that are seen to be very credible, whereas ‘The Sun’ on the right, less so. To make the point of objectivity the example of ‘The Cook Report’ is a good one. This was a British current affairs television show that featured on ITV from 1987. This was seen to be a credible source of information as Roger Cook who was behind the show was an BAFTA award winning investigative journalist and broadcaster. However, in 2000 ‘News of the World’ (Hugely right wing at the time) published a series of front page allegations claiming that The Cook Report had faked a number of programmes in which crimes were set up for Roger Cook to solve. Even though Roger Cook and Members of the production team issued writs for Libel against the former newspaper, their credibility was still damaged due to the report. This clearly shows how much influence a paper can have over the public. News of the World demanded an investigation was made by the Independent Television Commission. After witnesses for the defense had voluntarily retracted their paid-for testimony, The News of the World reluctantly had to agree with the ITC’s conclusions and made a statement to that effect in open court. This idea of paid for testimonies is a perfect example into credibility and the idea of taking part in certain actions to produce something that makes your investigation look as if it is correct. The News of the world was later investigated and on the 7th July 2011, after 168 years in print they were shut down due to allegations into the phone hacking scandal. After the loss of 200 jobs the credibility of the newspaper was completely lost. This newspaper was not objective in its reports over the years and especially on the accusations surrounding Roger Cook. It is important to not attack people with your agenda and opinions. Base all your work on fact.
- 13. The next point when looking into how to be seen as credible is that of accuracy. It is very important that all the work you produce is correct and based on facts and figures you have gathered from reliable sources. To be seen as credible you must makes sure the basic names, dates, times and quotes are all correct. This may be seen as somewhat of a formality, however many journalists can get this wrong and the consequences can be huge for those involved. An example of where distress and harm has been caused by creating articles without checking the source would be: On 16 September we published an article headed ‘I’ve had Moore women than James Bond’ which claimed that Sir Roger Moore had recently spoken exclusively to The People and made comments to our journalist about his private life. We now accept that Sir Roger did not give an interview to our reporter and did not make the comments that were reported in the headline. We apologise for any distress and embarrassment our article has caused to Sir Roger Moore and we have agreed to pay him damages and legal costs. (The Sunday People issuing an apology) This looks into the idea that a newspaper can just make up a story and without thinking about the people it may cause. The statement accepts that they did not give an interview with Roger Moore. It is from this where the public may start to realise how credible the Sunday People is and perhaps look at alternatives. It is from this where IPSO was created. To deal with complaints. Starting in September 2014 and taking over from the press complaints commission this regulatory body tries to maintain and measure performance and that journalists follow the editors code of practice. If they do not then they are set up to deal with issues concerning something published. The third aspect and perhaps the most important behind being seen as a credible journalist is being able to report the truth. Without this in the work you produce you could face serious actions taken against you both legal and ethical. You must make sure you produce fact and actual news rather than your opinion or something made up in order to grab attention of the reader. Producing false articles and putting words in peoples mouths can lead to your reputation being ruined but more importantly the person you are wrongly accusing being judged wrongly by the public. Many journalists do not understand the meaning of being truthful and some often bend ‘facts’ to tie in with what They are saying about someone or something. As a journalist you have a professional obligation to assemble and verify facts. Why don’t newspapers tell the truth? They are focused on selling their product rather focusing on facts as these can often be seen as less exciting.
- 14. An example of a newspaper being caught out not telling the truth in their work would be from the London Evening Standard. In our diary article “Museum finally signs its deal to be fine and dandy” we referred to the exhibition of the late Sebastian Horsley’s suits at the Museum of London and the Whoresley show, an exhibition of his pictures at the Outsiders Gallery. By unfortunate error we referred to Rachel Garley, the late Sebastian Horsley’s girlfriend, who arranged the exhibitions, as a prostitute. We accept that Ms Garley is not and has never been a prostitute. We offer our sincere apologies to Ms Garley for the damage to her reputation and the distress and embarrassment she has suffered as a result. “Museum finally signs its deal to be fine and dandy” Sebastian Horsley is a showpiece now. The Museum of London has just signed a deal with Rachel Garvey, the prostitute girlfriend of the late Soho dandy, to exhibit 13 of his suits, a number of hats, shoes, shirts, outfits and umbrellas, as well as his last diary and a cardboard cutout of himself. Horsley, who died of a drug overdose in 2010, had left his estate to Garvey. Here above is an extract from the article, higher up is the apology made for the use of the word prostitute. Stating this without any evidence to back up the claim can have disastrous consequences for everyone. Rachel Garvey now has to rebuild her reputation whereas the newspaper will need to work very hard to be seen as credible by many of their readers now. It is clear this was not truthful and puts the point very clearly. As a journalist you want to build yourself a good reputation to be known as reliable and trustworthy. Our working journalists who follow the guidelines set are very established because of it.
- 15. The last part to being able to say you are a credible journalist is that of being both Fair and balanced in all that you write. Number 2 in the NUJ Codes of Practice states that you Strive to ensure that information disseminated is honestly conveyed, accurate and fair. Being fair involves mentioning both sides to an argument and not just explaining one side to a story to suit with your own agenda as part of working for a newspaper. It is clear papers are divided between both wings and from this there are readers who believe certain aspects in the world and therefore purchase a particular newspaper. It is important that when working on a piece you can say that you have produced a balanced report, not just placing the other side to a story near the end of the piece. Overlooking or ignoring one side is not right and just the same as using facts and figures to sway a story or piece into your opinion. The common way is to use ‘experts’ on articles. These experts are seen to to legitimise a story. But often the public ignore that these people have their own opinions on matters. Quoting and using someone who believes with your beliefs as a paper is not helping to create a balanced story and is not fair. These “experts” are always members of left-wing. In relation to an abortion case these experts would give their say on it but they are never identified for their bias. The media has gone out of its way for years to push the liberal agenda on abortion. Bias by selection of source. ‘Experts say’ ‘Most people believe’ ‘Observers say’ these are often used in stories to make them ‘reliable’ they do not. These often never state who this person is quoting on a piece. The newspaper could have taken them off the street. Just because they are used, it does not make them a reliable source of information. Bias by commission looks into the point about being balanced. Papers completely leave out one persons opinion on a matter to make them look like they are in the wrong and the papers point is backed up by the other side they mention more than the other.
- 16. Legal and Ethical Obligations Defamation (define, use Sheridan example) Copyright (Define, Children ( Paul Weller example)
Editor's Notes
- #10: I would explain this further in the ‘Alternative Readings’ slide coming up. Show the links and give the trainees the opportunity to write it down. Mention the Newspapers above are both Right wing and how papers can alter a story to tie in with their beliefs.