Media must always hold torch of credibility
NEWSPAPERS are meant to be vigilant and, as society's watchdog, particularly over the government, challenge attempts at concealment of the truth from citizens, something that has characterised governments over the ages.
The beginning of a year is a good time to do some introspection, to determine whether the media has been keeping their side of the deal.
Our readers want to be sure that they are buying a product that has been prepared with absolute care by professionals and are provided with a wide range of information, opinions and entertainment. They want to know that the information is honest, truthful and as complete as possible within the constraints of newspaper space. They want to know that it is information they can trust and that journalists have followed the truth.
At this time, it is perhaps a good thing to scan the media environment and the horizon ahead to prepare even better for the threats that have been hanging over our heads in the past year or so.
We know that the government will continue to seek to control information. We know that once our government decided that control of the state broadcaster was not enough, as more and more people migrate to satellite television and independent radio, they would seek coerced support.
Communication has moved from the days of wire photos, land line machines which could transmit photos, telex machines which spring to life with news breaks, even typewriters from which only the keyboard is a survivor and faxes to the instant transmission of information.
The lid is off. No government can control the dissemination of information. We know that we do not want the hand of government in influencing what is published.
But in knowing all this, we need to remind ourselves what our primary responsibility is to provide news and information that is accurate and fair. We should be telling the world what is happening around us and venture to tell our readers why and how. This is back to basics journalism.
There is no doubt that we have sometimes been found wanting and where we got things wrong, we were able to accept this.
We must also not focus too much on the threats and forget the vigilance over ourselves. We need vigorous journalism, not sensational journalism. We need to revisit our accuracy check lists and editorial policies on issues like the use of anonymous sources.
The adversarial relationship between the media and government is healthy for our democracy and is necessary to build on our democratic gains.
Journalism has fought many battles over the ages. The profession has resisted tyrants and charlatans who wished to deceive citizens. This is a fight we cannot give up.
There will always be those in political or economic power who would want the media to establish an opinion or viewpoint first, and then go out and seek stories to support that opinion.
We have been told that we are ignoring the achievements of our democratic government. This might be so in certain circumstances. We have also been told that the people have elected the government. But this does not mean that they have given up any right to determine for themselves what information they need. Access to information is democracy itself and if it declines, as it would if the media is restricted, the country will slide towards totalitarianism.
Greater care needs to be taken in publishing news. While there has been a decline - certainly in Avusa newspapers -- in the number of "regret the error" boxes on Page 2 or even full apologies and corrections and libel cases, the media has to deal with the public perception of its role and its performance.
Even accepting human fallibility - and journalists are only human - much more needs to be done to convince readers that they can trust us . Our challenge is to lead readers back to the news they ought to read and digest . News that they can use. Sometimes it might not be palatable, but it is not our role to sugar-coat bad news. We will continue to carry the burden of providing news and information to a skeptical society.