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Posted: Monday 2 June, 2014 at 10:18 PM

The Media have a responsibility to the Public

By: Stanford Conway, SKNVibes.com

    BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - MANY citizens and residents of St. Kitts and Nevis, like millions of people the world over, do not understand the role of the media. They perceive reporters as a group of inquisitive individuals pursuing them, and even invading their privacy, to get information on an event or issue that they may deem personal.

     

    On the one hand, some of them are correct in their perception because there is a category of reporters who are glory-hunters. In wanting to make a name for themselves they colour (sensationalise) most news stories, exempt accuracy and verification, and omit balance and fairness.

    On the other hand, people need to understand that the role of the media is to inform, teach, educate and entertain. And to this end, the media are often in conflict with governments.

    Every media house [print and electronic] has its own policy but their policies ought not to be in conflict with journalism ethics. Some of these media houses and their operatives have no regard for ethics. Their primary aim is for the sale of newspapers [print] and to attract listeners/viewers [electronic] to gain more advertisements, while their ultimate goal is profitability.

    In other words, all business entities operate on the basis of profit maximisation but, at the end of the day, it pays to be credible, ethically and morally responsible in whatever one puts on the market for public consumption.

    Further, the media are known as the “people’s watchdog” and any occurrence that may affect a society, the people have a right to know through the media.

    However, some individuals, including governments, are not in agreement, but in every democratic state the press is said to be free and people must be kept abreast with what governments have done, what they are doing and what they intend to do; for governments are the people’s servants and it is they [the people] who elected them to manage the countries’ affairs. 

    According to Melvin Mencher, the free press justifies its existence in terms of moral imperatives; it rationalises much of its behaviour with moral declarations.

    If public consent, freely given, is essential to the proper functioning of a democracy, then for the consent to be meaningful the public must be adequately informed by a press free of government or any other control.

    As said by the late American President Thomas Jefferson, “Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.”

    Although it should be understood that a free press must exist in a democratic state, the onus lies with editors on what to publish. He/she must ensure all articles are factual and they do not border on libel or slander.

    The editor and the journalist must remember their role. That is, their concern is the public, not the special interest.

    On matters that require the balancing of the press’ self-interest or the interest of a special group against the general interest, the latter should prevail.

    One social scientist noted that defining the public or general interest is not easy, “for, as some maintain, there is no public interest but a melange of special interests. But there are concerns shared by most people, and access to information is one of the basic needs of a democratic society”.

    However, when all is said and done, the journalist is the one who gets the news, but he/she must remain loyal to the facts. 

    As John Dewey puts it, “Devotion to fact, to truth, is a necessary moral demand.”

    The journalist must have a reverence for rules, codes, laws and arrangements that give a sense of community. Such concern causes the journalist to keep careful watch for any action that can divide people into hostile groups, classes or race.

    He/she must also avoid valueless objectivity, for this can lead to what philosopher Stuart Hampshire describes as an “ice age of not caring”.

    Journalists must also believe in the methods of journalism – the gathering of relevant thoughts, the evaluation of those facts through analysis and the synthesising of them in the story. Conviction to this method will certainly lead to some kind of truth worth sharing.

    Journalists rely heavily on their sources for information, but, at times, the price for information may be too high.

    When a journalist guarantees sources anonymity by quoting them without attribution, the journalist can be made an accessory to the management of the news.

    According to Melvin Mencher, there is no problem with a reporter accepting information on a confidential basis if the material can be checked out and its accuracy independently determined. Then the reporter can attribute it in a story to other sources. However, the information offered on a not-for-distribution basis usually is non-verifiable and the reporter then has to bear some responsibility for the information.

    Conclusively, journalists must demonstrate a willingness to hold belief in suspense. That is: the ability to doubt until evidence is obtained; the willingness to go where the evidence points instead of putting first a personally preferred conclusion; and the ability to hold ideas in solution and use them as hypotheses instead of dogmas to be asserted.
     
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