Journalism - nalsarpro.org · This presentation uses a free template provided by FPPT.com ... And a mobile phone penetration that ... Nearly 50% of them smart phones • The big media

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Journalism in an ethical labyrinth

Padmaja Shaw 26 December 2017

NALSAR, Hyderabad


Persecution and recognition

• Printing, and mass circulation of ideas was considered dangerous

• 17 century saw confinement, confiscation etc.

• In France, printers were burnt at the stake

• Milton, and John Stuart Mill

• Inclusion of free speech as a part of Bill of Rights

• Later universal recognition as a basic human right, as an essential element of bourgeois liberal democracies


James Augustus Hicky

• Bengal Gazette or Calcutta General Advertiser • 1780 -1782 • Hicky, from Ireland, printer’s assistant, lawyer’s assistant, surgeon(!) • Migrates to India • Starts a printing business • Starts Bengal Gazette • Rivalry, attacks the British officials, governor general • Imprisoned, continues attacks, free speech • Press confiscated, deported • Paper closes


Fourth Estate

• Thomas Carlyle attributes the term to Edmund Burke – 1787

• Emergence of bourgeoisie/ middle class

• Assertion of individual rights as counter to feudal power

• Legislature, Executive, Judiciary

• The fourth leg, the press, was added to this

• Democratic politics and public opinion – ideas of public interest?


Lord Palmerston (1784-1865)

• Secretary at War • Foreign Secretary • Home Secretary • Prime Minister • Known for

– Colonization – Original gunboat diplomacy – Opium wars with China – Use of media as a weapon (patronage/leaks/plants)


Lord Palmerston ….

Compel or control?

• Press and Public Opinion … which led, which followed … ambiguity

• The Times, Globe, Morning Chronicle, Morning Post

• Cultivate journalists from large number of papers

• Did not own any directly • [much like Nira Radiia affair]


Marx as Editor

• Rheinische Zeitung 1842-43

• Neue Rheinische Zeitung 1848-49

• Feudal monarchies

• Questioning censorship laws

• Pan European uprisings

• Had to leave Germany after the closure of his paper

• Had to leave Belgium to settle in London

• A life-long champion of free press while critiquing the political-media nexus


Marx on Press

“…the progressive division of labour …. emasculated the general intellect of the middle-class men by the circumspection of all their energies and mental faculties within the narrow spheres of their mercantile, industrial and professional concerns. Thus it happened that while the aristocracy acted for them, the press thought for them … and both parties, the aristocracy and the press, soon found out that it would be in their mutual interest to combine.”

New-York Daily Tribune, 21 October 1861


Journalism as counter-power


Freedom of speech …

• All the major leaders of freedom movement used the press to propagate their ideas.

• They were dissident voices and champions of free speech

• Persecution, confiscation, underground circulation

• Low literacy. Very small circulations of their publications compared to bigger papers of their time

• Occupied larger mind-space for what they propagated – bourgeois transformation after liberation from colonial rule


De ja vu…

• Big Capital and Big Politics as owners

• Unlike Legislature, Executive, Judiciary that act as checks and balances over each other

• Big media has been left unregulated and autonomous

• Big Capital and Big Politics continue to use media to fight proxy battles, not necessarily in public interest, as was the case historically

• Big politics and business interests still cultivate individual journalists/media houses. Now they also own much of the media as well


Perception, self and public

• In India today, we have more than a lakh registered print publications, 820+ television channels that reach 163 million households. And a mobile phone penetration that’s crossed the billion mark. Nearly 50% of them smart phones

• The big media feels powerful, primarily because of its proximity to centres of power. They also see themselves as the fourth pillar, a part of the overall structure that they need to support


The counter force …

• But a section of the media recognises the system as dysfunctional, counters power from outside

• This section of the media functions as an oppositional force against the legislature, the judiciary, the executive, and the big media that literally is attempting to be a prop (the 4th pillar) to the dysfunctional system

• But there are dissidenting voices that still challenge the power structures

• Independent voices, counter-power forces, small limited circulation local publications, are still persecuted as they directly confront power … Santosh Yadav, Gauri Lankesh, Santanu Bhowmick and many others


Ethical collision

• Much of the ethical dilemma is at the intersection of these two roles and perceptions of media

– The big media that serve power as the fourth ‘leg’

– The alternate perception of media as a source of knowledge that works as counter to abuse of power

– The notion of fourth pillar as external to the establishment vs part of the establishment – what we debate as ethics is grounded in this contradiction of media’s role in democracy


Ethics & Law

• Law is enforceable part of ethics

• Ethics is unenforceable guidelines

• Following Ethics is voluntary & internal

• Compliance of law is a must and external forces will operate to secure compliance

• Integrity, morals, objectivity, professional honesty utmost importance to public interest are basis of media ethics.


Unethical practices

• Untruthful to readers – by covering and not covering news

• Bias: favouring a party or business or group instead of offering objective facts.

• Paid News: selling news space not for advertisement but for publishing ‘favourable news for illegal consideration.

• Using private lives for sensationalism

• Primacy of business over public interest – private treaties


Regulation of Media

• Self Regulation – individual level. Ethics and code of conduct. Honesty and integrity

• Organizational regulation: Norms laid down by employer-employees for the profession, style sheet etc. Ombudsman

• Professional regulation: By the Journalists union or editors’ guild, broadcasters’ association etc. Code of conduct

• State sponsored ‘independent’ body like Press Council of India etc., established by an Act of Parliament

• Registration, RNI, TRAI, Company Law, Cable Law etc.


Regulation=censorship?

• Big media wary of regulation

• In April 2013, the Delhi High Court--in a case prompted by reality television, rejected the idea of self-regulation and

• Recommended that the central government form a statutory body to regulate the electronic media

• "Absence of state intervention on its own is no guarantee of a rich media environment," a bench headed by Justice Pradeep Nandrajog said.


Attempt to Bring a Bill

• MP Meenakshi Natarajan tried to introduce the Print and Electronic Media Standards and Regulation Bill, 2012, which would have given the government sweeping powers over the media, including ability to ban or suspend coverage of an event in the interest of national security.

• The bill would have also created a regulatory body largely appointed by the government. Natarajan's bill has been shelved in response to a media outcry.


Self regulation

• Codes of ethics – professional journalists,

• Photojournalists

• Broadcasting industry – IBF (BCCC), NBA (NBSA), headed by retired judges

• ASCI


Self regulation

• Codes of ethics – professional journalists

– Uma Khurana

– Arushi murder

– NALSAR students

– Zee News extortion case against Jindal

– Fake news


Self regulation

• Photojournalism


Self regulation

• Photojournalism


Self regulation

• Photojournalism Kevin Carter, Pulitzer Award


Self regulation

• Photojournalism Robert Capa


Self regulation

• Photojournalism Joe Rosenthal, Iwo Jima


Leveson Regulation reforms

• Justice Leveson enquiry was to look at the 'culture, practices and ethics' of the press, and

• to suggest regulations to deal with abuses including, but not limited to, phone hacking.

• Its proposals are being debated as some are arguing regulation is necessary to clean up Britain's salacious tabloids and

• Critics are insisting unelected bodies have no business deciding what the public should be allowed to read and watch.


What to do?

• While some dominant voices such as Katju’s believed that media persons are best suited to regulate their peers

• Others felt this structure only hurts the regulators’ credibility

• Katju also suggested that there be only one body to regulate all media, unlike the current system

• Others backed a statutory self-regulating body to replace the current system


Consensus

• A few essential points emerged as consensus – the regulator should have real power to punish and fine

• Adopt global standards

• Enforce universal membership

• There was also a call to the industry to not hide behind a faulty ratings system as an excuse to broadcast lower quality content


Age of convergence

From 17 century to now, technologies have changed, the pace is faster But power structures and strategies have remained the same Without reimagining the design, isn’t the entire structure at risk of toppling over?


Beyond ethics debates

• A broken incoherent fourth leg ends up supporting unjust wars, neocolonialism, and misery.

• Is it the role of the media to prop up such a system, if it wants to lead transformation?

• Justice Sawant – issue of ownership of media which is at the root of this ethical crisis


Thank you!

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Journalism - nalsarpro.org · This presentation uses a free template provided by FPPT.com ... And a mobile phone penetration that ... Nearly 50% of them smart phones • The big media