This is a commentary long promised and continuously changed because the publication date kept on changing due to force majeure. Even so, the subject matter is still timely as Lord Justice Leveson, the author of the report about culture, practices and ethics of the press in Great Britain, must have friends in high places. I am not referring to friends in high political or juridical quarters but in higher places still, celestial ones. It has to be so.
The right to know was debased into curiosity and sensationalism. Ethics became subordinated to money- Fr Joe Borg
His report published on November 29 lambasted the press for “wreaking havoc in the lives of innocent people”. In the days that followed publication, the pro-Leveson celestial powers gave their nod of approval by permitting two incidents showing that the UK press does not have monopoly rights on the rot in Newsland.
The prank by two Australian DJs (it was an invasion of privacy, not a joke) played on Jacintha Saldanha, which cost her her life, has been the subject of many a newspaper article, news bulletin and bloggers, so there is no need to repeat it here in great detail. I wrote my take on the subject in my regular blog on timesof malta.com: ‘Needless, heart-breaking and bewildering’ ( http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20121208/blogs/needless-heart-breaking-and-bewildering.448767 ).
The most important aspect of the whole tragedy has not been given the importance it deserves. I will write more on that further down.
The other story hails from the United States. R. Umar Abbasi, the photographer who captured the last moments of Ki Suk Han who was thrown in the path of an oncoming train by Naeem Davis.
Abbasi, a professional photographer who was close by, captured Han’s last moment. The following day the New York Post front page printed a full-page picture of the tragedy with the sick heading: “DOOMED: pushed on the subway track this man is about to die”. (You can read more about it on: http://www.imediaethics.org/News/3640/Clues_that_abbasi_lied_about_new_york_ post_subway_photo_.php/ )
Incidentally the Post is owned by Rupert Murdoch, whose other paper News of the World triggered the Leveson Inquiry. It is a case of saying that some people never learn.
Most media reports billed the stories from the personal perspective. In the case of the English nurse, the blame was put on two ‘irresponsible’ DJs. In the New York case, a greedy and inhumane photographer who preferred a photo he could milk than saving a man’s life was portrayed as the guilty party.
This framing is partial at best. The real culprits were the media institutions, not the individuals.
The decision to broadcast the telephone conversation with the English nurse was not taken by the DJs but by the lawyers and the management of Sydney’s 2Day FM. The decision to print the photo of Han’s final moments was not taken by the photographer but by the editor and the management of the New York Post.
The management of both organisations did not take the decisions they took because they are heartless people but because they work in heartless media organisations.
Such commercial organisations have prostituted information into a mere saleable commodity. The right to know was debased into curiosity and sensationalism. Ethics became subordinated to money.
The famous sentence of The Sun’s editor, Kelvin MacKenzie says it all: “I thought ethics was a place to the east of London where the men wear white socks.” Due to this attitude the culture of the British press (and the press in many parts of the world) became bullying, self-opinionated, self-referential, intrusive and abusive.
Then when the trash hit the fan and the Emperor’s clothes became stinking filthy, crocodile tears were shed.
Following the Leveson report the editors of The Sun put ashes on their heads, wore sackcloth and wrote that the paper “has acknowledged past mistakes by changing its culture and improving corporate governance”.
The good point is that people’s power, in the end, turned out to be more powerful than media power.
The point I want to make is quite simple. The solution to media abuse will not result just because journalists behave ethically. Media abuse is mainly an institutional creation and can only be solved by organisational and institutional solutions.
The solution proposed by Leveson is a strong self-regulatory regime with a statutory underpinning.
Leveson pointed towards another problem, namely the connections between journalists and politicians. He devoted more than 300 pages of his inquiry’s report to the analysis of this relationship.
He gave details of the close relationship between Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International, and Prime Minister David Cameron, including the “country suppers” the pair enjoyed in the Cotswolds and the countless cosy texts messages sent to each other.
Leveson also drew attention to a pyjama party hosted by Gordon Brown’s wife at Chequers, and how Tony Blair intervened to help Rupert Murdoch secure an Italian media deal.
Many British journalists certainly do not follow Jeremy Paxman’s advice to treat politicians with the same respect dogs reserve for lamp posts.
Are there any lessons that we can learn in Malta?
We have a very feeble self-regulation of the press. There is, from time to time, some naming but hardly any shaming.
It is true that our newspapers have not engaged in the excesses indulged in overseas; but the commercial ethos, which causes so much mayhem overseas, is making inroads speedily and incisively. Should we wait to slide that far before we do something concrete?
Besides, we have a very particular type of relationship between journalists and politicians, as the latter employ the former.
One can say that the agenda of such journalists is overt and so there is very little danger from this relationship. This is only true to a point.
There are journalists with a covert relationship. Besides, during an electoral campaign all the dogs of war will be unleashed: innuendo will replace fact, propaganda will take the place of information and opinion will be so enmeshed with facts in journalistic pieces that it will be difficult to distinguish one from the other. On top of this add the carpet coverage, particularly in the political media, and the venom that will be spewed in the irresponsible use of the social media.
Since the climax of the campaign will be during Lent one can only exclaim: Lord have mercy!
joseph.borg@um.edu.mt