Mac201 Objectivity and impartiality 2014

#MAC201Robert Jewitt

robert.jewitt@sunderland.ac.uk

News: objectivity, impartiality & balance

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Session Outline

IntroductionFourth EstateWhat is objectivity?

Origins of objectivity Objectivity in practice – Examples...

What is impartiality?What do we mean by balance?Conclusion

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Handy background reading3

Which? Report (2012)

Professions by percentage of people who said they are trustworthy:

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Which? Report (2012)

Professions by percentage of people who said they are trustworthy:

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1. Politicians 7%2. Journalists 7%3. Bankers 11%4. Estate agents 11%5. Builders 19%6. Civil servants 25%7. Accountants 29%8. Lawyers 35%9. Engineers 56%10. Teachers 69%

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“This goes to the heart of science reporting – you wouldn't have a homeopath speaking alongside a brain surgeon for balance, as that would be absurd.

It's just as absurd to have a climate sceptic for balance against the work of the overwhelming majority of climate scientists.”- Steve Jones, biologist

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Power of the media: Fourth Estate

The “forth estate” - separate from: the church the judiciary the commons (see Allan, 2004: 47)

“The public trust most of the things they read in newspapers so journalists must be responsible in the way they present issues that directly affect the lives of others” (Nyaira, 2004: 34 cited in Harcup, 2007: 3).

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Power of the media: Fourth Estate

1. “Democratic” role: help the public understand the world around

them

2. “Watchdog” role: “bring misdemeanours to the attention of

the public” See Conboy, 2004: 110

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Criticisms...

“The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force.” (Karl Marx, 1845)

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Criticisms...

Ethnic minorities “opinions are less asked or found less credible or newsworthy, also because most journalists (and virtually all editors) are white” (Cottle, 2000: 36)

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A fair say?

Allan (2004: 52) points to the increasing marginalisation of voices in:◦ The labour movement◦ Trade unions◦ Feminists◦ Anti-racists◦ Environmentalists◦ Anti-poverty activists ◦ Groups committed to progressive social

change

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Objectivity:

Simply: Trust & ReliabilityFactors include: Factual accuracy; unbiased,

separation of fact from comment, not taking sides

“Controversy about the term stem mainly from the view that true objectivity is unattainable and it is misleading to pretend otherwise” (McQuail, 2000: 500).

Ideological...

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Truth?

Whose ‘truth’?Truths based on facts?Facts require full

contextsFacts must be accurate

Does the news have time and space to explore all issues ‘truthfully’?

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Objective reporting

1. What?2. Who?3. When?4. Where?5. How?

And if possible….6. Why?

For more see: Manoff and Shudson,

1986: 2-10; Sigal, 1973: 66-9.

Objectivity = verifiable facts (not interpretation)

Extra's: incident, interview, report

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Verification17

Pressure to remain profitable & cost-effective hinders lengthy investigative journalism

24 hour production cycle forces tight deadlines upon journalists - New technologies enhance the speed of reporting

Work to set rules of practice, proven to get results in an attempt to explain the unpredictable

Routinising the unexpectedRoutinising the unexpected (see Allan, 2004: p64) (see Allan, 2004: p64)

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Story quotas uncovered…

Typical scaremongering story in Metro News ‘Game Transfer Phenomena’

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Story quotas uncovered…

“The Metro, they obviously had an agenda - because all [the reporter] said was that he just wanted to know about the negative stuff. I told him that the paper was primarily positive, or at least neutral. He said 'I don't want to know about that, I want to know the negative stuff.' So I just went through what we did, what we found and what we are doing next.”

Prof Griffiths, author of the study!!!

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Hierarchies

The farm owners or residentsLocal politicians (Councillor Tony Ball)BailiffsEnvironmental health officialsCampaigners

Journalists rely on a commonsensical understanding that society is bureaucratically

structured (Fishman, 1980: 51)For example: Dale Farm eviction (October 2011)

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BBC1 coverageBBC1 coverage ITV1 coverageITV1 coverage

Images of protester in concrete

3 second soundbite of angry resident

5 second soundbite of campaigner

5 second soundbite of resident

20 second piece by Councillor

Audio of aggressive residents

18 second appeal by bailiffs

2 second soundbite of angry resident

Images of celebrations 10 second piece by

Councillor

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‘‘Primary definers’Primary definers’

‘This means constantly turning to accredited representatives of major social institutions – M.P.s for political topics, employers and trade union leaders for industrial matters, and so on…’ (Hall et al, 1978: 58)

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‘‘Primary definers’Primary definers’

‘Such institutional representatives are “accredited” because of their institutional power and position, but also because of their “representative” status: either they represent “the people” (M.P.s, Ministers, etc.) or organised interest groups’ (Hall et al, 1978: 58)

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Reporting of Islam

“The attack is not against Islam as a faith but Muslims as people” (Halliday, 1999: 898).

Different forms of Islamic belief? 1960s – immigration (problem of numbers) 1970s & 80s – Black community (criminals) & Irish

(IRA/ terrorism) 1990s to present – Muslims (Un-British/ terrorists) &

Asylum (damaging to Britain)

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Is Islam reported objectively?

Empirical work – “72% of articles over a six month period in The Sun contained the words terrorism and Islam together” (April – September 2008).

“The public trust most of the things they read”

Any event concerning Islam, who do the media turn to as a source???

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Abu Hamza Omar Bakri

Contemporary media: Quick & Easy

Bell’s study (1991) – pre-packaged news

Newsmakers rely on: Interviews (face to face, phone, email,

etc)Public addressesPress conferencesReports, letters, minutes, surveys, etcPress releasesNews agency copy

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The influence of news agencies and PR28

From Flat Earth News: Direct rewrites of PA article: 30% Largely reproduced from agencies: 19% Contained elements: 21%

News sourced from press agencies: 70% (this excludes PR material which would push figure even

higher)

In SunSpace:Justin Lewis, Andrew Williams and Bob Franklin, 2008, ‘Four Rumours and an Explanation: A political economic account of journalists’ changing newsgathering and reporting practices’ in Journalism Practice, Vol 2, No 1, pp 25-45.

The influence of news agencies and PR29

From Flat Earth News: “PA has such credibility that media outlets

treat it as a reliable source which does not need to be checked. The BBC’s internal guidelines … specifically instruct their journalists that they must have at least two sources for every story – unless it is running on PA … A special notice issued by the BBC journalism board on 1 December 2004 told the staff: ‘The Press Association can be treated as a confirmed, single source’”

Davies, 2008: p74-5

The rise of “impartiality”?The rise of “impartiality”?

Defined as:

A “sound practice [that] makes clear distinction between news reports and expressions of opinion. News reports should be free of opinion or bias of any kind”

(American Society of Newspaper Editors, 1923 in Allan, 2004: 22)

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““Impartiality” has become…Impartiality” has become…

The doctrine of “not taking sides” in the reporting of public affairs

Realisation of the impossibility of absolute “objectivity”, seeking “balance” instead

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BUT…

In the context of unexpected breaking news, how do you achieve balance?

Developments are unknowable?

????? ?????

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““Due impartiality”Due impartiality”

“To ensure that news, in whatever form, is reported with due accuracy and presented with due impartiality” http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/broadca

st-codes/broadcast-code/impartiality/

BBC have extra guidelines http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/our_work/other/century2

1.shtml

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Accusations of bias

BBC Trust5 impartiality reviews

since 2007: 2013: religion and

ethics, UK/EU relationship, immigration

2012: “Arab spring” 2012: science coverage 2008: 4 nations 2007: business

coverage

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Beneficial bias?36

Conclusion

Objectivity can never be satisfied due to the structural limitations of strict deadlines for news and the consequences of routinising the unexpected.

News aims for impartiality which is problematic given that news selection and positioning means subjective value decisions still have to be made

The ‘truth’ of news is that it is ideological

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Points to consider:

Objectivity? (is it possible?)

Impartiality (Is it necessary?)

What are the techniques by which the news makes itself credible?

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Sources

S. Allan, 2004, News Culture 2nd Edition, Berkshire: Open University Press A. Bell, 1991, The Language of the New Media, Oxford: Blackwell. N. Davies, 2008, Flat Earth News, London: Chatto & Windus Stuart Hall, ‘The Whites of Their Eyes: Racist Ideologies and the Media’ in Paul Marris and Sue Thornham

(eds.) 1997, Media Studies: A Reader, Dundee: Edinburgh University Press S. Hall, C. Critcher, Jefferson, Clarke, Roberts, 1978, Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State, Law and

Order, D. Hallin, 1986, The Uncensored War: The Media and Vietnam, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Justin Lewis, Andrew Williams and Bob Franklin, 2008, ‘Four Rumours and an Explanation: A political

economic account of journalists’ changing newsgathering and reporting practices’ in Journalism Practice, Vol 2, No 1, pp 25-45.

M. Leapman, 1992, Treacherous Estate, London: Hodder & Stoughton. R. K. Manoff and M. Shudson (eds.), 1986, Reading the News, New York: Pantheon. J. Palmer, 1998, ‘News production: news values’ in A. Briggs and P. Cobley, The Media: An Introduction,

Harlow: Longman. R. McChesney, 2001, ‘Global Media, Neoliberalism, and Imperialism’ at

http://www.monthlyreview.org/301rwm.htm P. Schlesinger, 1987, Putting Reality Together 2nd edition, London: Methuen. L. V. Sigal, 1973, Reporters and Officials, Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath. M. Shudson, 1991, ‘The sociology of news production revisited’ in J. Curran and M. Gurevitch (eds.), Mass

Media and Society, Arnold: London. G. Tuchman, 1978, Making News, New York: Free Press.

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See also:

Race and ideology in newsStuart Hall, ‘The Whites of Their Eyes: Racist

Ideologies and the Media’ in Paul Marris and Sue Thornham (eds.) 1997, Media Studies: A Reader, Dundee: Edinburgh University Press

Corporate media ownershipRobert McChesney, 2001, ‘Global Media,

Neoliberalism, and Imperialism’ at http://www.monthlyreview.org/301rwm.htm

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