It is a sad state of affairs when one survey estimates that only 35 percent of the American readership believe that their newspapers report the news accurately. It is even more pathetic to note that the stock value of the New York Times parent company did not drop even a fraction of a point as a result of this event.
Journalism, as a profession, has decreased significantly in prestige in the United States over the past 30 years, and this is an example of how low it has sunk. Here in the Middle East, we observe countries that have minor restrictions on their media and those that have only government-controlled media and we realize the importance of a free and accurate press.
Perhaps the guaranteed freedom that the American press has always enjoyed has contributed to the lack of responsibility in that industry.
What a journalist writes has the effect of impacting thousands of people’s opinions. A perfect demonstration of this fact is to recall the Miss World contest that was supposed to be held in Nigeria last year. One journalist wrote a single article, and it sparked a riot in which over 200 people died. He had written an opinion piece that offended some reader’s religious values. The fact that he was dismissed from his position did not undo the damage he inflicted.
The time and energy required to research an article, to check sources and to reject questionable input is part of the professionalism of a journalist. Most writers, especially of opinion pieces, maintain files with notes and references that substantiate their work.
Copy editors check for obvious errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation and for other mistakes, but they cannot be responsible for content. That is the journalist’s job, and every editor trusts him to perform it properly, just as every reader should be able to trust the newspaper he purchases to report accurately and fairly. This is part of what separates a serious publication from a tabloid.
The American press is no longer trusted by its readers. Writers and editors have adopted a policy that yellow journalism is acceptable. The journalists have decided that what they write is not important enough to require honest, hard work.
The writers who produce opinion pieces have replaced concepts and ideas with whatever spin works for them that particular week. Many journalists simply sit and wait for one tip or another from one source or another that takes them from a news desk and into the realm of a promoter for private interest groups or individuals.
In defense of the journalists that are trying to write accurately and fairly the pressure exerted by their paper’s “position” on certain issues can make it almost impossible to produce balanced work.
Perhaps the American press needs to examine the value system that newly freed press organizations are implementing in the countries in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. In Baghdad, the newspapers that just started running their presses after 30 years of silence are employing the same journalists who were fired by the Saddam government for expressing their ideas.
These writers may have had to wait a very long time before they could work in their profession once again, but unlike too many American journalists, at least they valued themselves and their profession.
(Adrienne McPhail is an American journalist based in Riyadh.)
Arab News Opinion 21 May 2003
