JEDDAH, 23 November 2007 — A couple of weeks ago dozens of people carrying tools and shovels flocked to a construction site outside a Jeddah mall to uproot a “possessed” palm tree, following reports in local newspapers that the mall was offering SR1 million to anyone who could complete the feat.
However, to the surprise of the people that had assembled there, the tree was not possessed and there was no bounty. This is not the first time and nor will it be the last that local newspapers publish half-truths.
Dr. Sattam Al-Enizy of the Riyadh Medical Center too complained of being falsely quoted in a local newspaper regarding a totally different story. “I never met the author of the article and nor did I make any statement,” said Dr. Al-Enizy. “The journalist should’ve been accurate and honest in collecting and reporting the information,” he added.
Haji Jaber, a 31-year-old Saudi correspondent for the Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international broadcaster, believes that ideally readers’ intelligence and awareness should help them question stories in the media and spot fabricated ones.
“When a reporter fails to seek and report the truth, then it is the reader’s responsibility to hold him accountable,” he said, adding that newspaper establishments also have a duty to ensure reporters are upright. “It is also the newspaper’s duty to scrutinize the honesty of reporters until they are proven to be of good ethics,” he said.
He noted that the poor writing skills of some reporters incite them to exaggerate unimportant events to make them more exciting and appealing to readers.
Around six months ago, another local newspaper reported how a 24-year-old man was handed a jail sentence and lashes, and fined for assaulting a school principal. The report, however, identified the wrong school and the wrong principal. “The assault happened, but not in my school,” said the school principal who was wrongly identified in the news article. “Reporters should know what they’re on about when they report news. I received so many calls from family and friends after they read that article,” he added.
Ahmad Zeineddine, 45, professor of journalism at the Lebanese University of Beirut, said reporters fabricate stories, among other reasons, to fill empty pages. “It’s also possibly done to spread rumors, achieve ulterior motives such as earning a reputation, and increase the number of articles to fill blank pages on a bad day,” he said.
Professionalism is the key to quality and efficient journalism, said Zeineddine. “When this is absent, which is the case in the majority of the Arab press, we find articles that lack content, quality and substance... The problem persists because readers don’t hold news organizations responsible for what they publish,” he added.
Michel C., 56, a seasoned European journalist, said that a good reporter should have “a voracious appetite for facts.” Michel said journalists that report false news are probably looking for glory and self-promotion, or have got the wrong end of a story.
“Ignoring a fact is not realizing its importance. It means the reporter is either dishonest or foolish... They need to know so they could tell the difference between a credible story and a false story fed by someone who has an agenda or someone who basically doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” he added.
Answering a query from Arab News a few months ago about a local newspaper report that the Ministry of Education was considering to allow high school girls put on light makeup while at school, a Ministry of Education spokesman said: “It isn’t true. Reporters tend to be silly in what they write about.”
Ebtihaj Menyawe, editorial director of an Arabic daily, believes that producing accurate news is not the sole responsibility of reporters. “Editors are responsible for monitoring stories that reporters submit. However, journalists are morally bound to adhere to a journalistic code of ethics,” said Menyawe, adding that if a reporter is new to the profession, then editors should ask for proof.
Menyawe also believes that newspapers should take legal or official action to penalize reporters, who jeopardize their credibility.
Nayerooz Housawi, a Saudi reporter, believes that many reporters in the Kingdom are obsessed with getting scoops regardless of whether a story is newsworthy and accurate.
“Reporters must be self-disciplined. If a reporter writes an inaccurate story just to be ahead of rival newspapers, then the newspaper must penalize him or her... (Inaccurate stories are) unfair to the newspaper and members of the public,” said Housawi.
The UK’s Press Complaints Commission’s Code of Practice states, “Newspapers and periodicals must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted material including pictures. Whenever it is recognized that a significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distorted report has been published, it must be corrected promptly and with due prominence.”
However, in the Kingdom, with the absence of a similar code of practice, fabricated stories of jinns living under trees and made-up quotes will continue to grace the local daily press.
