tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/reporting-15986/articlesReporting – The Conversation2023-11-06T13:32:45Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2166002023-11-06T13:32:45Z2023-11-06T13:32:45ZSearching for the right angle – students in this course shoot pool to learn about journalism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556397/original/file-20231028-19-njpcze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=42%2C17%2C5648%2C3771&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A journalism course invites students to consider the parallels between gathering news and shooting pool.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/confident-teenage-boys-playing-pool-on-illuminated-royalty-free-image/991158980?phrase=shooting+pool&adppopup=true">Maskot / Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Text saying: Uncommon Courses, from The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/uncommon-courses-130908">Uncommon Courses</a> is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.</em> </p>
<h2>Title of course:</h2>
<p>“News Writing and Reporting II: Multimedia”</p>
<h2>What prompted the idea to use pool to teach journalism?</h2>
<p>I wanted to break up the monotony of having students sit at their computers and write news stories or listen to me lecture. So I figured I’d change the venue and try something more kinetic.</p>
<p>I had been going to the <a href="https://stamp.umd.edu/centers/terpzone">TerpZone</a> – a recreational area located in the basement of the student union at the University of Maryland in College Park, where I teach – to eat and use the Wi-Fi. As I watched students shoot pool, I thought: It would be cool to hold at least one class meeting here.</p>
<p>I also thought it would be beneficial. My rationale was that I knew there were some interesting parallels between shooting pool and news gathering. For instance, accurately reporting a complex story could be compared to making a tough shot.</p>
<p>Interestingly, the day I decided to convene class at the pool tables, our regular classroom was unavailable anyway due to a <a href="https://www.dcnewsnow.com/news/university-of-maryland-water-outage-after-water-main-break-some-buildings-closed/">water main break on campus</a>. So holding class at the pool tables in the TerpZone – which was not affected – ended up being quite fortuitous.</p>
<h2>What materials did the lesson require?</h2>
<p>I rented four pool tables for an hour or so. I have 14 students. Some students competed on two-player teams, so there would be up to four students per table. </p>
<p>We got the tables at half price, so it cost me $16.</p>
<p>For students who weren’t familiar with pool, I provided a link to a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmfKI01S-ws">short instructional video</a> to watch before class. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BCvna-0tTpY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">“The Importance Of Angles In Pool”</span></figcaption>
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<h2>What does the pool lesson explore?</h2>
<p>We explored the various ways that good journalism is like shooting pool. To do this, I had each student interview three classmates and ask each one for a journalism/pool analogy. The idea was to have students collect a variety of viewpoints, just as if they were out covering a story in the community, which they do often for this course. </p>
<h2>What’s a critical lesson from the pool lesson?</h2>
<p>Students reported that shooting pool gave them a visual way to understand what journalists do. </p>
<p>One student found it helpful for players to “step back and take a new look at the table before their turn” – a concept that easily applies to reporting a story.</p>
<p>“Finding the right angle for an article requires taking a fresh look at the facts and quotes,” the student wrote.</p>
<p>Another student said both journalism and shooting pool require patience. A different student touched on the benefits of remaining calm – whether as a journalist on deadline or when it’s time to sink the eight ball to win the game.</p>
<p>“Composure is key when it comes to both,” the student said. “I think there are high-pressure moments. Now you have one ball left, two balls left, and you gotta be able to keep your composure, perform under pressure.”</p>
<p>Other students noted how pool demonstrates the need to anticipate unforeseen consequences as they pursue stories.</p>
<p>“It was important to know where all the balls were on the table and how hitting one would affect the others,” the student said. </p>
<h2>Why is this approach relevant now?</h2>
<p>Americans’ trust in the media to report the news accurately and fairly is <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/403166/americans-trust-media-remains-near-record-low.aspx">at a near record low</a> – just 34%. </p>
<p>If pool – or any other game – can teach future journalists to be more thoughtful about how they pursue stories, perhaps it can lead to better coverage and help restore public confidence in what the media report.</p>
<p>There are other reasons why an approach like this makes sense at this particular time. Students are under a lot of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.886344">academic stress</a>, which can affect their overall well-being. As many pool players will tell you, shooting pool can be a <a href="https://www.thecaregiverspace.org/billiards-to-cope-with-stress/">positive way to relieve stress</a>. It also can help <a href="https://www.dovemed.com/healthy-living/wellness-center/health-benefits-billiards/">build self-esteem and improve concentration</a>.</p>
<p>Also, before we shot pool together, I rarely saw students socialize with one another so effortlessly. When we moved class to the pool hall, students socialized like never before. So it was a good team-building exercise. My only regret was not doing it sooner in the semester.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216600/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jamaal Abdul-Alim works as an adjunct at the University of Maryland in College Park. He also currently serves as education editor at The Conversation.</span></em></p>A journalism professor discovers that some of the best lessons for future journalists can be taught on a pool table.Jamaal Abdul-Alim, Lecturer in Journalism, University of MarylandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2017502023-03-14T15:48:43Z2023-03-14T15:48:43ZBudget explainer: here are some ways to read between the lines on what’s being reported<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515017/original/file-20230313-26-kuv4ic.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C255%2C7034%2C3005&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Understanding economic news.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/diverse-group-people-community-togetherness-technology-497553619">Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>UK budget announcements inevitably lead to a deluge of reporting on how the chancellor’s latest plans for the economy will affect our wallets, pensions and investments, as well as the bottom lines of businesses, charities and entire industries. </p>
<p>Sifting through all of this reporting can be confusing. Not just because of the sheer volume of budget-related news and analysis, but also because it’s difficult to accurately break down the real-life impacts of complex policy decisions for a wide audience, many of whom don’t have a background in economics or business.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/documents/thematic-review-taxation-public-spending-govt-borrowing-debt.pdf">BBC review</a> of the impartiality of its reporting on fiscal policy – taxes, spending, government debt and so on – was certainly critical of the British broadcaster’s attempts to explain the economy. The report, published in November 2022, reflected many of the frustrations that academic economists like me have about the reporting of economic issues. </p>
<p>It’s unclear how much impact the BBC report will have on financial journalism, but we can at least use it to help people that aren’t economists spot when the reporting of economic issues may be more misleading than informative.</p>
<p>Recent figures showing <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmrc-tax-and-nics-receipts-for-the-uk/hmrc-tax-receipts-and-national-insurance-contributions-for-the-uk-new-monthly-bulletin">unexpectedly high government tax takings</a> provide a great example. The data led to suggestions that the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, will have more money to spend or give away in his budget. </p>
<p>But this treats the government as if it was a cash-constrained household, unable to borrow or save. Most governments <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-bonds-work-and-why-everyone-is-talking-about-them-right-now-a-finance-expert-explains-191550">find it easier to borrow</a> than households and firms. They can also create money through their central banks (as the UK did during the pandemic). So remember: any references to the government “<a href="https://www.ippr.org/blog/economists-urge-bbc-rethink-inappropriate-reporting-uk-economy">maxing out its credit card</a>” should be ignored.</p>
<h2>Debt isn’t always bad</h2>
<p>Assumptions that debt and deficits are inherently bad are also incorrect. For example, you might hear about “worrying” or “alarming” increases in government debt, which implies the government should be doing something to stop it – or even that it reflects government irresponsibility. </p>
<p>This kind of reporting was particularly prevalent under the UK coalition government of 2010-15. Some research shows it did <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003104476-17/media-austerity-mike-berry">a great deal of harm</a> in terms of encouraging public acceptance of spending cuts that have led to today’s impoverished public sector – and yet it persists. </p>
<p>In reality, debt and deficits allow governments to avoid cutting spending every time taxes are temporarily low (in a recession, for example) by borrowing instead.</p>
<p>Most economists would say what actually matters is that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt-to-GDP_ratio">ratio</a> of government debt to GDP should be stable in the long run – over decades rather than years. A record recession, <a href="https://ifs.org.uk/articles/10-years-have-we-recovered-financial-crisis#:%7E:text=The%20immediate%20result%20was%20a%20deficit%20of%20%C2%A3153%20billion%20or%20very%20nearly%2010%25%20of%20national%20income.">like that of 2008-2009</a>, is bound to produce record deficits. But economists generally have very little idea what the optimum level of government debt should be. In fact, governments can allow their debt to rise in recessions, as long as it stabilises (as a ratio of GDP) when the recession is over.</p>
<p>Reporting about debt sometimes also reflects two more general problems with economic news. The first is political, and involves internalising government policies. For example, you might read that a rising deficit means the government will have to cut spending. </p>
<p>What a news article on this topic should actually report is that a rising deficit means the government <em>will say</em> it has to cut spending. In fact, other choices like higher taxes or accepting higher borrowing are also possible. It is seldom true in economics that there is no alternative.</p>
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<img alt="Man standing in front of grey wall full with graph pie charts and calculations, finance, economics, uncertain, confused, frustrated." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515018/original/file-20230313-1442-j19r5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/515018/original/file-20230313-1442-j19r5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515018/original/file-20230313-1442-j19r5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515018/original/file-20230313-1442-j19r5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515018/original/file-20230313-1442-j19r5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515018/original/file-20230313-1442-j19r5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/515018/original/file-20230313-1442-j19r5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Trying to understand financial news.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/successful-confident-businessman-thinking-about-decisions-792745768">ra2 studio/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>A related problem is when data is presented incorrectly, particularly in a way that creates alarm. The <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/documents/thematic-review-taxation-public-spending-govt-borrowing-debt.pdf">BBC review</a> starts with the example of a chart showing the value of government debt since 2020, with steady and sometimes quite rapid growth. But this value can be expected to rise over time because of inflation and economic growth.</p>
<p>So, be suspicious of charts that fail to “normalise variables” by, at the very least, adjusting the figures to account for inflation. Better still, such charts should show these figures as ratios to GDP, which will reveal any true underlying trends.</p>
<h2>Selective statistics</h2>
<p>We all know about the dangers of selective statistics. A notorious example that academic economists warn against is the comparison of GDP growth rates across countries in a single year. The winners and losers in such comparisons can vary a lot depending on the year chosen. It is always better to make longer-term comparisons. </p>
<p>But even when charts are used to show a decade or two of data, they can still be misleading if longer runs of data are available. The ratio of debt to GDP may look high today compared with 40 years ago, but it remains much lower than in the decades after the second world war.</p>
<p>NHS spending provides a good example of the last two problems combined. Even if you normalise NHS spending as a ratio of GDP over time, it tends to rise (the decade after 2010 is an exception). This can suggest the NHS is getting the resources it needs. However, the ratio of healthcare spending to GDP has been <a href="https://data.oecd.org/healthres/health-spending.htm">rising steadily in many countries</a> since the second world war, for reasons including ageing populations and advances in medicine. </p>
<p><strong>Rising healthcare spending</strong></p>
<iframe src="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/public-health-expenditure-share-GDP-OWID" loading="lazy" style="width: 100%; height: 600px; border: 0px none;" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>So the key question is not whether NHS spending is rising, but whether this spending relative to UK GDP is above or below the underlying positive trend seen in other countries over decades.</p>
<p>Economics is, of course, not alone in being misrepresented by media reports. But <a href="https://mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2023/02/fiscal-reporting-at-bbc.html">I would argue</a> that reporting that gets the economics wrong has had an important impact on politics over the last 15 years.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201750/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Wren-Lewis has in the past received ESRC grants for developing a macroeconomic model of the UK economy. He has also been a consultant for H.M.Treasury, the Bank of England and the IMF.</span></em></p>Reading economic news can be confusing. Here’s how to understand what the news is – and isn’t – telling you.Simon Wren-Lewis, Emeritus Professor of Economics, and Emeritus Fellow of Merton College, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1930972023-01-25T20:38:21Z2023-01-25T20:38:21ZI covered murder-suicides, and learned how journalists were vulnerable to trauma<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506164/original/file-20230124-12-yy4j6c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C20%2C6720%2C4446&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Researching and reporting on traumatic events can affect journalists' mental health.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It never really dawned on me how vulnerable journalists were to trauma until I took a job as an investigative reporter. I spent most of 2021 and 2022 verifying, analyzing and writing stories about murder-suicides.</p>
<p>Every morning, I would make myself a cup of coffee in my New York City apartment, then sit down at my desk to pore over cases of murder-suicides — a total of <a href="https://vpc.org/studies/amroul2020.pdf">1,500 a year in the United States at the time</a>. </p>
<p>I was consumed by my work. I was going through every news story about a specific murder-suicide, checking the accuracy of facts like the spelling of names, ages of the perpetrators and their victims and details of where the events occurred and how the murder-suicides were carried out.</p>
<p>In one case, I spent a month working out the number of <a href="https://www.mississippifreepress.org/27548/domestic-abuse-other-factors-linked-to-notable-filicide-rates-in-the-south-and-beyond">children killed by their parents</a> in various parts of the country. When relatives I hadn’t seen in four years came to visit, I spent most of their trip elsewhere, interviewing with experts on gun and domestic violence. </p>
<p>Some stories were gruesome and graphic, like the case of José Valdivia in California who killed his ex-wife and children the day after she filed for a restraining order before turning the weapon on himself. That was one which hit me especially hard; I was living alone, and each time I would see a child with their parent, I would try to figure out what could possibly trigger such an awful event. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506167/original/file-20230124-6117-yykvp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="book cover with the title COVERING VIOLENCE" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506167/original/file-20230124-6117-yykvp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506167/original/file-20230124-6117-yykvp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506167/original/file-20230124-6117-yykvp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506167/original/file-20230124-6117-yykvp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506167/original/file-20230124-6117-yykvp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506167/original/file-20230124-6117-yykvp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506167/original/file-20230124-6117-yykvp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Covering Violence by Roger Simpson and William Coté is one of the few guides for journalists reporting on traumatic events.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/covering-violence/9780231133937">(Columbia University Press)</a></span>
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<p>Trying to understand why a parent would take the life of their own child was important. But I felt as if I was trying to justify these heinous acts, and I didn’t want to make them acceptable.</p>
<p>Journalists are trained to be <a href="https://theconversation.com/skepticism-not-objectivity-is-what-makes-journalism-matter-158777">objective and neutral</a>, so we’re able to report on events, no matter how disturbing, without emotional involvement.</p>
<p>But staying detached was impossible.</p>
<h2>Journalism stress</h2>
<p>Stress has <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1750635219895998">detrimental effects on the body</a>. I had frequent migraines and I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t silence my thoughts and quiet the chaos in my head. I began feeling claustrophobic in unfamiliar surroundings, and jumped at sudden loud noises. I felt unsafe and anxious. </p>
<p>My feelings made no sense to me because I had neither witnessed a crime nor reported on one directly, and yet I was deeply affected, physically and emotionally. </p>
<p>My experience was just one example among the soaring incidence of stress among journalists. Covering wars, diseases and deaths is stressful, and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/canada-journalist-stress-study-1.6466217">this is compounded</a> by increasingly demanding workloads and uncertain job security.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CnlrVxWMAIL","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>Experienced trauma</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.journalismforum.ca/">Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma</a> looked at <a href="https://www.journalismforum.ca/taking-care-report">the mental health of more than 1,200 journalists in late 2021</a>. More than two-thirds suffered from anxiety, 46 per cent reported depression, and 15 per cent said they had experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) over the past four years. </p>
<p>Anna Mortimer is an ex-journalist who founded <a href="https://themindfield.world/">The Mind Field</a>, a group that provides therapy to journalists and humanitarian workers remotely around the world. </p>
<p>“A journalist may not identify the problem as quickly and might feel more ashamed displaying it than someone who was a bystander for other reasons,” Mortimer says. “I think journalists expect to be less vulnerable, less affected, but that is not the case. Just because you are a witness and not a participant, it doesn’t mean you will not carry it with you forever.”</p>
<p>The health issues reported to The Mind Field therapists include insomnia, nightmares, flashbacks, general anxiety and more obviously physical symptoms like headaches or gastric problems. Many journalists also turn to coping strategies <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00207594.2010.532799">like excessive drinking or a reliance on drugs</a>. </p>
<h2>Vicarious exposure</h2>
<p>The clinical <a href="https://www.hakjisa.co.kr/common_file/bbs_DSM-5_Update_October2018_NewMaster.pdf">definition of trauma</a> has evolved, as the events that cause it have become more complex. Research shows that journalists can be “adversely affected by emotional stressors and that most journalists are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1750635219895998">exposed to potentially traumatic events at least once in their career</a>.”</p>
<p>“If you are exposed to visually troubling images in your line of work, that’s now considered sufficient stress to cause post-traumatic stress disorder”, says Anthony Feinstein, professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto and a leading expert on the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1750635219895998">trauma faced by journalists</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506166/original/file-20230124-16-h7sf50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a person wearing a flak jacket and helmet with the words PRESS printed on them" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506166/original/file-20230124-16-h7sf50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506166/original/file-20230124-16-h7sf50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506166/original/file-20230124-16-h7sf50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506166/original/file-20230124-16-h7sf50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506166/original/file-20230124-16-h7sf50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506166/original/file-20230124-16-h7sf50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506166/original/file-20230124-16-h7sf50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Journalists whose work places them in danger are at higher risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>He adds: “You are not directly being threatened, but the imagery in front of you can be very disturbing. So, you still witness it vicariously.”</p>
<p>Some factors can heighten a journalist’s vulnerability and increase their risk for developing PTSD. In a 2017 study, researchers working with journalists in Europe found the risk soars if <a href="https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2021-02/Storm%20and%20Feinstein%20-%20Emotional%20Toll.pdf">a journalist is physically or verbally attacked or injured while on the job</a>. </p>
<p>Unexplained workplace changes, inconsistent leadership styles and conflicts with supervisors exacerbate the problem. What’s more, journalists who try to shield their emotions through coping mechanisms like denial, behavioural disengagement and self-distraction have reported more severe <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884917707596">PTSD symptoms</a>. </p>
<p>The problem is exacerbated by journalism’s rapidly expanding boundaries. Journalists now frequently work with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2054270414533323">user-generated content</a>, including violent images and video material transmitted to newsrooms from sources on the ground. Frequent exposure to disturbing content — like from the war in Ukraine or political unrest in the U.S. — presents new challenges for journalists, Feinstein says. </p>
<p>“The majority of journalists will never develop PTSD or depression,” he says. “However, the minority who do is quite a significant one and quite higher than what you would see in the general population. And that point is very important.”</p>
<p>Music has been my greatest comfort and something I turn to every day. Opening up to my friends and family about my mental state, even when it’s uncomfortable, has helped me immensely.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193097/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Norma Hilton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>While most journalists don’t develop PTSD or depression, many will struggle with the stress of their work. Knowing the warning signs can help deal with trauma.Norma Hilton, Global Journalism Fellow, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1976662023-01-19T16:37:09Z2023-01-19T16:37:09ZWhy do we read about accidents? Lessons from 18th-century English newspapers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505218/original/file-20230118-14-cf083o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=85%2C100%2C5090%2C3344&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">18th-century London newspapers frequently reported on the tragic and curious accidents that befell the city's residents.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“If it bleeds, it leads” is a well-known maxim associated with journalism. Accident reports often attract readers, even when their headlines give away the plot. This has been true for over three hundred years, since <a href="https://londonist.com/london/history/320-year-anniversary-daily-courant-elizabeth-mallet-first-newspaper">reading the news became part of daily life in 18th-century Britain</a>. </p>
<p>Just four pages long, British newspapers of the 1700s had few images, no headlines and little separation between articles. Their random arrangement of news paragraphs is reminiscent of modern social media feeds without their algorithms. Jostling with news ranging from foreign military reports to book reviews, accounts of accidents occur as random shocks, nearly as surprising for the newspaper’s readers as the original accidents must have been for their subjects. </p>
<p>As a scholar who studies 18th-century British media, I often encounter accounts of accidents as I read old newspapers. Despite the different look of these newspapers, their readers evidently possessed an interest in spectacular, unusual and gory accidents that feels very familiar. The accidents most frequently reported in newspapers of the 1700s arise from traffic, working conditions, natural disaster and human error. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1502198900240916484"}"></div></p>
<h2>Traffic accidents</h2>
<p>18th-century London’s narrow roads were congested with horse-drawn vehicles, pedestrians and panicky animals. Traffic accidents were frequent. Readers of the <em><a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=qVrUTUelE6YC&pg=PA426&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">Morning Chronicle</a></em> on March 9, 1784 could trace a runaway ox’s destructive path <a href="https://www.grubstreetproject.net/london/#map=63/@-9662,0,119324z">through the city:</a> </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Yesterday morning an over-drove ox tossed a boy in Smithfield, but fortunately was not much hurt; the ox then ran down Cow-cross, and opposite Mr. Booth’s, the distiller, tossed an ass, carrying a pair of panniers, filled with dog’s meat, nearly to the height of the one pair of stairs windows, and before he could be secured terribly gored a young man, who was taken to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Readers were no doubt reassured that the ox was unhurt after tossing a small boy and amused that the animal ran amuck down the appropriately-named street “Cow-cross.” </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505187/original/file-20230118-12-hy9pqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting featuring people holding a lantern next to a damaged carriage next to a fire." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505187/original/file-20230118-12-hy9pqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505187/original/file-20230118-12-hy9pqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505187/original/file-20230118-12-hy9pqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505187/original/file-20230118-12-hy9pqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505187/original/file-20230118-12-hy9pqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505187/original/file-20230118-12-hy9pqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505187/original/file-20230118-12-hy9pqa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=912&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Night’ by William Hogarth circa 1738 depicts a damaged carriage on a London road.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Wikimedia)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Traffic incidents involving notable people were particularly popular. The <em>Morning Chronicle</em> of April 9, 1800 reported that the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frederick-Augustus-duke-of-York-and-Albany">Duke of York</a> had been enjoying a ride when “a dog belonging to a driver of cattle ran across the road, and impeding the progress of the horse, the animal fell on his Royal Highness, and the Duke unfortunately being entangled in the stirrup, was dragged a considerable way.” </p>
<p>Luckily, two patriotic men in a passing chaise made room for the injured Duke and tipped the post-boys two guineas to carry him to a surgeon. </p>
<p>Waterways were equally treacherous. Pity the poor father who, having placed his child and his nurse in a boat, then saw them fall into the Thames. He “with great Difficulty took up the Nurse, but the Child was drowned: The Child had been brought that Day from Wandsworth to be seen by its Parents, and was returning when this melancholy Accident happen’d,” lamented the <em>Daily Post</em> of Sept. 16, 1729. </p>
<h2>Sympathy or laughter?</h2>
<p>Eighteenth century readers were often given emotional cues from newspapers’ descriptions of accidents as “unfortunate,” “melancholy” or “shocking.” These small adjectives had the power to transmute unseemly gawkers into sympathetic witnesses. On March 1, 1801 <em><a href="https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/titles/bells-weekly-messenger">Bell’s Weekly Messenger</a></em> reported the tragic fate of Lady Hardy: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“[S]itting alone after dinner reading, but falling asleep, her head dress approached too near the flame of the candle, and caught fire; it communicated to other parts of her dress before her Ladyship awoke. On awaking, and perceiving her situation, she inadvertently ran out into the passage, where the draught of air so much increased the flames, that she was found entirely in a blaze… she was rolled up in a carpet, which instantly extinguished the fire; but her Ladyship was so dreadfully burnt, that she lingered till four o’clock the next morning in the most excruciating agonies, and expired.”</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505190/original/file-20230118-11-tl7djn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An old newspaper titled: The London Chronicle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505190/original/file-20230118-11-tl7djn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505190/original/file-20230118-11-tl7djn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=816&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505190/original/file-20230118-11-tl7djn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=816&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505190/original/file-20230118-11-tl7djn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=816&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505190/original/file-20230118-11-tl7djn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1026&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505190/original/file-20230118-11-tl7djn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1026&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505190/original/file-20230118-11-tl7djn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1026&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A copy of The London Chronicle from Oct. 16, 1759.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Occasionally, a newspaper’s tone seemed more amused than sympathetic. “A few Days since as the Son of Mr. Mitchell … was felling a Tree, it fell on him,” reported the <em>General Evening Post</em> of Dec. 17-19, 1747. The unfortunate Mr. Bacon was struck by lightning so violently that it “made his body a most shocking spectacle,” punned the <em>Public Advertiser</em> of July 18, 1787.</p>
<p>Present-day journalists’ codes of ethics stress sensitivity and avoid <a href="https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/the-do-s-and-don-ts-of-reporting-on-death-and-grief/s2/a954028/">intruding into others’ grief</a>. Eighteenth century Britons’ sense of humour, however, could be <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25098027">ruthless</a>. </p>
<h2>Workplace accidents</h2>
<p>Accounts of work-related accidents abound in the news of the 1700s. Bricklayers and carpenters plummet from scaffolding. Painters and glaziers fall through windows. Watermen drown. </p>
<p>As <em>Fog’s Weekly Journal</em> reported, one poor currier, “as he was standing on a Stool to hang up some Skins in his Shop … fell with his Neck upon the Edge of a sharp Iron used in that Trade.”</p>
<p>Modern journalists have a <a href="https://accountablejournalism.org/ethics-codes/british-national-union-of-journalists">duty to inform the public</a> about accidents, to provoke investigation into their causes and offer strategies for increased public safety. In 18th-century newspapers, there is less emphasis on preventative legislation and institutional culpability and more focus on personal diligence.</p>
<p>Articles often also stressed the admirable fortitude of an accident’s victim or responder. The <em><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3020548">London Evening Post</a></em> on Jan. 1, 1760 reported a courageous post-boy’s efforts to deliver the mail:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“[M]istaking the Road, [he] got into a Wood where there was a great Declivity, and both Horse and Lad fell into the River, broke the Ice in one of the deepest Places, and sunk to the Bottom; the Horse could not get out, but was drowned; the Boy got hold of a Twig, and by that Means saved his Life, yet exposed it again to the greatest Danger, by endeavouring to recover the Mail, which he did, with the Saddle, to the Surprize of every one.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Better still, the boy delivered the mail the next day. In the newspaper record, pluck and valour are celebrated characteristics.</p>
<p>Accidents interrupt our daily routines with their disturbing novelty. Like fables, 18th-century newspapers’ short tales of accidents deliver moral lessons on the value of diligence, empathy and courage. Stories of fatal accidents are <em><a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/m/memento-mori">memento mori</a></em>: in their remembrance of death, they prompt us to seize hold of life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197666/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leslie Ritchie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>News reports about accidents can deliver important moral lessons and remind us to value life.Leslie Ritchie, Professor of English Literature, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1588342021-05-27T12:06:40Z2021-05-27T12:06:40ZLocal newspapers can help reduce polarization with opinion pages that focus on local issues<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402435/original/file-20210524-21-14xhh37.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4819%2C3613&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Opinion journalism can rile people up -- or it can bring them together.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/group-of-people-reading-one-newspaper-royalty-free-image/102759526?adppopup=true">momentimages/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you’re confused about opinion journalism and what it is, you’re not alone. Many Americans are. But even so, the editorials, opinion columns and letters to the editor that fill the op-ed pages could help bridge political divides in the U.S. and offer some help to struggling local news outlets.</p>
<p><a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/225755/americans-news-bias-name-neutral-source.aspx">Two-thirds of Americans polled by Gallup in 2017 said</a> that the news media do not distinguish between fact and opinion, an increase from 42% in 1984. <a href="https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/reports/survey-research/confusion-about-whats-news-and-whats-opinion-is-a-big-problem-but-journalists-can-help-solve-it/">Only 43%</a> of people in another poll said that <a href="https://theconversation.com/journalists-believe-news-and-opinion-are-separate-but-readers-cant-tell-the-difference-140901">they can easily tell the difference between news and opinion online</a>. Half of Americans are unfamiliar with the stock opinion journalism term, “op-ed,” which is shorthand for an opinion column.</p>
<p>As the lines between opinion and news blur in many Americans’ minds, <a href="https://www.axios.com/media-trust-crisis-2bf0ec1c-00c0-4901-9069-e26b21c283a9.html">trust in media is falling</a>. Local news sources – daily newspapers and local television news programs – are seen as more <a href="https://knightfoundation.org/articles/local-news-is-more-trusted-than-national-news-but-that-could-change/">trusted, caring and unbiased</a> than national news sources, but even that trust is fraying.</p>
<p>Like nearly everything else in American politics, <a href="https://www.journalism.org/2020/01/24/u-s-media-polarization-and-the-2020-election-a-nation-divided/">trust in the media is polarized along party lines</a>: Democrats trust the media far more than Republicans do, and the most ideological members of each party have the most different ideas about media’s trustworthiness.</p>
<p>Given this confusion and disagreement, it might seem unlikely that opinion journalism could be a positive influence. But our research shows that it can.</p>
<p>We are <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=RSOzvUAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">scholars</a> who study <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=BeWPCGEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">politics</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AzPHmwYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">the media</a>. We have found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqy051">local newspapers</a> – and <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/home-style-opinion">local opinion journalism</a> in particular – can bridge political divisions and attract more readers.</p>
<h2>Vibrant community forum</h2>
<p>Opinion journalism is not news reporting; it is distinguished by its stated point of view. It has three basic formats: editorials; opinion columns, or “op-eds”; and letters to the editor. </p>
<p>Editorials are written in the newspaper’s voice by the editorial board, often composed of editors, owners and community members. Op-eds are typically written by professional columnists or community leaders. Letters are written by regular readers.</p>
<p>Op-eds ensure that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/107769901008700204">perspectives from nonjournalists</a> appear in the newspaper, help the general public <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2008.00122.x">interpret major events</a> and can <a href="https://www.nowpublishers.com/article/Details/QJPS-16112">change readers’ minds</a> on the issues. The best op-ed pages operate almost like a town square, allowing readers to discuss and debate issues important both to their communities and beyond.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402440/original/file-20210524-15-6sxk37.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A screenshot from Desert Sun newspaper column by editor Julie Makinen with the headline, 'The Desert Sun opinion pages are taking a summer vacation from national politics. You can help us!'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402440/original/file-20210524-15-6sxk37.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402440/original/file-20210524-15-6sxk37.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402440/original/file-20210524-15-6sxk37.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402440/original/file-20210524-15-6sxk37.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402440/original/file-20210524-15-6sxk37.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402440/original/file-20210524-15-6sxk37.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402440/original/file-20210524-15-6sxk37.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In June 2019, Desert Sun Editor Julie Makinen announced a big change for the newspaper’s opinion pages: no national politics.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.desertsun.com/story/opinion/columnists/2021/03/31/desert-sun-opinion-page-study-shows-experiment-curbed-polarization/4826254001/">Desert Sun screenshot</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the economic crisis in local news is making it harder for the opinion page to realize its potential as a vibrant community forum. Falling revenues and diminished numbers of staff have forced local newspapers to <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/10/08/in-print-newspapers-cut-opinion/">use more syndicated columnists from outside of the paper’s community</a> and whose work usually has a national focus. Some papers have cut the position of opinion editor completely. </p>
<p>Without a dedicated staffer to seek out community writers and edit their work, newspapers’ reliance on syndicated columns means more opinion columns focused on <a href="https://www.cjr.org/criticism/bret-stephens-op-ed-new-york-times-wall-street-journal.php">“right versus left” ideological conflicts</a> between the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqz039">two national political extremes</a>, not local issues.</p>
<h2>No more national politics?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/home-style-opinion/646C3D86BDCB2E370CEB0A5D51083171#fndtn-information">Our book</a> shows how doing the opposite – getting rid of national politics on the opinion page and reinvesting in local opinion content – can help newspapers attract readers and cool tensions in their community.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.desertsun.com/">The Desert Sun</a> of Palm Springs, California, <a href="https://www.desertsun.com/story/opinion/2019/06/07/desert-sun-opinion-pages-taking-break-national-politics-july-help-us/1369621001/">tried this for the month of July 2019</a>: no syndicated columns, no cartoons about national politics, no letters about then-President Donald Trump. </p>
<p>We measured the ways this experiment changed the material that was published and the attitudes of the people in the community.</p>
<p>It was a major shift. In June, the month prior to this change, half of The Desert Sun’s op-ed page was nationally syndicated columns, and one-third of all columns referenced Trump. In July, national syndication disappeared, as did all stories mentioning the president. California topics were the focus of less than half of all columns in June, but 96% focused on California in July. Mentions of the Democratic and Republican parties dropped by more than half, from 25% of all columns to 10%.</p>
<p>Local issues filled the page: Issues like artistic and cultural preservation, traffic and downtown development, and education and the environment got much more attention. The unique character of Palm Springs shone through, once given a chance.</p>
<p>We surveyed readers before and after The Desert Sun’s experiment, in Palm Springs and a different city, Ventura, whose local newspaper, the Ventura County Sun, didn’t change its opinion page. We wanted to see if the change in opinion journalism shifted how people think and feel about their political opponents.</p>
<p>Political polarization, which is when people feel far apart from the opposing party, slowed significantly in Palm Springs compared to Ventura among certain groups: </p>
<ul>
<li>Those who read the newspaper; </li>
<li>Those who know a lot about politics; and</li>
<li>People who participate most in politics.</li>
</ul>
<p>These groups are the people most likely to share their views and inform others, potentially spreading the newspaper’s influence into the broader community. Even if only a fraction of the community reads the newspaper regularly – The Desert Sun’s total circulation is just over 26,000 – a change like this could have larger spillover effects. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two boxing gloves that represent Red and Blue America, pushing against each other." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402441/original/file-20210524-15-tgyilu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402441/original/file-20210524-15-tgyilu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402441/original/file-20210524-15-tgyilu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402441/original/file-20210524-15-tgyilu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402441/original/file-20210524-15-tgyilu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=631&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402441/original/file-20210524-15-tgyilu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=631&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402441/original/file-20210524-15-tgyilu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=631&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When opinion pages concentrate on national, partisan politics, communities become polarized politically.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/cultural-wars-royalty-free-image/1254512635?adppopup=true">wildpixel/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Desert Sun’s readers enjoyed the change: Online readership of opinion pieces <a href="https://www.desertsun.com/story/opinion/columnists/2021/03/31/desert-sun-opinion-page-study-shows-experiment-curbed-polarization/4826254001/">nearly doubled in July</a>, and in reader surveys we fielded after the experiment, almost five times as many readers <a href="https://www.desertsun.com/story/opinion/2019/08/16/desert-sun-survey-readers-approve-local-news-only-editorial-page/2033233001/">said they approved as said they disapproved of the experiment</a>. The experiment helped the newspaper recruit more opinion writers, who then continued to write in the months that followed.</p>
<h2>Reinvesting in opinion</h2>
<p>Supporters of local news could follow the lessons of this research by raising money to pay for opinion editor positions and funding creative thinking like The Desert Sun’s experiment.</p>
<p>The alternative is that opinion pages will wither and cease to reflect their communities. A local-only opinion page won’t restore the economic model that supported newspapers in decades past, but our research shows it can bring back some readers and bridge some of the political divides that can drive American communities apart.</p>
<p>By keeping the focus local, the opinion page could play a small part in restoring trust and helping local newspapers survive these trying times.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/158834/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The best op-ed pages operate like a town square, allowing readers to discuss and debate issues important to their communities and beyond. But many now focus on divisive national political issues.Johanna Dunaway, Associate Professor of Communication, Texas A&M UniversityJoshua P. Darr, Assistant Professor of Political Communication, Louisiana State University Matthew P. Hitt, Associate Professor of Political Science, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1613622021-05-21T14:15:15Z2021-05-21T14:15:15ZHow South Africa is tracking adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402098/original/file-20210521-19-16xue4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A vaccination site in Johannesburg, South Africa. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Sharon Seretlo/Gallo Images via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/world/south-africa-covid-vaccine.html">has begun</a> the second phase of its public vaccination campaign, targeting people aged 60 or older. The first vaccinations were <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/its-going-change-our-country-south-africa-starts-vaccinating-over-60s-2021-05-17/">given in February</a> to health workers. So far <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1221298/covid-19-vaccination-rate-in-african-countries/">almost</a> 600,000 healthcare workers and members of the public have been vaccinated. </p>
<p>Healthcare workers have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, while the Pfizer vaccine is being rolled out as part of Phase 2 for members of the public. </p>
<p>A crucial aspect of the vaccination campaign is tracking adverse reactions.</p>
<p>It’s imperative that all health events after vaccination are investigated. All vaccines (and medicines) have side effects. Globally it’s acceptable that some mild and short-lasting symptoms following vaccination may happen. But moderately severe and severe side effects aren’t acceptable. These need to be fully investigated to understand whether the vaccination was responsible. </p>
<p>It’s also important to investigate these events to build trust. If the public understands that all adverse effects following immunisation are taken seriously, and appropriate action is taken, people will have more trust that vaccines are safe.</p>
<p>There has been intense scrutiny of vaccines approved for use against COVID-19. Each has been shown to have different effects – some more serious than others. Most reactions have been mild, going away within a few days on their own. These <a href="https://www.nicd.ac.za/frequently-asked-questions-covid-19-vaccine-side-effects/">include</a> mild fever or pain or redness at the injection site. Other side effects include high fever, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, rash at the injection site, chills, and mild diarrhoea. </p>
<p>Allergic reactions are also not uncommon. These are usually mild, but can be severe, though this <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7002e1.htm">isn’t common</a>. A severe allergic reaction, known as anaphylaxis, can lead to low blood pressure, collapse, difficulty breathing or skin rash. This needs emergency treatment.</p>
<p>More serious or long-lasting side effects to vaccines have been reported, but they’re extremely rare. One is a condition known as vaccine-induced thrombosis and thrombocytopenia – blood clots together with low platelets. Symptoms appear between 10 and 14 days after vaccination. Just six cases of the rare clots – in more than 6.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine – were <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/health-56674796#:%7E:text=Six%20cases%20of%20the%20rare,of%20an%20abundance%20of%20caution%22.">reported</a> by the US Food and Drug Administration.</p>
<p>The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been supporting low and middle-income countries to establish immunisation safety expert committees and other structures to better detect, report and analyse adverse events. This is part of the <a href="https://www.who.int/vaccine_safety/en/">Global Vaccine Safety Blueprint</a>. </p>
<p>In South Africa, the Minister of Health <a href="https://www.sahpra.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/THE-NATIONAL-VIGILANCE-POLICY_Draft_22May-2020_for_comment.pdf">set up</a> the National Immunisation Safety Expert Committee to investigate and report on adverse effects following immunisation. Until now, the work of the committee has focused on adverse events reported after routine childhood vaccines. SARS-CoV-2 is the first vaccine routinely administered to adults. This has required an expansion of the committee to include people with the right skills. </p>
<p>My insights are gained from being a member of the committee and a public health professional. There is a great deal of anxiety about the safety of vaccines. By fully investigating and understanding adverse events following vaccination, South Africa will not only build trust in vaccine safety. It will also contribute valuable evidence towards global vaccine development. </p>
<h2>Investigating adverse effects</h2>
<p>Each province and district in South Africa has allocated people responsible for investigating adverse events following vaccination. They usually belong to the <a href="http://www.health.gov.za/immunization/">Expanded Programme of Immunisation</a> team or the <a href="https://www.nicd.ac.za/">communicable disease surveillance team</a>. </p>
<p>But any health practitioner or member of the public can report an adverse event. This can be done through a <a href="https://www.sahpra.org.za/news-and-updates/sahpra-launches-the-med-safety-app-for-self-reporting-of-suspected-adverse-drug-reactions-by-the-public-and-healthcare-professionals/">‘MedSafety App’</a> or by completing a <a href="https://www.nicd.ac.za/diseases-a-z-index/adverse-event-following-immunization-aefi/">‘case report form’</a>. </p>
<p>Once the provincial or district teams have been given the medical records of the person who experienced the adverse event, they submit these to the national immunisation safety expert committee. This committee is appointed by the Minister of Health and includes experts from all clinical disciplines including pharmacists, infectious disease specialists, paediatricians and pathologists.</p>
<p>The committee uses an algorithm created by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to examine what is reported about the event. This includes the patient’s clinical details and <a href="https://brightoncollaboration.us/">standard case definitions</a>. </p>
<p>When all the data is put together, the committee categorises the event as being:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>‘consistent with a causal association to immunisation’ (caused by the vaccine). This includes reactions related to a defect in the vaccine and anxiety-related reactions</p></li>
<li><p>a co-incidental event</p></li>
<li><p>temporally associated with vaccination but without definitive evidence that the vaccine caused the event</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The committee reports its findings to the Minister of Health, the National Department of Health and the Provincial Departments of Health. Adverse event data and final assessments are then reported into the WHO so that pooled data from countries can contribute to global monitoring of safety signals. </p>
<p>Safety data from vaccine trials has provided sufficient data that vaccines are generally safe. However vaccine trials do not have sufficient numbers of people to detect rare events. Monitoring of vaccines adverse events at country or global level will allow rare events to be detected. If detected, decisions need to be made regarding risk-benefit ratios to decide if the vaccine should continue to be used. </p>
<h2>Recourse</h2>
<p>All COVID-19 vaccines currently administered are made available through the WHO’s emergency use assessment and listing procedures. These set out how health products should be evaluated for performance, quality and safety in truncated timelines.</p>
<p>However, because these are new products, there may be risks. The WHO has therefore advised countries to ensure fair compensation through creation of ‘no fault compensation schemes’. This allows for a payout without the need to go to court to establish who was responsible (hence ‘no fault’). This makes the compensation process faster and cheaper.</p>
<p>The WHO has provided funds for countries that are beneficiaries of COVID-19 vaccines through subsidised schemes. South Africa is not eligible for this. The government is therefore required to create its own compensation programme. </p>
<p>Details of how the South African ‘no fault compensation process’ will work are being finalised in new <a href="http://www.health.gov.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/2021-04-15-Amendments-to-DMR-for-CoVID-19-Vaccine-Injury-Compenation-Scheme-for-public-comment.pdf">legislation</a> being drawn up. The idea is that individuals who suffered an adverse event would be able to receive monetary compensation following review and investigation of the case.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161362/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kerrigan McCarthy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Each province and district in South Africa has allocated persons responsible for investigating adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination.Kerrigan McCarthy, Pathologist, Centre for Vaccines and Immunology, NICD, National Institute for Communicable DiseasesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1460122020-09-23T14:56:53Z2020-09-23T14:56:53ZWant to make the news better? Shatter the status quo<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358394/original/file-20200916-16-1m8bvad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5568%2C3450&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Journalists must do more than cover news events. They must challenge the status quo, and dig deeper into the stories they cover. Journalists are seen in a scrum at the federal Liberal cabinet retreat in September 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One of the most important functions of journalism in a democratic society is to act as a watchdog — to call out abuses of power or wrongdoing. </p>
<p>Journalism builds on the standard of the watchdog function — or, what’s described <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/j.ctt1xcjws">in the 2009 book</a> <em>Normative Theories of the Media: Journalism in Democratic Societies</em> as journalism’s “monitorial role.”</p>
<p>But the watchdog function of the news, as the book explains, is not the only role journalism can play. Yes, it’s vital for journalists to act as society’s burglar alarms. However, journalism can and should take on other functions in a democratic society. </p>
<p>One of the most important is to challenge the status quo — to force us to confront our assumptions about how the world works. </p>
<h2>Widening the lens</h2>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic, as well as worldwide protests against anti-Black racism, have forced society and journalists to confront many of our assumptions about issues like the power of police, white privilege and the various other inequalities that disproportionately affect racialized communities. </p>
<p>Limiting journalism to merely watching over and reporting on these events narrows the range and scope of all the things that journalism can and should be doing. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People stand in the sun with shadows cast in front of them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358388/original/file-20200916-20-p7fs9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358388/original/file-20200916-20-p7fs9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358388/original/file-20200916-20-p7fs9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358388/original/file-20200916-20-p7fs9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358388/original/file-20200916-20-p7fs9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358388/original/file-20200916-20-p7fs9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358388/original/file-20200916-20-p7fs9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Demonstrators rally at Los Angeles City Hall during a protest against racial injustice and police brutality in August 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Michael Schudson, a journalism professor at Columbia University, <a href="https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393912876">describes the news media</a> as the tip of the social iceberg. Below the tip are institutional structures and social forces that often go unrecognized and, as a result, are under-reported or under-examined. </p>
<p>Expanding the range of what journalism could and should do is about <a href="https://thewholestory.solutionsjournalism.org/complicating-the-narratives-b91ea06ddf63?gi=14bec971272f">diving deeper</a> and getting at all that is going on below the tip of the iceberg — to unpack the historical context and the <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Global-Standard-Reporting-Conflict/dp/1138222577">underlying causes</a> at the root of complex stories. </p>
<p>Journalism is rightly concerned with fairness and accuracy, but those standards are usually achieved through the idea of balance, and the use of traditionally accepted sources. But balance can be an inadequate standard, because it can reduce complex stories to binaries pitting one side against the other. <a href="https://www.kqed.org/education/531972/false-equivalence-why-its-so-dangerous-above-the-noise">False equivalency</a> is obviously hugely problematic. </p>
<p>Professed norms of reporting also limit journalists to a limited selection of sources, notably people with some kind of power or authority. The perspectives and lived experiences of women, people of colour, minority groups or marginalized communities are, as a result, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/opinion/objectivity-black-journalists-coronavirus.html">regularly overlooked</a> or relegated to the background, usually subconsciously. </p>
<h2>Calling out problems</h2>
<p>Journalism is great at calling out problems from stories requiring months of investigative work to day-to-day coverage. However, it’s much more difficult for the news to effectively get at the causes behind those problems — the ambiguities and the social and historical dynamics that explain why certain things are the way they are. </p>
<p>For journalists, there is a fine line between telling people about a problem, and telling people what to do about the problem. The former is within the purview of journalism; the latter falls squarely in the realm of advocacy or policy. </p>
<p>There is, however, a role for journalism — largely unfulfilled — to get at the roots of social challenges, and to identify responses to them. This isn’t about journalists telling you what to do; it’s about giving you a fuller picture of what you need to know. </p>
<p>Such reporting takes a high degree of skill, involving analytical framing and <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Why-Democracies-Need-Unlovable-Press/dp/0745644538">what Schudson calls</a> “social empathy.” It takes a lot of skill to tell a story that feels fresh and newsworthy, but that also brings underlying dynamics out from behind the wings and onto centre stage. </p>
<h2>Opioid crisis</h2>
<p>Consider the opioid crisis. Stories about crime affecting local residents and businesses are relatively straightforward and easy to tell, and they capture attention. </p>
<p>However, such an approach largely strips the story of its context — notably, the fact that substance abuse is not a crime problem, requiring a crime control response, but may be a mental health issue, one that often, though not always, affects people on the margins of society. That context is not somehow peripheral to the story; in fact, it <em>is</em> the story.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two people wheel a giant opioid spoon." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358392/original/file-20200916-22-uwus3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358392/original/file-20200916-22-uwus3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358392/original/file-20200916-22-uwus3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358392/original/file-20200916-22-uwus3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358392/original/file-20200916-22-uwus3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358392/original/file-20200916-22-uwus3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358392/original/file-20200916-22-uwus3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Members of the Opioid Spoon Project wheel a sculpture of a large spoon at Johnson and Johnson headquarters in New Brunswick, N.J., on Sept. 18, 2019. The organization is trying to bring attention to the opioid crisis and the companies they claim helped to create the crisis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Journalism can and should address subconscious social bias, wherever such bias exists. This includes, but is not limited to, taking on an <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ibram-x-kendi-wants-to-redefine-racism/id1081584611?i=1000452609664">anti-racist ethos</a> to actively challenge existing power dynamics. </p>
<p>Doing this work involves a philosophical change in how journalists see their role. What would news stories look like as a result of this change in mindset? </p>
<h2>Rethinking police</h2>
<p>For example, policing would not automatically be seen in the context of crime control, as is the current standard. </p>
<p>Instead, journalism would explore policing as matter of <a href="https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/cj-jp/yj-jj/discre/org/supp-appu.html">community building</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/force-is-no-substitute-for-social-justice-so-lets-dismantle-the-police-145221">Force is no substitute for social justice, so let's dismantle the police</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Or news reporting would actively challenge the idea of substance abuse as somehow a choice that people make, and instead report on it through a lens of sensitivity and understanding. </p>
<p>Journalism has so much more potential and power to go beyond its conventional watchdog role. But broadening the scope of journalism involves reporters and editors adopting an entirely different philosophical approach for the benefit of audiences, sources — and journalists too.</p>
<p>It’s hard to challenge assumptions, but journalism is perfectly suited to confront the status quo. This isn’t advocacy; it’s just good journalism.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146012/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kamyar Razavi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s not enough anymore for journalists to be mere watchdogs. Journalism must address subconscious social biases to give readers a fuller picture of what they need to know.Kamyar Razavi, PhD candidate in the School of Communication, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1184252019-06-11T11:23:34Z2019-06-11T11:23:34ZInvestigating the investigative reporters: Bad news from Down Under<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278712/original/file-20190610-52771-jgka0r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australian federal police entering the Australian Broadcast Company headquarters on June 5, 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-05/abc-raided-by-australian-federal-police-afghan-files-stories/11181162">A.B.C. screenshot from videotape</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sometimes the best journalism tells us the worst news. </p>
<p>The United States has a tradition of learning troubling news through extraordinary reporting efforts from combat zones. During the Vietnam War, award-winning journalism revealed the slaughter of Vietnamese civilians by <a href="https://theconversation.com/my-lai-50-years-after-american-soldiers-shocking-crimes-must-be-remembered-93516">American soldiers at My Lai</a>. More recently, reports describing the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/05/10/torture-at-abu-ghraib">torture and abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq</a> embarrassed the U.S. government. </p>
<p>Such investigative reporting ultimately helped American citizens hold accountable those charged with acting in their name. But that didn’t mean the news was welcome, or even appreciated, at the time.</p>
<p>It’s important to recall these examples in light of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-05/abc-raided-by-australian-federal-police-afghan-files-stories/11181162">the raid by the Australian Federal Police</a> at the headquarters of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on June 5. </p>
<p>As an American <a href="https://www.cies.org/grantee/michael-socolow">Fulbright Research Scholar</a> studying media at <a href="https://www.canberra.edu.au/research/faculty-research-centres/nmrc/Team">the University of Canberra</a> in Australia, I’ve watched this controversy closely.</p>
<p>Comparing the way these two western democracies protect – and undermine – investigative reporting raises important questions about journalism’s role in democracy. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278714/original/file-20190610-52785-qqlep9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278714/original/file-20190610-52785-qqlep9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278714/original/file-20190610-52785-qqlep9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278714/original/file-20190610-52785-qqlep9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278714/original/file-20190610-52785-qqlep9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278714/original/file-20190610-52785-qqlep9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278714/original/file-20190610-52785-qqlep9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278714/original/file-20190610-52785-qqlep9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Screen Shot from the homepage of ABC investigation of actions taken by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-11/killings-of-unarmed-afghans-by-australian-special-forces/8466642">Australian Broadcasting Corporation</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Journalists and their sources</h2>
<p>The Australian police acted in response to a series of online and broadcast news stories, called “The Afghan Files,” that originally appeared in 2017 and 2018. The reports <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/am/afp-raids-the-latest-chapter-in-afghan-files-war-crimes-saga/11184362">alleged atrocities were committed in Afghanistan</a> by Australian soldiers. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-05/abc-raided-by-australian-federal-police-afghan-files-stories/11181162">police obtained a warrant</a> to search the premises and computers of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in order to uncover – and possibly indict and prosecute – the sources informing the story. </p>
<p>The leaking of such embarrassing secret information likely violated Australian law, leaving both the leaker and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation vulnerable. The Australian police’s broad warrant allowed the police to spend hours copying “data holdings” including hard drive files, emails and other documents, and they left the network’s headquarters in possession of USBs filled with electronic files related to the Afghanistan stories. </p>
<p>Australian Broadcasting’s lawyers <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-06/abc-raids-what-they-tell-us-about-press-freedom/11187364">secured a two-week period</a> in which to carefully review the documents seized by police. But Australian journalists lack both the constitutional protections and the established body of case law that often <a href="https://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/journalists_privilege_shield_law_primer.php">allow American journalists to protect their sources</a>. </p>
<h2>Power from profitability is no more</h2>
<p>The destruction of the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/forty-years-after-watergate-investigative-journalism-is-at-risk/2012/06/07/gJQArTzlLV_story.html?utm_term=.7c440687c5a4">advertising profits that funded ethical and professional journalism</a> has <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674545502">made journalistic outlets less enthusiastic about</a> <a href="https://reason.com/2017/02/22/where-did-all-the-investigativ/">supporting bold and difficult reporting.</a> There are fewer reporters to carry out this painstaking and time-consuming reporting, and the financial peril faced by many news organizations has left them much more vulnerable to attack.</p>
<p>Journalism is now in a transitional state. The kind of power that outlets like CBS News and The Washington Post possessed in the Watergate era <a href="https://www.niemanlab.org/2018/05/why-the-golden-age-of-newspapers-was-the-exception-not-the-rule/">was based in the enormous commercial profitability</a> that effectively insulated investigative journalism. </p>
<p>Controversial reportage – no matter how accurate and verified – is now regularly derided as “<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/5/9/17335306/trump-tweet-twitter-latest-fake-news-credentials">fake news.</a>” Whether produced by CNN in the United States, Al Jazeera in Qatar, or even by a state broadcaster like the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (which has seen <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/BudgetReview201819/Fundingfornationalbroadcasters">its funding cut</a> in recent years), unwelcome information is quickly attacked and dismissed. </p>
<p>The public’s support for independent and critical reportage is essential to sustaining it. Without it, the governments of such leaders as <a href="https://www.cjr.org/local_news/trump-and-trickle-down-press-persecution.php">Donald Trump</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/us/politics/khashoggi-mohammed-bin-salman.html">Saudi Prince Mohammad bin Salman</a>, <a href="https://rsf.org/en/philippines">Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines</a>, and even <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/pm/mounting-pressure-for-inquiry-into-media-freedom-in-australia/11196496">Prime Minister Scott Morrison</a> in Australia, can act with impunity to intimidate - and even silence - journalists. </p>
<p>The global attacks on the media are having a cumulative effect. <a href="https://rsf.org/en/rsf-index-2018-hatred-journalism-threatens-democracies">Support for journalism is eroding</a> even in Western democracies, according to journalism advocates Reporters Without Borders. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278721/original/file-20190610-52753-mxqtzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278721/original/file-20190610-52753-mxqtzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278721/original/file-20190610-52753-mxqtzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278721/original/file-20190610-52753-mxqtzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278721/original/file-20190610-52753-mxqtzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278721/original/file-20190610-52753-mxqtzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278721/original/file-20190610-52753-mxqtzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278721/original/file-20190610-52753-mxqtzf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Journalists and supporters protest in January 2018 against the revocation of the registration of news organization, the Rappler, which published stories critical of Philippines President Duterte.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Philippines-Media/611a79b429fe428ebb80b8bf649de2d6/8/0">AP/Bullit Marquez</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Police warrants mean intimidation</h2>
<p>The Australian police raid wasn’t the only one aimed at journalists in recent weeks. On May 24, San Francisco’s chief of police <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/25/us/san-francisco-police-chief.html">was forced to apologize</a> for raiding a journalist’s home two weeks earlier. </p>
<p>Aside from violating the Constitution, the San Francisco police department may have broken California’s <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/California-journalists-shield-law-one-of-the-13846045.php">journalistic shield law</a>. That law was designed to protect the ability of journalists to keep sources confidential. </p>
<p>But in Australia, shortly before the Australian Broadcasting Corporation raid, authorities seached <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-48511217">a newspaper journalist’s home in the nation’s capital</a> looking to discover her source for a report about a secret government surveillance plan. Though the press howled in outrage, the raid was legal.</p>
<p>In the United States, the closest parallel to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation search occurred in 1971, in response to the CBS Reports documentary <a href="https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/shows/cbs-reports-the-selling-of-the-pentagon">“The Selling of the Pentagon.”</a></p>
<p>That program revealed how taxpayer funding underwrote domestic propaganda to convince Americans to support the military during the controversial Vietnam War. “The Selling of the Pentagon” made allegations of impropriety and illegality. Public controversy erupted immediately. </p>
<p>At least two government representatives claimed the film had been manipulated to alter the substance of their remarks, resulting in a congressional subcommittee demanding to see CBS News’ draft scripts and film outtakes. </p>
<p>Frank Stanton, the president of CBS, rejected the subpoena, arguing that all reporting materials were protected by the First Amendment. After announcing <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Fighting_for_the_First_Amendment.html?id=Fv9kAAAAMAAJ&source=kp_book_description">he was prepared to go to jail to protect CBS journalism</a>, the public rallied in favor of the network and the House committee voted to stand down.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LLyd5zjqsSs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Former CBS President Frank Stanton discusses “The Selling of the Pentagon” and defying a government subpoena for reporters’ notes.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Public support for journalistic liberty</h2>
<p>Stanton’s ability to challenge Congress occurred because he had the backing of his corporate board. And his defiance was empowered by public support for journalistic liberty. </p>
<p>By the time “The Selling of the Pentagon” aired on CBS, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/07/opinion/sunday/vietnam-the-war-that-killed-trust.html">American public had turned against the Vietnam War and viewed the Pentagon with suspicion</a>. Attacking CBS News backfired on Congress and the Pentagon, as the charges made in “The Selling of the Pentagon” were given new life by continuing press coverage.</p>
<p>The same thing <a href="https://twitter.com/abc730/status/1136128785504321536">seems to be occurring</a> with the heavy-handed tactics employed by the Australian police now. </p>
<p>Australians are, courtesy of the police, being reminded of the original ABC reporting. It’s become so embarrassing to the government that Prime Minister Morrison – after stating he’s <a href="https://indaily.com.au/news/2019/06/06/government-not-to-blame-for-media-raids-morrison/">“never troubled” by police who are upholding the law</a> – has now said that his government “<a href="https://indaily.com.au/news/2019/06/06/government-not-to-blame-for-media-raids-morrison/">is absolutely committed to freedom of the press</a>.” </p>
<p>In my opinion, Morrison’s reversal is simple: He’s sensed public opinion turning against his administration’s anti-press tactics.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278724/original/file-20190610-52753-1i0qkdn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278724/original/file-20190610-52753-1i0qkdn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278724/original/file-20190610-52753-1i0qkdn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278724/original/file-20190610-52753-1i0qkdn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278724/original/file-20190610-52753-1i0qkdn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278724/original/file-20190610-52753-1i0qkdn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278724/original/file-20190610-52753-1i0qkdn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278724/original/file-20190610-52753-1i0qkdn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A poster is displayed by Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat in Helsinki on July 15, 2018, the day before a summit meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Finland-Trump-Putin-Summit/40b406d8bfbc403b9ca1a45463c619d7/17/0">AP/Markus Schreiber</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The chilling effect</h2>
<p>Whether it was “The Selling of the Pentagon” or the “Afghan Files,” <a href="https://theconversation.com/state-intimidation-of-journalists-leaves-media-freedom-in-jeopardy-25282">these intimidation tactics</a> are never primarily concerned with the reporting at hand. In both cases, the stories were already public. Any damage they caused had already been absorbed by the time the governments sought remedy. </p>
<p>The real purpose of these legal actions is to <a href="https://rsf.org/en/2019-world-press-freedom-index-cycle-fear">discourage new independent reporting in the public interest</a>. </p>
<p>Courageous journalism is critical to democracy, and <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/driving-democracy/92B639505D8D6B1D0CD46FF055DA0257#fndtn-information">its role in checking the power of state authority is essential</a>. So these moves against future investigative stories are actually attacks by the state on democratic governance and the authority of the citizenry.</p>
<p>If law enforcement in the U.S. or Australia can lodge doubts and instill fear in the minds of journalists and their sources, or if they can get news organizations to shy away from controversial stories, then these raids will have served their purpose – even if no follow-up charges result. </p>
<p>It’s called the “<a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/bulr58&div=39&id=&page=&t=1560125235">chilling effect,”</a> and its success can only be measured in the negative, when stories <em>aren’t</em> reported.</p>
<p>That hesitation and uncertainty in the mind of every journalist and confidential source represents the real damage to democracy. But it’s something that will receive far less publicity than any police raid.</p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=thanksforreading">Thanks for reading! We can send you The Conversation’s stories every day in an informative email. Sign up today.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118425/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael J. Socolow receives funding from the Fulbright Scholar Program. He is currently a Fulbright Scholar at the News & Media Research Centre at the University of Canberra (Australia).. </span></em></p>An American media scholar studying in Australia looks at the protections offered by the two countries for investigative reporting, raising crucial questions about journalism’s role in democracy.Michael J. Socolow, Associate Professor, Communication and Journalism, University of MaineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1175012019-05-21T10:47:54Z2019-05-21T10:47:54ZQueensland paper backtracks after using violent imagery to depict Annastacia Palaszczuk<p>Social media backlash and a Queensland government complaint to the Australian Press Council has forced the Sunshine Coast Daily <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/may/21/news-corp-paper-refuses-to-apologise-for-putting-queensland-premiers-face-in-crosshairs">to apologise</a> to its readers for picturing Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in crosshairs on its front page, next to the headline “Anna, you’re next”. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1130361877316263936"}"></div></p>
<p>The newspaper’s editor Craig Warhurst said in a statement:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>For those of you in the community who feel let down and betrayed by the image, I apologise.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Warhust says the paper will publish the apology in tomorrow’s edition, along with reader criticism and concerns.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1130681959384985600"}"></div></p>
<p>But is this enough? </p>
<p>Marcus Strom, Federal President (Media) of the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) argues that in a time of increased political violence, including the murder of British politician <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/18/vile-online-abuse-against-women-mps-needs-to-be-challenged-now">Jo Cox in 2016</a>, publishing this image is irresponsible:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>At best, this image is distasteful, at worst it could be interpreted as incitement to violence.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-australian-media-are-changing-the-way-they-report-violence-against-women-99845">How Australian media are changing the way they report violence against women</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Is this kind of journalism ethical?</h2>
<p>The Queensland government’s complaint to the Australian Press Council (APC) was lodged on the grounds that the graphic used by the newspaper encouraged violence against women. </p>
<p>APC judgements take an inordinate amount of time to finalise, and the best result it can achieve is a <a href="https://www.presscouncil.org.au/handling-of-complaints/">correction, apology or some other form of remedy</a>.</p>
<p>A detailed look at the MEAA Code of Ethics reveals that “incitement to violence” isn’t listed as a breach. But there is nothing about this front page which could be construed as public interest. As Lynnette Sheridan Burns argues in her book <a href="https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/understanding-journalism/book236949">Understanding Journalism</a>, journalists should consider the social ramifications of their activities.</p>
<p>The national violence prevention initiative, Our Watch, has <a href="https://www.ourwatch.org.au/News-media/Latest-news/Our-Watch-releases-new-guidelines-for-reporting-on">guidelines</a> for reporting on violence against women. Our Watch CEO, Patty Kinnersly, says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>While images and vision are vital to telling a story, it is important that media professionals use appropriate footage that doesn’t sensationalise, trivialise or condone violence against women.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But while Our Watch might “<a href="https://www.ourwatch.org.au/What-We-Do/How-to-report-on-violence-against-women-and-their">champion the belief that this violence is never acceptable or excusable</a>”, it has no process for punishing incitement to violence. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/most-men-do-not-perpetrate-sexual-violence-against-women-104189">Most men do not perpetrate sexual violence against women</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Attacks on female leaders aren’t new</h2>
<p>Sexism and threats of violence are not new phenomena in Australian media coverage of women politicians. </p>
<p>Julia Gillard, Australia’s first woman prime minister, was subjected to an <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10361146.2017.1374347">unprecedented amount of gendered reporting</a> that adopted violent and sexist imagery. The mainstream press often magnified the violent assault that Gillard received, claiming that she “<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/politics-and-gender/article/playing-the-gender-card-the-uses-and-abuses-of-gender-in-australian-politics/5A4A1A09CE91F42CFEA38B974A064D34">used the gender-card</a>” when she eventually called it out. </p>
<p>Notoriously, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/political-vitriol-clear-in-the-sky/9974054">one TV commentator</a> advised Australians “ought to be out there kicking her to death”, while <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/episodes/alan-joness-chaff-bag-is-filling-up-fast/9973982">radio host Alan Jones threatened</a> that Gillard should be put “in a chaff bag and [taken] out to sea”. </p>
<p>And the problem isn’t limited to Australia. Women political leaders across the globe have <a href="http://www.auswhn.org.au/blog/gillard-gender-media/">long endured</a> gendered and often <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-48197145">sexist portrayals</a> within the mainstream media which largely focuses on their bodies, fashion and personal lives. Such news stories trivialise women politicians in their political roles, further reinforcing male dominance within politics. </p>
<p>As in the example of Gillard, this has taken a more violent turn in <a href="https://www.ipu.org/file/5472/download?token=PjtucdkS">recent years</a>, where women politicians are portrayed through commentary that is sexist and even intimidating or threatening. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, this is largely regarded as “politics as usual”, with women politicians expected to just put up with it, or risk being seen as playing the gender-card. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ending-violence-against-women-is-good-for-everyone-11659">Ending violence against women is good for everyone</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>It can discourage women from entering politics</h2>
<p>Violent and misogynistic coverage of women has tangible run-on effects. A <a href="https://www.ipu.org/file/5472/download?token=PjtucdkS">2016 global survey</a> found that 81.8% of women parliamentarians experienced some form of gendered violence, with half receiving threats of rape, beatings and even death. </p>
<p>Julia Gillard has <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-12/expect-rape-threats,-gillard-warns-female-politicians/7925906">spoken up</a> about the sexist and violent coverage, warning that rape and death threats are an expected part of being a woman politician. Witnessing this gendered and violent media reporting can <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14680777.2018.1468797">deter women from entering politics</a> at a time when we should instead be striving toward gender parity.</p>
<p>Apologies in journalism are hard to come by, unless they are made to minimise damages, and they rarely <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137317971_9">achieve the prominence</a> of the original affront. In this instance, the apology would have to take up the same space as the original image and headline, which, in Australian media, would be a unicorn apology indeed.</p>
<p>The Sunshine Coast Daily’s – “for those of you in the community who feel let down and betrayed by the image” – appears to fit into the #sorrynotsorry category. Whether or not the apology is worth the pixels or paper its printed on, the newspaper won’t be compelled to do more. </p>
<p>In the meantime, the Australian Press Council needs a stronger bite and the MEAA should consider redrafting its Code of Ethics to include some consideration to address the increasingly polarised media attacks on women.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117501/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Witnessing violent media reporting about women politicians can deter women from entering politics at a time when we should be striving toward gender parity.Jenna Price, Senior lecturer, University of Technology SydneyBlair Williams, PhD Candidate, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1006052018-07-30T13:54:25Z2018-07-30T13:54:25ZHow peace journalism can help the media cover elections in Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229634/original/file-20180727-106524-1l7k42k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Voting in the presidential run-off elections in Mali, recently.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Tanya Bindra</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Several countries in Africa, including Zimbabwe, Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon, hold crucial elections this year. Some of the polls are likely to be marked by protests as well as clampdowns on dissenting voices as well as the news media and internet access. All this amid the spread of <a href="https://portland-communications.com/pdf/How-Africa-Tweets-2018.pdf">fake news</a>. </p>
<p>It’s important to consider the role of the media in this heady mix.</p>
<p>A great deal of attention has been paid to the role of the media in <a href="https://www.sfcg.org/articles/media_for_conflict_prevention.pdf">instigating, maintaining, and exacerbating violence</a> through their news coverage. War and conflict <a href="https://www.macmillanihe.com/page/detail/the-media-at-war-susan-l-carruthers/?sf1=barcode&st1=9780230244566">sell and make the headlines</a>. </p>
<p>And, the news media are predisposed to using frames and a language that conform to what peace scholar Johan Galtung has labelled <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01296612.2003.11726720">“war journalism”</a>. This is reporting that emphasises conflict over peaceful resolutions, differing viewpoints over common ground, and sensationalism over depth and context. The result is that audiences are given the impression that conflict is inevitable, and that peace or conflict resolution are beyond reach.</p>
<p>This can also happen during the coverage of elections when a great many things can go wrong leading to best practice and ethics being overlooked. When this happens the media can be party to <a href="http://www.undp.org/content/dam/brussels/docs/Other/JTF%202011.06_Summary_report-Barcelona_workshop_Elections&conflict.pdf">exacerbating conflict and violence</a>. </p>
<p>A different approach is therefore required. The media are responsible for reporting accurately and efficiently on different political parties, candidates, political party programmes and policies. This also extends to providing platforms for debate between contesting parties as well as forums for discussions with the public.</p>
<p>A few simple criteria can be used to judge whether or not the media are doing a good job. How balanced and fair are they in their coverage. Are all parties getting a fair share of coverage? Are the media playing a role in monitoring fair play by all parties before, during and after elections? And are the results covered fairly?</p>
<p>The media can play a role in creating <a href="https://www.idea.int/data-tools/tools/electoral-risk-management-tool">peaceful and non-violent elections</a>. They can do so by following some simple approaches set out under the alternative model of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01296612.2003.11726720">peace journalism</a>. This puts emphasis on conflict resolution, analysis of the underlying causes of conflict, the use of alternative news sources, and the use of language that doesn’t over-emphasise or play up conflict. </p>
<h2>Where the media has played a negative role</h2>
<p>The media were implicated in fuelling violence in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-media-covered-kenyas-general-election-82324">Kenyan elections in 2007-2008</a>, playing up divisions between the two main contesting coalitions parties and their candidates. Importantly, the Kenyan media failed to mitigate hate speech, spreading violent imagery pitting communities against one another. </p>
<p>Equally, the media were implicated in the controversies surrounding the controversial <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/election-observers-in-zambia-report-media-biased-in-vote/a-19473207">Zambian presidential elections in 2016</a>. They were accused of waging a propaganda war, with the private media backing opposition parties, and the public media supporting the governing Patriotic Front party and its incumbent candidate, President Edward Lungu.</p>
<p>In Africa, biased media coverage in favour of incumbent presidents has been cited as among the reasons voters have little faith that <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-role-of-the-media-is-so-important-to-free-and-fair-elections-in-africa-77568">elections are credible</a>, and the outcomes legitimate.</p>
<p>Here, social media, and Twitter in particular, have reinforced the role that the media play as a force for both <a href="https://www.vox.com/world/2017/12/8/16690352/social-media-war-facebook-twitter-russia">good and bad in elections</a>. No more evident is this through the spread of <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-vicious-online-propaganda-war-that-includes-fake-news-is-being-waged-in-zimbabwe-99402">fake news</a>. </p>
<p>How can elections be covered differently?</p>
<h2>Doing things differently</h2>
<p>The media can play a role in creating <a href="https://www.idea.int/data-tools/tools/electoral-risk-management-tool">peaceful and non-violent elections</a>. Research <a href="https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/365">shows</a> that journalists are well aware of the pitfalls of playing up conflict at the detriment of conflict resolution. There is an openness to change, and to adopt new reporting practices, including entirely new models of journalism. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01296612.2003.11726720">Peace journalism</a> has been highlighted as such an alternative model because it emphasises conflict resolution, analysis of the underlying causes of conflict, the use of alternative news sources, and the use of language that does not over-emphasise or play up conflict. </p>
<p>But peace journalism has also been <a href="http://www.cco.regener-online.de/2007_2/pdf/loyn_reply.pdf">criticised</a> for being too philosophical and idealistic. In some instances critics have likened it to “sunshine journalism”. Foremost, it’s the model’s practical application and implementation that has been queried.</p>
<p>So, can the peace journalism model work?</p>
<p><a href="http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/83770208/reframing-south-african-tv-news-as-peace-journalism-interim-findings-from-field-experiment">Research </a> in South Africa shows that audiences who were shown television news inserts reworked according to the peace journalism model, were more likely to pick up on as well as understand the underlying causes of conflict and to see opportunities for conflict resolution; rather than seeing conflict as inevitable and without any chance of being resolved.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cco.regener-online.de/2007_1/pdf/lynch.pdf">Research</a> from the Philippines and the Middle East shows similar results. </p>
<h2>Solutions</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/365">Research</a> among journalists shows that they are well aware of the many pitfalls of covering conflict. But they also argue that it’s not their role to act as “peacemakers”. </p>
<p>That said, there is agreement that <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23736992.2015.1020379">journalism practices could be changed</a> to reflect alternative views, thus showing that consensus or common ground can exist, even between two warring or opposing factions. </p>
<p>It seems peace journalism provides a good model for reflection and for training journalists to be more sensitive when <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1750635210378944?journalCode=mwca">reporting on conflict</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100605/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ylva Rodny-Gumede does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In Africa, biased media coverage is one of the reasons voters have little faith in credible elections.Ylva Rodny-Gumede, Professor of Journalism in the Department of Journalism, Film and Television, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/998452018-07-24T20:07:45Z2018-07-24T20:07:45ZHow Australian media are changing the way they report violence against women<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228756/original/file-20180723-189319-z0u8yr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C17%2C2991%2C1428&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> </figcaption></figure><p>Recently in Australia there has been a horrific wave of murders of women and children. But, in the aftermath of the #metoo movement, we have seen a change in the way the media are reporting violence against women.</p>
<p>Witness the reporting of the murder of <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/eurydice-dixon-vigils-fuel-fight-for-womens-safety/news-story/222c35d60b67f7d026acf660e1ecb898">Eurydice Dixon</a>, followed by the <a href="https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/woman-abducted-from-carlton-st-sexually-assaulted/news-story/3777fbdfaf5ac70840c0cc8845a20ad4">abduction and rape</a> of a woman in Carlton, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-11/seven-people-found-dead-in-margaret-river-murder-suicide/9751482">murder-suicides in Western Australia</a> and <a href="https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/crime/father-who-shot-children-dead-identified-as-sydney-financial-planner-john-edwards-68/news-story/9e8338e89fe488cdb234c526baa365df">Sydney</a> and the murders of <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/a-bad-word-against-her-doesn-t-exist-cranbourne-north-victim-mourned-20180708-p4zq8x.html">two women</a> in Melbourne in one weekend. </p>
<p>Over this period, there were subtle but significant shifts in the way the incidents were reported. Murders were labelled as “domestic” homicides sooner, the focus shifted from the victims’ to the perpetrators’ behaviour, and the men responsible for murdering their families transformed from “good blokes” to “cowards”.</p>
<p>Some of these changes can be traced back to the media’s first port of call – the police. In the early stages following a crime, they provide the information and implicitly set the news agenda. Greens candidate Kathleen Maltzahn wrote in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/20/this-is-what-police-should-say-after-an-act-of-gendered-violence">The Guardian</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>In times of threat, the police speak as the state; their words reassert community standards and set the agenda for how a crime is understood.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jun/19/eurydice-dixon-death-male-rage-australia-women-men-attitudes">Public outcry </a> and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/28/arts/what-is-next-metoo-movement.html">#metoo movement</a> probably also played a part in causing the shift. </p>
<p>Underlying these recent developments is a decade of <a href="http://dvvic.org.au/publications/working-with-news-and-social-media-to-prevent-violence-against-women-and-their-children-a-strategic-framework-for-victoria/">work</a> by the Victorian domestic violence sector, which has engaged with the media to improve reporting of violence against women. This <a href="https://www.ourwatch.org.au/what-we-do/national-primary-prevention-framework">primary prevention work</a>, which seeks to stop violence before it starts by changing community attitudes, has also been undertaken <a href="https://www.ourwatch.org.au/">nationally</a>. </p>
<h2>The ideal article</h2>
<p>There is a lot of <a href="https://www.vichealth.vic.gov.au/media-and-resources/publications/victorian-print-media-coverage-of-violence-against-women">research</a> that analyses the problems with media reporting of violence against women.</p>
<p>According to these <a href="https://www.anrows.org.au/publications/landscapes-0/media-representations-violence-against-women-and-their-children-state">studies</a>, the <a href="https://www.presscouncil.org.au/uploads/52321/ufiles/Guidelines/Advisory_Guideline_on_Family_and_Domestic_Violence_Reporting.pdf">Australian Press Council</a> and <a href="https://www.ourwatch.org.au/news-media/reporting-guidelines">Our Watch</a> guidelines, an ideal article reporting on a domestic homicide would:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>contextualise the story with statistics or expert comment about violence against women</p></li>
<li><p>label the incident for what it was, such as “domestic violence”</p></li>
<li><p>humanise the story and, if possible, give a name to the victim </p></li>
<li><p>if relevant (and legal), report on the perpetrator’s prior violence</p></li>
<li><p>include domestic violence helplines.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Without these elements, the incident is represented as an isolated and random event. This leaves the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262968986_Media_Representations_of_Intimate_Partner_Violence_and_Punishment_Preferences_Exploring_the_Role_of_Attributions_and_Emotions">responsibility</a> with the individuals and the solution with the justice system. It allows the rest of society to dismiss it as someone else’s problem. </p>
<p>The work of <a href="http://janegilmore.com/category/fixedit/">#FixedIt</a> powerfully captures the impact of sensationalised, inaccurate or individualised reporting of violence against women. Journalist Jane Gilmore highlights how headlines alone can reinforce victim-blaming stereotypes or sexist attitudes towards women – she “fixes” headlines to read as they should, rather than as they do.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1014717976379969536"}"></div></p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1014003548550356994"}"></div></p>
<p>Of course, this “ideal article” is not always feasible. Journalists are tied to what information they get from police and other sources. <a href="https://www.presscouncil.org.au/uploads/52321/ufiles/Guidelines/Legal_Restrictions_on_Family_and_Domestic_Violence_Reporting.pdf">Legal restrictions</a> also significantly limit what material journalists can report. </p>
<p>There are also constraints within the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-10/the-murders-we-do-not-hear-about-and-why/9960688">media industry</a> itself. Limited resources and a demanding 24/7 news cycle can mean details are scant or the murder isn’t covered at all. Editorial decisions may also alter the final version of the report.</p>
<p>Despite all of this, there are signs that journalists are finding ways to contextualise the incidents and place the blame and responsibility in the right places. </p>
<h2>Signs of change</h2>
<p><strong>1. ‘This behaviour is never justified’</strong></p>
<p>After the murder of Eurydice Dixon police called on people to “<a href="https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/detective-inspector-andrew-stamper-says-a-man-handed-himself-in-to-victoria-police-and-has-been-charged-after-a-womans-body-was-found-in-princes-park-carlton-north/video/a3a06a1df5e169ecb179f4fccf1ad252">be aware of their personal security</a>”. That caused a <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/a-question-of-risk-eurydice-dixon-death-stirs-women-s-safety-debate-20180615-p4zlne.html">public debate</a> over the victim-blaming messages this response invoked. </p>
<p>Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/eurydice-dixon-s-princes-park-memorial-vandalised-20180618-p4zm2q.html">publicly acknowledged</a> the police needed to use better language when responding to these incidents and said they had “learned a lesson”.</p>
<p>Not long after, a woman was abducted and sexually assaulted in the same area of Melbourne. This time, the police insisted everybody had a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-21/woman-sexually-assaulted-in-carlton-lygon-street/9895364">right to go about living their lives</a> safely. They shifted their focus from the victim to the behaviour of the men responsible.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/woman-abducted-from-carlton-st-sexually-assaulted/news-story/3777fbdfaf5ac70840c0cc8845a20ad4">Herald Sun</a> quoted North West Metro Acting Commander Lisa Hardeman who said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Pressuring or forcing somebody into unwanted sexual activity is a serious crime … This behaviour is never justified.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While the media have been <a href="https://www.anrows.org.au/publications/horizons-0/media-representations">criticised</a> for over-relying on police as a source, police are, at the early stages of these crimes, the main source of information. </p>
<p>In Victoria at least, Margaret Simons’ and Jenny Morgan’s <a href="https://research.monash.edu/en/publications/changing-media-coverage-of-violence-against-women-changing-sourci">research</a> has shown that cultural change in the police force has played a part in positively influencing media agendas. </p>
<p><strong>2. ‘Good bloke’ to ‘coward’</strong></p>
<p>In Margaret River, Peter Miles allegedly shot his wife, daughter and four grandchildren. Yet the media quoted family and friends who said he was a “<a href="https://www.ourwatch.org.au/News-media/Latest-news/My-family-was-ripped-apart-by-violence-and-the-kil">good bloke</a>”. </p>
<p>This description caused widespread outrage, including a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s4846264.htm">Media Watch</a> episode advising journalists to proceed with caution in the future. </p>
<p>Sadly, not long after the Margaret River tragedy, another unfolded in West Pennant Hills, Sydney, where <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-07/pennant-hills-shooting3a-images-of-dead-children-jack-and-jenn/9953878">John Edwards</a> shot his two teenage children, Jack and Jennifer, following custody disputes with his former wife, Olga Edwards. </p>
<p>In stark contrast to the Margaret River reporting, the coverage of the Sydney tragedy held the perpetrator to account, labelling him a “<a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/coward-who-killed-his-children/news-story/3e5fe07a593e20b43974e38a5d7f1f30">coward</a>”. Media also reported his <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/killer-dad-john-edwards-discharged-from-australian-army-amid-concerns-over-his-performance/news-story/f6c7a3744232c3d104d2bcc1c3278b13">history of violence against other women</a> and that he had once been subject to an <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/killer-john-edwards-secret-first-family-20180707-p4zq4z.html">apprehended violence order</a>. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/northern-district-times/west-pennant-hills-shooting-police-bolstered-domestic-violence-team/news-story/1a640bf73b59fac6b6a908a44d162828">Daily Telegraph wrote</a> about the domestic violence police team that operated in the West Pennant Hills area. The report quoted local domestic violence statistics and the team lead, Sergeant Jerrod Luck, who said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Why should the family have to leave home? That’s victimising the victim … We will be guided by what the victim wants, but they don’t have to pack up and leave.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These narratives can be explained by the different <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/margaret-river-murdersuicide-who-was-peter-miles/news-story/38fd27cbb4f34d6ed9913fb430bbf1df">circumstances</a> and <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/jack-edwards-died-trying-to-protect-his-sister-from-father-s-gunfire-20180711-p4zqv4.html">character</a> of the men and the information provided by police and other sources. Journalists should also not be expected to censor information just because it is favourable to the accused.</p>
<p>Regardless, the changes here suggest journalists are exercising more care in how they use material from sources – as they routinely do in other matters. </p>
<p><strong>3. ‘Name it’</strong></p>
<p>In Melbourne, <a href="https://www.news.com.au/national/crime/police-investigate-after-suspicious-death-of-woman-at-melbourne-home/news-story/dc9d71bce532af67ceca04b48101871d">two women were murdered</a> within six kilometres of each other on the one weekend, both by a “man known to her”. </p>
<p>At the early stage after a crime, reports are brief and faceless as the media can only report on the few facts police provide. The accused is usually not identified until they appear in court. </p>
<p>But, in reporting the two Melbourne murders, <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/two-women-killed-in-separate-incidents-in-melbourne-s-south-east-20180707-p4zq5b.html">The Age</a> included the domestic violence helpline – 1800 RESPECT. By including this resource, not only was the murder identified as related to domestic violence, it also <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3032440/">communicated to the audience</a> where they can seek help. </p>
<p>This practice is not consistent among journalists. In the week leading up to these murders, another Fairfax report, “<a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/shane-robertson-bashed-mother-of-his-children-because-she-wanted-to-leave-him-20180703-p4zp88.html">Shane Robertson bashed mother of his children because she wanted to leave him</a>”, included a Lifeline and BeyondBlue helpline, but no domestic violence resource. </p>
<p>The murders did not disappear from the news cycle either, as has been too often the case. Instead, the media spoke up on behalf of the victims and the <a href="https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/34-australian-women-violently-killed-this-year-3-were-murdered-on-saturday/">34 women</a> in total killed in Australia this year. Other reports <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/the-girl-who-became-a-thing-20180708-p4zqa8.html">analysed</a> how the community interpreted these events. </p>
<p>ABC radio host <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radio/melbourne/programs/mornings/fiona-mccormack-domestic-violence-victoria-on-mornings/9957994">Jon Faine</a> dedicated part of his show two mornings in a row to discussing violence against women. <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-10/the-drum-tuesday,-july-10/9977152">The Drum</a> spent half an episode unpacking the public conversation around domestic violence. The list goes on. </p>
<h2>Credit where it’s due</h2>
<p>As put by Our Watch ambassador <a href="https://www.areanews.com.au/story/5523174/violence-to-women-must-be-addressed-by-media/">Tarang Chawla</a>, whose family had to bear the brunt of unethical, inaccurate and racist media reporting after his sister Nikita’s murder, it is no easy task for the media and society to unlearn entrenched stereotypes and messages that excuse or dismiss violence against women. </p>
<p>But, when journalists get it right, they should be acknowledged and congratulated in the hope it can create permanent change.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The National Sexual Assault, Family & Domestic Violence Counselling Line – 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week for any Australian who has experienced, or is at risk of, family and domestic violence and/or sexual assault.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99845/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annie Blatchford works for Domestic Violence Victoria as a Media Coordinator.</span></em></p>Despite several barriers, journalists are changing the way they report on violence against women for the better.Annie Blatchford, PhD Candidate, Melbourne Law School, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/825782017-08-30T20:06:39Z2017-08-30T20:06:39ZWe tracked how investors read company reports and here’s how they’re misled<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183549/original/file-20170828-27564-jnov8i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The study used an eye-tracking device to ensure that all information included in the management report was read and considered in light of judgment formation. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Investors would have spent a fair amount of time over the last few weeks poring over financial documents, as listed companies report their earnings and plans for the year to come. But our research shows they could have been misled just by the order of information in these reports. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00014788.2016.1271737">We found that</a> investors place more emphasis on the last piece of information in the management report included in company documents. Non-professional investors also ranked the performance of the company higher on more occasions, if the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00014788.2016.1271737">last piece of information is positive</a>. </p>
<p>We invited 66 non-professional investors in our laboratory to read a management report of a fictitious mining company containing a short series of complex and mixed information. The positive information contained in the report told of increases in financial profitability and a strong operating cash flow. Negative information included a declining share price and increases in costs.</p>
<p>We randomly assigned the participants to two groups. The first group read the textual information included in the report in a sequence of positive information first and negative last. The second group read exactly the same information, but for them it was presented in the opposite way, negative before positive. We used an eye-tracking device to ensure that all information included in the management report was read and considered in light of judgement formation. </p>
<p>The investors we studied actually used the fictitious information in their investment decisions. Over 60% of participants were less inclined to invest in the fictitious company when negative information was presented last. </p>
<h2>Easily mislead</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00014788.2016.1271737">Research</a> into the behaviour of investors shows that the presentation order of financial information influences their judgements on company performance. </p>
<p>Because of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbef.2017.03.003">limited attention span and working memory capacity of the human mind</a>, investors give more weight to information received later in a sequence. </p>
<p>So although financial information is often regarded as objective, neutral and value-free, the deliberate presentation ordering of information is able to influence non-professional investors. Companies could use this to try and hide negative information in the middle sections of a narrative and disclose positive information at the end of a sequence for the greatest effect.</p>
<p>Presentation ordering is <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1089447">not the only trick companies may use</a> to influence the perceptions of annual report readers. </p>
<p>Graphs can attract investor’s attention and can be more easily retained in their memory than other narratives. Because of this, companies use significantly more graphs <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0155998211000147?via%3Dihub">highlighting favourable rather than unfavourable performance</a>. </p>
<p>One concern that arises from our findings is that readers of financial information may be mislead into believing there is more objectivity in practice than actually is the case. <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214635016000071?via%3Dihub">With regulatory efforts</a> largely related to quantitative information, companies have much more flexibility in terms of how they present narrative information accompanying the financial statements in their reports. </p>
<p>Perhaps further guidance on the presentation of the management commentary is required by the global regulators to restrict the possibility that companies may influence the impressions conveyed to users of accounting information.</p>
<p>Maybe next reporting season investors should take another look at what information companies include in their reports.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82578/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andreas Hellmann does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research shows investors could have been misled just by the order of information in financial reports.Andreas Hellmann, Senior Lecturer in Accounting, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/803492017-07-17T01:59:26Z2017-07-17T01:59:26ZWe regulate doctors to protect the public from harm - why not journalists?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176441/original/file-20170630-18613-67f68c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Should journalists be licensed? <strong>The Conversation Canada</strong> commissioned two articles to argue for and against the idea. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-licensing-journalists-wont-end-the-scourge-of-fake-news-80859">counterpoint</a> of this argument to get the full picture.</em></p>
<p>In the post-truth haze that has enveloped public discourse, a free press is more crucial than ever in educating the public and holding leaders to account. Reliable, accurate news is an essential public good, while false or misleading news can foment confusion and distrust.</p>
<p>In this regard, the practice of journalism has much in common with the practice of medicine. The best medical practice can enhance the public’s health, while careless treatment can lead to real harms. One of these professions is tightly regulated. The other is practised without any formal systems of oversight.</p>
<p>Doctors are granted a licence to practise medicine by a medical board, or a college of physicians. Licensure typically requires proof of completion of medical school, as well as passing a series of examinations, and payment of an annual fee. Many physicians are additionally registered with other professional bodies that require evidence of continuing medical education, to better ensure that practitioners stay current in their fields.</p>
<p>Medical colleges establish clear rules and guidelines about how, in general terms, a physician’s practice should be carried out. Clear policies govern the professional standards that must be met, as well as how investigations and disciplinary actions are to be brought forth in the event of a suspected violation.</p>
<p>Certain types of misconduct — be it a failure to maintain the standards of the profession, disgraceful behaviour, abuse of a position of authority, or other misdeeds — can land a physician before a disciplinary committee with the power to revoke their licence if they are indeed found guilty of malfeasance.</p>
<h2>Board serves public and profession alike</h2>
<p>Medical boards serve the public, providing mechanisms through which patients can lodge complaints about physicians. They also serve physicians, who use credentialing to demonstrate good standing.</p>
<p>Importantly, medical boards and colleges do not represent an additional layer of government bureaucracy. Rather, they are formed by groups of doctors, patients and members of the public.</p>
<p>The potential parallels with journalism are easy to spot. The media fulfils an essential role in public life. Anyone writing and publishing news stories is given a potentially powerful voice. While our hope is that journalists will use their voice to reliably inform the public, we must also recognize their potential to lead people astray.</p>
<p>Not long ago, accurate, fact-based and ground-breaking reporting was valued – think Knowlton Nash, Woodward and Bernstein or the Boston Globe’s <a href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bostonglobe.com%2Fmetro%2Fspotlight&data=02%7C01%7Cdavid.maslove%40queensu.ca%7C074121a0b349480841a508d4c947a59b%7Cd61ecb3b38b142d582c4efb2838b925c%7C1%7C0%7C636354756934987096&sdata=rt6gJn1cWKXeJKBleg27M3xRb8QXLMfyDqN5DqjKRwo%3D&reserved=0">Spotlight team</a>. Highly respected journalists collected information first-hand, bringing stories to press or to air only after the most stringent of vetting and corroboration.</p>
<p>The upside of the hard work that goes into producing and filing a story included nothing more than a good reputation and a modest pay cheque. Though by no means perfect, reporting was for the most part done with the best of intentions, by those most qualified to do it.</p>
<h2>Anyone can now report on a story</h2>
<p>Our current media ecosystem presents a far different picture. The internet has given voice to anyone wishing to report on a story, enabling shoddy research based on secondary sources (or even pure fantasy). It has become possible to publish at the push of a button, at any time of day.</p>
<p>The upside now includes <a href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fnews%2Fthe-intersect%2Fwp%2F2016%2F11%2F18%2Fthis-is-how-the-internets-fake-news-writers-make-money%2F%3Futm_term%3D.57edda3ce29f&data=02%7C01%7Cdavid.maslove%40queensu.ca%7C074121a0b349480841a508d4c947a59b%7Cd61ecb3b38b142d582c4efb2838b925c%7C1%7C0%7C636354756934987096&sdata=y%2B13YeEwwuOZJg6giiE43yPUGgLHov0K0OPoo4PKUko%3D&reserved=0">an influx of cash</a> from clicks and page views; being provocative may be more profitable than being correct. As a consequence, the lines between news and entertainment are now blurred. Consumers of news are adrift in a sea of stories, left to disambiguate the fake news from the real thing.</p>
<p>This state of affairs constitutes a threat to the public good.</p>
<p>One needs look no further than recent votes in the <a href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2016%2F11%2F09%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Fhillary-clinton-donald-trump-president.html%3F_r%3D0&data=02%7C01%7Cdavid.maslove%40queensu.ca%7C074121a0b349480841a508d4c947a59b%7Cd61ecb3b38b142d582c4efb2838b925c%7C1%7C0%7C636354756934987096&sdata=rtH8m2EPZAgt2ViLRVtv4A7l7UXRsD3rt88TPJzvoPM%3D&reserved=0">United States</a> and the <a href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2016%2Fjun%2F24%2Fbritain-votes-for-brexit-eu-referendum-david-cameron&data=02%7C01%7Cdavid.maslove%40queensu.ca%7C074121a0b349480841a508d4c947a59b%7Cd61ecb3b38b142d582c4efb2838b925c%7C1%7C0%7C636354756934987096&sdata=%2FX%2BBtTDWlQ3Ks%2FXvv1FlyK281Y%2FC5HqgUGltVwo6EOs%3D&reserved=0">United Kingdom</a> to see that elections have serious and far-reaching consequences. While failing to vote may be a dereliction of one’s civic duty, voting while uninformed can be downright dangerous.</p>
<p>This state of affairs — in which a profession has a duty to protect the public but the means to do harm — underscores the need for a journalism licensing body.</p>
<h2>Journalistic bona fides</h2>
<p>A self-regulating college of journalists could determine what sort of education is needed in order to become licensed. Standards of journalistic practice and norms of professional conduct could be established based on a consensus of expert opinions. Formal processes to investigate malpractice and strip wrongdoers of their credentials could be put in place.</p>
<p>A licence in good standing would be a visible sign of a journalist’s bona fides, akin to the post-nominal “MD” that medical school graduates use.</p>
<p>A college of journalists would in no way infringe upon free speech or freedom of the press, much as a medical board does not preclude patients from seeking treatment from complementary and alternative sources.</p>
<p>In fact, seeking health treatments or news stories outside the mainstream may in many cases be a safe and reasonable thing to do. The difference is that the consumer becomes better informed about their choices, and practitioners can’t as easily claim to provide a service they aren’t qualified to deliver.</p>
<p>Physicians inhabit a unique place of trust in society, conferred at least in part by the recognition that their practice is regulated, and that those operating outside of accepted bounds face consequences.</p>
<p>Trust in journalists is no less important, but increasingly scarce these days. While the licensing of journalists may do little to stem the tide of fake news, it might at least make it easier to call it out for what it is.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80349/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Maslove does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With the rise of fake news and its threat to the public good, the time has come to regulate journalists as we do doctors, dentists and lawyers.David Maslove, Assistant Professor, School of Medicine, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/808592017-07-17T01:59:17Z2017-07-17T01:59:17ZWhy licensing journalists won’t end the scourge of ‘fake news’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177920/original/file-20170712-19642-u1ay9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Should journalists be licensed? <strong>The Conversation Canada</strong> commissioned two articles to argue for and against the idea. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-regulate-doctors-to-protect-the-public-from-harm-why-not-journalists-80349">counterpoint</a> of this argument to get the full picture.</em></p>
<p>A good place to start when considering a proposed solution is to ask what problem that solution is aiming to fix.</p>
<p>That’s a good way to approach suggestions that journalists should be licensed as a means to address concerns about “fake news” in an era in which journalists are often no longer trusted by the public.</p>
<p>But are those real problems?</p>
<p>“Fake news” — to the extent that the concept means anything — has been with us forever, on display at supermarket checkout counters every day. What’s new is not “fake news,” but the ability to distribute it quickly, easily and widely online through social media.</p>
<p>Licensing journalists can’t prevent that.</p>
<p>In fact, “fake news” as a concept now seems to mean factual information that those in positions of authority would rather not see published or broadcast — all the more reason to ensure it is distributed as widely as possible.</p>
<h2>Canadians don’t trust news on social media</h2>
<p>Interestingly, public opinion surveys over the past year conducted by the <a href="http://cjf-fjc.ca/sites/default/files/PPF_CJF_Shattered%2520Mirror.pdf">Public Policy Forum in conjunction with the Canadian Journalism Foundation</a> as part of the PPF’s <em>Shattered Mirror</em> report, and by the <a href="http://www.j-source.ca/article/traditional-media-still-most-trusted">Reuters Institute at Oxford</a>, both suggest the mainstream media in Canada enjoy a considerable degree of trust. That’s quite different from the situation in the United States.</p>
<p>What isn’t trusted by Canadians, those same surveys show, is the accuracy of anything distributed via social media.</p>
<p>On one level, that leads to an intriguing question. <a href="http://www.j-source.ca/article/are-canadians-really-falling-fake-news">Shouldn’t we be spending less time worrying about the spread of “fake news” and more time (assuming you can define “fake news”) trying to figure out just how many people believe any of it</a>. The evidence so far suggests few do.</p>
<p>With that as a preamble, there are more questions to ask about licensing journalists.</p>
<p>Start with how to determine who’s a journalist at a time when anyone can distribute text, audio or video widely online. Traditional media are no longer information gatekeepers. A smart phone is all you need to become a “journalist” and record, edit and distribute any chosen mixture of video, audio, photos, data and/or text. Look at the daily online flood of material about traffic accidents, fires, demonstrations, bad behaviour in parking lots or on public transit, encounters with police and almost anything else.</p>
<h2>What about bloggers?</h2>
<p><a href="https://openparliament.ca/bills/42-1/S-231/">Senate Bill S-231,</a> now under consideration by the House of Commons to give journalists the ability to protect the confidentiality of their sources, defines a journalist as “a person whose main occupation is to contribute directly, either regularly or occasionally, for consideration, to the collection, writing or production of information for dissemination by the media, or anyone who assists such a person.”</p>
<p>That’s as good a definition as any but excludes anyone who starts a blog, tweets or distributes information other than through “the media” as it was once defined. Such individuals can produce and distribute whatever comes into their minds in whatever format they want, while facing the legal consequences if it’s libellous or violates Criminal Code provisions regarding hate speech. Others can pick it up and circulate it through social media. Licensing journalists won’t stop that.</p>
<p>It’s also difficult to compare journalism to self-regulating professions such as doctors, lawyers, engineers and architects. Those professions require lengthy training, specific detailed knowledge and a demonstration that you can apply all that successfully to be given a license.</p>
<h2>A smart phone is all that’s needed</h2>
<p>Who would determine what knowledge and skills someone should learn and be able to demonstrate to get a journalism licence?</p>
<p>You don’t need any technical skills — comparable in detail to the other professions — to write, shoot video, record audio, put it all together online and distribute it. You can do it, although perhaps badly, with almost no instruction. It’s no more complex than figuring out how to use your smartphone and laptop.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, there’s no question that journalism schools teach would-be reporters much more than that — everything from defining a story to pitching it to editors, interviewing people, digging out information that authorities would prefer remain hidden, structuring and presenting stories to audiences in different formats, not to mention the hands-on experience with the technical elements (shooting, editing, data visualization, content management systems, etc.) of online journalism. That gives journalism graduates the significant advantage of skills training when seeking employment — something someone with just a smartphone doesn’t have.</p>
<p>Licences also mean there are certain rules you must obey or risk sanction. What are those rules for journalism? As one example, journalism schools tell students they should have at least two sources for every story. If that was applied in practice, every news organization in Canada would likely be sanctioned every day.</p>
<h2>Who would be the enforcer?</h2>
<p>Who would establish the rules? Provincial press councils tried to do that informally but they dealt only with print, were underfunded, membership was voluntary and their only sanction was publicizing that the council had rapped a newspaper’s knuckles. They have since disappeared, replaced by a <a href="http://mediacouncil.ca/">National NewsMedia Council</a> that is trying to develop a consensus around defining good journalism while also mediating public complaints about media coverage.</p>
<p>Finally and more important, who enforces the rules and imposes penalties if a licensed journalist breaks them? Certainly not a government agency subject to political direction against news stories that those in power might not appreciate. <a href="http://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/the-gargoyle-justin-trudeau-versus-sun-media">Remember Justin Trudeau’s ill-considered and short-lived refusal to answer questions from Sun Media while leader of the opposition</a> or Stephen Harper’s decade-long battle with the media while prime minister?</p>
<p>“Fake news,” yellow journalism, tabloid exposés, bad reporting and sensationalism won’t end with the licensing of journalists. Much better to focus on educating audiences about the elements of good journalism and the cost of producing it, what to look for when they see, listen to or read a news story and how to question and hold to account news organizations and journalists about their reporting. That’s something both the educational system at all levels and the media itself can do.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80859/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Waddell is a member of the board of the Canadian Journalism Foundation.</span></em></p>Licensing journalists would be difficult to do, and the rules would be tough to enforce – and wouldn’t prevent anyone with a smart phone from disseminating false information online.Christopher Waddell, Professor, School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/776762017-05-22T11:46:19Z2017-05-22T11:46:19ZThe blockade-running British women at the forefront of Basque evacuations<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170295/original/file-20170522-25060-2aeni3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Basque children, refugees from the Spanish Civil War, Aldridge Lodge, 1937.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(C) Walsall Local History Centre</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It was the first time nurse Aileen Moore had flown. But at noon on May 11, 1937, she took off in a tiny 25kg monoplane from a daisy-speckled airfield under the Pyrenees, near Biarritz. As the plane flew south, Moore saw below her, “on the corrugated gleaming blue surface” of the sea, a fleet of destroyers. Inland from the long yellow line of coast, she could also spot the fighting units of nationalist troops and the Basque armies. As the plane lurched sickeningly, she admitted to feeling “just a little qualm” at willingly catapulting herself into a war zone.</p>
<p>Moore had volunteered to help the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Joint_Committee_for_Spanish_Relief">National Joint Spanish Relief Committee</a> bring thousands of Basque children out of Bilbao, the besieged city at imminent risk of falling to Franco’s encircling troops during the Spanish Civil War. And May 23, 2017 marks the 80th anniversary of the arrival <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/may/11/forgotten-children-spain-civil-war">of the nearly 4,000 children</a> in Southampton, snatched out from under Franco’s nose just days before Bilbao was taken by his rebels.</p>
<p>I came across Moore as part of my ongoing research into unsung women activists and humanitarians during the interwar years. She recorded eating donkey and cat as bombs rained down on starving Bilbao while she waited for official permission for the children to leave. </p>
<p>Moore spoke fluent Spanish, and was tasked with inspecting the children for signs of infectious disease before they were allowed to leave Spain. She was one of dozens of women – humanitarians, medics and politicians – who volunteered to help civilians caught up in the war. She reported her adventures in the Nursing Mirror and Midwives’ Journal. This weekly specialist newspaper took great interest in Spain both because so many British nurses had volunteered to go, and also because of the innovative field hospital techniques being pioneered there, such as the use of canned blood for transfusions. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169810/original/file-20170517-24325-j48chr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169810/original/file-20170517-24325-j48chr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169810/original/file-20170517-24325-j48chr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169810/original/file-20170517-24325-j48chr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169810/original/file-20170517-24325-j48chr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169810/original/file-20170517-24325-j48chr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169810/original/file-20170517-24325-j48chr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Canteen at Basque Camp, Eastleigh, 1937.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/explorefurther/digital/scw/more/northstoneham/">Eleanor Hickman, North Stoneham Camp (Modern Records Centre, Warwick University)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the interwar years, the journal invited nurses to write about the unusual situations they found themselves in as part of their job. Consequently, it provided a rare public space where women’s professional work and engagement with the world could be celebrated.</p>
<h2>‘Home and duty’</h2>
<p>There were huge pressures on women to return to “home and duty” after their widespread involvement in work outside the domestic sphere during World War I. The war had been a moment of social anarchy when women burst out of the home, schoolhouse, hospital and nursery and worked in munitions factories, on underground trains, and abroad in field hospitals and mobile canteens.</p>
<p>So many women volunteered to work abroad that one exasperated Quaker relief unit reported from Salonika (Thessaloniki) in 1915 that there were 70 British women doctors and nurses in the port city waiting to be transported out to hospitals in Serbia, but there was no space for them.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169951/original/file-20170518-12217-12f35xw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169951/original/file-20170518-12217-12f35xw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169951/original/file-20170518-12217-12f35xw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169951/original/file-20170518-12217-12f35xw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169951/original/file-20170518-12217-12f35xw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169951/original/file-20170518-12217-12f35xw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169951/original/file-20170518-12217-12f35xw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Katherine S Macphail.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282461938_Chronicle_of_the_Anglo-Yugoslav_Children%27s_Hospital_in_Sremska_Kamenica">Chronicle of the Anglo-Yugoslav Children’s Hospital in Sremska Kamenica</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This was a literary era and many middle-class women wrote poems, stories and articles, mostly as enthusiastic amateurs. When Katherine MacPhail, a doctor who spent most of the years 1915-1941 working for refugees abroad, left a Quaker-run orphanage in France, her leaving party consisted of the other volunteers writing, and reading out, sonnets composed in her honour. </p>
<p>But women’s access to writing pages for mainstream newspapers was still highly contested and often records of their activism are in obscure journals, or unpublished diaries and letters. Even the well-connected journalist and activist Shiela Grant Duff, on asking the editor of The Times in 1934 to be sent to Europe to cover rising German aggression, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Parting-Ways-Personal-Account-Thirties/dp/0720605865">was told</a> she would only be good for contributing “fashion notes” to the paper. </p>
<p>When the Spanish Civil War broke out, women nurses, humanitarians and journalists packed uniforms, notebooks and typewriters and headed south. Twenty-year-old Florence “Fifi” Roberts <a href="http://www.europeana.eu/portal/en/record/2024904/photography_ProvidedCHO_TopFoto_co_uk_EU047940.html">sailed</a> with her father Captain William Roberts past the fascist rebels’ blockade of Bilbao in April 1937. Their ship, the Seven Seas Spray, was the first British ship to do so, and delivered a 4,000-ton cargo of olive oil, honey, beans, peas, salt, almonds and barrels of cognac to the starving Basques. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AicMA5ymixU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Roberts talking in a 1983 documentary about Guernica.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The British government, following <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9781107431751">its non-interventionist policy</a>, had warned British shipping not to attempt to break the rebel blockade. Nonetheless, at 10pm on the night of April 19, the Seven Seas Spray, her lights extinguished, slipped out of St Jean de Luz in France, past a nationalist Franco cruiser and into the inky waters of the Bay of Biscay.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169796/original/file-20170517-24350-1sut89j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169796/original/file-20170517-24350-1sut89j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169796/original/file-20170517-24350-1sut89j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169796/original/file-20170517-24350-1sut89j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169796/original/file-20170517-24350-1sut89j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169796/original/file-20170517-24350-1sut89j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169796/original/file-20170517-24350-1sut89j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169796/original/file-20170517-24350-1sut89j.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Fifi’ Roberts, aka ‘food girl’ , gets stuck in.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>After ten hours’ sailing, the ship’s arrival in Bilbao was feted by the Basque authorities and Fifi became an overnight celebrity. The News Chronicle signed up the newly famous “food ship girl” as a special correspondent – and in her first dispatch she wrote: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have seen children and even women run after lorries leaving one ship with loads of salt and snatch a handful of it … despite their hardships they would rather starve than surrender.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In a deliberate dig at the British prime minister, Stanley Baldwin, she added: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>If only those in authority in Britain could see these starving, homeless women and children – the sight of whom brings a lump into my throat, there would not long be a shortage of food in Bilbao.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Later, she was one of the first correspondents to report from Guernica, which had just been bombed by German planes sympathetic to Franco, and wrote in a front page story: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Amid the ruins mothers are still seeking children and children their parents. No cattle remain. They were machine-gunned in the fields as were their fleeing owners. Two unexploded bombs bearing German marks of identification help to place the responsibility for this inhuman massacre.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169777/original/file-20170517-24350-abkyna.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169777/original/file-20170517-24350-abkyna.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169777/original/file-20170517-24350-abkyna.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169777/original/file-20170517-24350-abkyna.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169777/original/file-20170517-24350-abkyna.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169777/original/file-20170517-24350-abkyna.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169777/original/file-20170517-24350-abkyna.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Guernica in ruins, 1937.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Civil_War#/media/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-H25224,_Guernica,_Ruinen.jpg">German Federal Archive</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fifi and her father ran the blockade a further four times, landing foodstuffs in Santander and Gijon, as well as removing Basque refugees to Bordeaux before being captured by Italian troops in Santona. She spent two months in captivity, celebrating her 21st birthday on the impounded ship and playing cricket on deck. After her release, she wrote in the Daily Mail: “I would do it all again.”</p>
<h2>Light-footed subterfuge</h2>
<p>The evacuation of the Basque children to Britain was effected by the teacher and former Labour MP Leah Manning, who had promised the Basque authorities she could persuade Baldwin’s reluctant government to accept the children. She had to engage in some light-footed subterfuge while the British Consul, Ralph Stevenson, was out of Bilbao to celebrate the Coronation of George VI on May 12, sending a “cod” telegram to London pretending to be from him assenting to the evacuation. </p>
<p>“Stevenson never knew what hit him,” Manning wrote in her memoir. On May 21, the yacht Habana, with a capacity of 800, began loading nearly 4,000 young passengers from the bomb-cratered pier. They arrived in Southampton Water on the evening of May 22 and were finally allowed to disembark the following day, after all the children’s hair had been cut short to limit the spread of head lice.</p>
<p>“I do not think the full story of the evacuations from Bilbao has ever been told … Perhaps, many years hence, in happier times, they will erect a statue of me, with children, in the Park in Bilbao,” Manning wrote.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169814/original/file-20170517-6030-1pfadjz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169814/original/file-20170517-6030-1pfadjz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169814/original/file-20170517-6030-1pfadjz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169814/original/file-20170517-6030-1pfadjz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169814/original/file-20170517-6030-1pfadjz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=334&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169814/original/file-20170517-6030-1pfadjz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169814/original/file-20170517-6030-1pfadjz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169814/original/file-20170517-6030-1pfadjz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children perform traditional Basque dancing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/explorefurther/digital/scw/more/northstoneham/">Eleanor Hickman, North Stoneham Camp (Modern Records Centre, Warwick University)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Manning’s reports for National Joint Committee bulletins helped generate the £2m in donations made by British citizens to the victims of the civil war. A leafy square in Bilbao, named Jardines de Mrs Leah Manning in 2002, now commemorates her work. Another brilliant writer, she skilfully contrasted the bucolic peace of rural England – “a country flaming with orange and red, madder and bronze, a country of warm scented airs and soft blue skies … a country plenteous with cider and cheese, honey and clotted cream” – with the plight of war-torn Spain to arouse pity and action. And it was thanks in part to the work of all these women that the 4,000 children were able to find refuge in Britain.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77676/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Lonsdale is the author of The Journalist in British Fiction and Film, Bloomsbury, 2016.</span></em></p>During the Spanish Civil War, 4,000 Basque child refugees arrived in Britain – here’s the story of the women who helped rescue them.Sarah Lonsdale, Senior Lecturer in Journalism, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/776422017-05-21T10:43:06Z2017-05-21T10:43:06ZSouth Africa’s power utility is hoping for a tariff hike. It may not get it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170154/original/file-20170519-12217-qhgoc9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South Africa's power utility, Eskom, desperately needs a tariff hike.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Africa’s National Energy Regulator (NERSA) is soon to decide if the country’s power utility, Eskom, should be granted an <a href="https://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/south-africa/dear-nersa-we-cannot-comply-eskom/">exemption</a> from a long list of regulatory reporting requirements when it submits a new tariff application next month. </p>
<p>The reporting requirements centre around thousands of detailed cost and sales items making up Eskom’s financial and regulatory accounts - information that’s meant to be used by the regulator to determine electricity tariffs. Some of the reporting requirements date back to 2008 and are general to the regulated energy sector. Other information requirements were only recently put into place on the back of concerns that tariff hikes were being made without full disclosure.</p>
<p>Eskom has asked the regulator to waive some of the requirements for its 2018/19 tariff application. It argues that its internal reporting systems aren’t tailored to the format required by the regulator, and that they need to be revised. But that will take time, and Eskom’s only chance for lodging a tariff application is for NERSA to provide it with the exemption. </p>
<p>In years past this would have gone unnoticed. For better or worse, these types of exemptions are often granted to public enterprises. But with legal challenges to regulatory decisions growing in frequency in South Africa, regulators are gradually understanding that the administrative actions they take could be subject to judicial review. </p>
<p>This puts the regulator in a difficult situation. Tariffs need to be set for next year, and time is running out given the lengthy processes involved. But if it allows Eskom to cut corners, it may find itself back in court arguing the legality of its decision. </p>
<h2>In the balance</h2>
<p>A great deal hangs on a case currently before the Supreme Court of Appeal. </p>
<p>The court is to review an August 2016 High Court ruling that found the energy regulator had acted in an “irrational and unlawful” way in deciding Eskom’s tariffs. The court’s ruling was in part based on the fact that Eskom had not complied with certain reporting requirements. </p>
<p>If the High Court’s decision is overturned on appeal and NERSA’s decision making process found lawful, Eskom’s request to forgo reporting requirements might become a moot point. The regulator would be likely to adopt a pragmatic approach and grant Eskom its wish by standing down some of the reporting requirements. </p>
<p>But if the High Court’s judgement is upheld, NERSA, and other South African regulators, will have to pay greater attention to the regulatory rules they have crafted. </p>
<p>This would be a positive step forward. But it does put NERSA in a difficult predicament in deciding whether to condone Eskom’s application to forego certain reporting requirements. </p>
<h2>Between a rock and a hard place</h2>
<p>Waiving existing reporting requirements would amount to an admission that they are impractical to administer, or that they weren’t needed in the first place. That might be difficult for the regulator to swallow given that the reporting requirements are the outcome of years of work.</p>
<p>But more importantly, in applying the regulatory methodology, NERSA is to assess the request to waive information requirements against a range of complex factors such as the impact on business sustainability, tariff stability, efficiency incentives, and the tariff making process. </p>
<p>The regulatory rules also call on NERSA to consider prejudice suffered by Eskom, the public and the economy in waiving the requirements. </p>
<p>On previous occasions it may have been sufficient for the regulator to note that it had considered all these issues, and then move on with its decision. But this too was a point highlighted by the High Court last August in which NERSA was found to have given insufficient attention to similar criteria when making a tariff decision.</p>
<p>And while Eskom’s application covers slightly less than five pages, it cites relevant documents dating back to 2008, covering hundreds of pages of technical material that would also presumably need to be considered. By any standard, this suggests a considerable amount of time and effort to properly support a determination in Eskom’s favour. Anything less would seem destined for the courts.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if the regulator stands by its reporting requirements, Eskom will have to run the gauntlet in submitting its next tariff application. Having just listed some 17 reporting areas that it’s unable to provide to the regulator puts Eskom in an unenviable position, to say the least. </p>
<p>In hindsight, perhaps Eskom should have challenged the reporting requirements through the courts early on. It may now be too late for this. As things stand, Eskom’s tariff application will almost certainly be dead on arrival. </p>
<h2>What are the implications?</h2>
<p>If Eskom’s tariff application is stalled the best guess is that regulated tariffs would remain at current levels – at least through 2018/19. </p>
<p>With flat electricity sales volumes, increasing costs, and no increase in tariffs in sight, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-south-africas-power-utility-isnt-in-great-financial-shape-68441">financial implications</a> must be of concern to Eskom. </p>
<p>Against this background, <a href="http://ewn.co.za/2017/05/13/brown-confident-eskom-s-financially-stable">recent comments</a> by Lynne Brown, the Minister for Public Enterprise, were surprisingly optimistic. Her view (as reported) is that credit rating agencies won’t be able to fault Eskom’s financial stability as they engage in another series of rating reviews. </p>
<p>But with no tariff increases in sight, Eskom’s financial stability will rest on its ability to reduce costs. This won’t be easy to achieve. </p>
<p>Minister Brown’s second surprising insight was that Eskom had assured her that it would reduce “its reliance on state guarantees by R100 billion within the next five years.” </p>
<p>The hard reality is that Eskom may require additional financial support if it’s going to last long enough for South Africans to find out.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77642/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Labson has previously served as an external regulatory adviser to Eskom Holdings (SOC) Ltd. He has not received any payment or funding for writing this article, and the views stated here are his alone. . </span></em></p>South Africa’s power utility Eskom wants regulatory reporting requirements waived. The country’s regulator faces possible court action if it agrees.Stephen Labson, Director, Trans African Consulting Group, and Senior Research Fellow University of Johannsesburg, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/749602017-03-30T02:16:55Z2017-03-30T02:16:55ZShould journalism become less professional?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163152/original/image-20170329-8584-1813o3m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Clinton has a cup of coffee with newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin in April 1992. Breslin died on March 19.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Watchf-AP-A-ELN-NY-USA-APHS293210-Jimmy-Breslin-/e5c3b489bad64dfd8199d41c3eed1b8c/12/1">Stephan Savoia/AP Photo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When I heard the news of longtime New York Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin’s death, it felt personal.</p>
<p>I was born in Queens and read Breslin as a youngster. My mom and dad both grew up in Queens, so even though we had moved to New Jersey by the time I started grade school, they would still buy the city newspapers each morning. Most of my relatives remained in Queens. A few of them knew Breslin and his family. I recall how, a few years ago, after one of my cousins unexpectedly passed away, I spoke briefly with one of his sons at a Queens funeral home.</p>
<p>Partially as a result of influence from media icons such as Breslin, I became editor of my college newspaper and later worked at CBS. And when I began to work in Manhattan during the 1980s, Breslin was one of those New York personalities who continued to stand out. He was still writing hard-hitting stories, but he also had a television show, had written several books and gained further notoriety for endorsing a local beer. If you lived anywhere near New York City, you knew Jimmy Breslin. </p>
<p>What made Breslin stand out was his blue-collar point of view. He was dogged in chasing a story. He didn’t kowtow to the powerful, and he often thought about how class and privilege might influence a narrative.</p>
<p>It’s a perspective and approach too often lacking in today’s newsrooms. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/fixing-americas-nearsighted-press-corps/508088/">According to a recent article in The Atlantic</a>, journalists today are more likely to work in metropolitan areas than in decades prior. And in 1960, nearly one-third of reporters and editors hadn’t attended college. By 2015, that number had dropped to 8.3 percent. Additionally, the American Society of News Editors’ most recent data reveal that many newspapers <a href="http://asne.org/files/2016%20Summary%20Report%20for%20each%20news%20organization.pdf">fail to have even one minority hire in their newsroom</a>. </p>
<p>As I reflected on Breslin’s life and career and the state of journalism today, two questions emerged. First, could Jimmy Breslin be as effective today as he was in an earlier era? Second, since Breslin didn’t receive university-based training as a journalist, is the education that many reporters receive today still relevant and necessary?</p>
<p>Today’s media environment bombards us with endless “reality-based” viewing options on televisions, smartphones and tablets. (<a href="http://www.adweek.com/tv-video/us-adults-consume-entire-hour-more-media-day-they-did-just-last-year-172218/">A 2016 study</a> found adults in the United States now consume more than 10 hours of media per day.) Reading the local newspaper is probably less exhilarating for audiences who can watch hip-hop divas, pawn-shop owners, morbidly obese people, football team locker rooms, political rallies, pregnant teens or piano-playing cats. </p>
<p>Still, what Breslin did was powerful enough to be engaging today. In a famous example, instead of covering the people in power at President John F. Kennedy’s funeral, <a href="http://www.newsday.com/opinion/digging-jfk-grave-was-his-honor-jimmy-breslin-1.6481560">Breslin opted to cover the man who dug the president’s grave</a>. Highly creative journalistic instincts would ensure his status as a respected professional in any era. Nonetheless, I suspect Breslin’s reach would be severely hampered by today’s onslaught of media distractions, and his stature might be further diminished by an increased skepticism that has permeated the journalistic field today.</p>
<p>That skepticism is palpable. <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/195542/americans-trust-mass-media-sinks-new-low.aspx">A recent Gallup poll</a> revealed that a mere 32 percent of Americans trust the media “to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly,” the first time ever that this annual measure has fallen below 40 percent. Faith in journalistic institutions has been trending downward for two decades, with no evidence that a turnaround is on the horizon. </p>
<p>Moreover, the recent use of the term “fake news” to attack coverage that doesn’t mesh with someone’s ideological beliefs has left many readers puzzled about the accuracy of news stories.</p>
<p>With such skepticism, one might argue that better-educated journalists are needed now more than ever before. However, the current political climate offers evidence that <a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-the-decline-of-public-higher-education-20150615-column.html">education is less valued</a>, with <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ehrlichfu/2015/03/23/troubling-attacks-on-public-higher-education/#3071551a4e12">cuts to higher education funding</a> now commonplace.</p>
<p>Journalism education, in particular, has been under assault for quite some time. In 1993, before he was a best-selling author, Michael Lewis, then senior editor for The New Republic, penned <a href="https://www.uvm.edu/%7Etstreete/MediaCultureUVM/jschool_critique.html">an article</a> entitled “J-School Ate My Brain,” a brutal attack of journalism education. Lewis asserted that journalism schools fail to teach what is necessary to be an inquisitive reporter, instead privileging the nuances of copy-editing and specialized jargon, mocking the “pretentious science of journalism” as a distraction from the actual practice of journalism. </p>
<p>“The best journalists,” he wrote, “are almost the antithesis of professionals.” For someone like Lewis, with an Ivy League pedigree and an advanced degree from the London School of Economics, learning the nuances of journalism might not be necessary. </p>
<p>However, I would argue that such an education has immense value to a first-generation college student whose parents struggled through blue-collar jobs to put food on the table. I teach at a school with many students who fit this profile, and I just visited another university last week with a somewhat similar student body. </p>
<p>During my visit, students and faculty alike spoke about the importance of learning disciplines beyond basic reporting. Some spoke about history, English or political science as areas that could enrich one’s reporting depth. Others talked about the need to learn social media skills and graphic arts to enhance their news gathering and reporting. When Jimmy Breslin won his well-deserved acclaim, he didn’t have to keep up with the rapid technological and industry changes that are currently taking place. </p>
<p>The faculty I visited conducted research to remain on top of developments in the field. Gaining proficiency with new communication technologies and developing new ways to find credible facts online are among the challenges these faculty confront today. Several of them are members of the <a href="http://www.aejmc.org/">Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication</a>, an organization that connects them to fellow scholars and active practitioners, many of them reporters or editors currently working in the field. </p>
<p>AEJMC is due to release a sort of “state of the educational landscape” report later this year, but <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1045619">its most recent report</a> found that journalism and mass communication programs reported a three-year enrollment decline, from a high of 203,341 students in 2010, to 197,161 in 2013. </p>
<p>I expect that trend to continue, as <a href="http://www.journalism.org/2016/06/15/state-of-the-news-media-2016/">new technologies challenge media profitability</a>, meaning fewer jobs in newsrooms. Regardless, for those who are willing to step up, the need to inform the public may be more important for the future of democracy today than at any time during my lifetime. </p>
<p>Jimmy Breslin was a streetwise journalist with a hardscrabble Queens background. He was a blue-collar, shoe-leather reporter who would dig deep to get stories that did not get covered elsewhere. He seemed more at home on a subway or a neighborhood bar than in a limousine or a swanky restaurant. Nonetheless, he plied his trade when public approval for journalists <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/11428/americans-trust-mass-media.aspx">frequently approached 70 percent</a>.</p>
<p>The next generation of reporters will need a similar grit and sensibility to succeed. As the nation becomes more diverse, more connected to technology and less willing to blindly accept <a href="http://billmoyers.com/story/the-mainstream-medias-big-disconnect-why-they-dont-get-middle-america/">heavily concentrated coverage from New York, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles</a>, reporters will have to push harder to break out of traditional media bubbles. But they’ll also be operating in an environment of widespread skepticism unlike anything ever faced by Breslin. For this reason, they’ll need to learn complex new technologies and develop strong research skills to inoculate their work against accusations of “fake news.” </p>
<p>The stakes couldn’t be higher. At a time when elected officials, corporate titans and others in positions of authority are likely to challenge young journalists, the public will depend on the courageous ability of freshly hired news professionals to hold individuals in power accountable for their words and deeds.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74960/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Trumpbour has taught communication at several institutions and has been invited to conduct external reviews of university programs that teach journalism and mass communication. He is a member of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and was a member of its board of directors for several years. </span></em></p>After the death of legendary New York Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin, some have lamented the end of blue-collar journalism. But in today’s media environment, Breslin’s approach might not be enough.Robert Trumpbour, Associate Professor of Communications, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/712142017-01-24T01:14:57Z2017-01-24T01:14:57ZHow should you read unnamed sources and leaks?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153933/original/image-20170123-8055-1m15vwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/oil-painting-558038083?src=KIvPZ-J6crdSAmQxLiS1-Q-1-2">'Secrets' via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>During my 13-year career in professional journalism, I rarely encountered issues with confidential sources or leaks directly. But during graduate school I became fascinated by the legal complications of journalists protecting sources and have written about the right to speak anonymously for nearly 20 years.</p>
<p>Using unnamed sources and leaked information is fraught with ethical and legal perils for journalists, their employers and their sources. Whether the risks are worth it depends upon the importance of the story. But in an age when the term “<a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/dec/13/2016-lie-year-fake-news">fake news</a>” is becoming part of the lexicon, how should readers judge the credibility of a story whose sources aren’t revealed?</p>
<h2>The minefield of unnamed sources</h2>
<p>Some selfless sources approach journalists in order to right a wrong or blow the whistle on a governmental or corporate betrayal of the public’s trust. But sources also sometimes have axes to grind. This doesn’t necessarily invalidate their information. However, it does mean that reporters must exercise caution when accepting their help, promising confidentiality or reporting on leaked documents.</p>
<p>The issue of sources <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/01/12/this-former-british-spy-was-identified-as-the-trump-dossier-source-now-he-is-in-hiding/?tid=sm_fb&utm_term=.014a2d947914%20fb&utm">came up recently</a> when the media reported that a former British intelligence officer named Christopher Steele had written a dossier containing unconfirmed claims that Russia had compromising information about Donald Trump. </p>
<p>People who know Steele have spoken highly of his expertise and skill in gathering intelligence. But we have no way of judging whether his sources were reliable because we do not know who they were. The report had also been commissioned by Trump’s opponents from both political parties. These circumstances create opportunities to discredit the leaked report.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp">The Code of Ethics for the Society of Professional Journalists</a> reflects the messy relationship between sources and journalists. It instructs journalists to “identify sources clearly,” “[c]onsider sources’ motives before promising anonymity” and grant anonymity only to sources who would face harm if identified. The code also states that journalists should be “cautious when making promises, but keep the promises they make.” </p>
<p>There’s probably a reason the code suggests using anonymous sources only when absolutely necessary. <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/073953290903000405">Studies</a> have shown that using unnamed sources hurts journalists’ credibility with the public. At the same time, some potentially important stories would not be reported if journalists were unable to promise sources anonymity. </p>
<p>Famous examples of stories that relied to some extent on confidential sources include the Watergate scandal <a href="http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/All-the-Presidents-Men/Bob-Woodward/9781476770512">uncovered</a> by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein that led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation. The world’s most famous anonymous source, “Deep Throat” (later revealed to be FBI Deputy Director <a href="http://www.simonandschuster.ca/books/The-Secret-Man/Bob-Woodward/9780743287166">Mark Felt</a>), was only one of many confidential sources the reporters used. </p>
<p>Other examples are the Post’s <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/01/AR2005110101644.html">revelation</a> that the United States was shipping post-9/11 detainees to secret prisons overseas where they could be questioned more “aggressively” and the exposure of the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal by the Boston Globe’s <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/spotlight-movie">Spotlight Team</a>.</p>
<p>But there also have been instances when journalists have regretted relying on confidential sources, including the <a href="http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/weapons-mass-destruction-and-media-anatomy-failure">media’s systemic failure</a> to question the Bush administration’s leaks about Saddam Hussein’s alleged stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. Another example is the 2004 CBS Evening News story about President Bush’s service in the Texas National Guard in the 1970s. Dan Rather retired early from his anchor chair after <a href="http://us.macmillan.com/truthandduty/marymapes/9780312354114">sources failed to defend</a> the authenticity of documents critical of Bush’s service.</p>
<h2>An outlet’s reputation is critical</h2>
<p>All of this makes it difficult for readers to know whether to trust reports based on unnamed sources and leaks. The task for readers is further complicated by the explosion of new online media outlets that might not adhere to mainstream journalistic standards or best practices. </p>
<p>There are a few things readers should look for when determining whether to trust (or post or retweet) a story based on unnamed sources. First, the more specific the identification of the source and her reason for wanting her identity concealed, the better. For example, “A source with direct knowledge of the situation who did not want to be identified because she was not authorized to speak to the media” is better than “some people say.” </p>
<p>Second, is the news outlet transparent about how it handles unnamed sources and sensitive documents? Many reputable sites are not but should be. Some news outlets have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/column/the-public-editor">public editors</a> or media critics who explain how news was gathered or criticize their own publications when they stray from best practices. Some also publish explainer pieces about how they gathered information about <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/03/insider/the-time-i-found-donald-trumps-tax-records-in-my-mailbox.html?action=click&contentCollection=Politics&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article">particularly controversial stories</a>. </p>
<p>Finally, readers should remember that the media love controversy and conflict. Therefore, if a news site or channel delivers a vaguely sourced big scoop and no other media pick it up, readers should be very wary, particularly if the site is obscure or openly partisan. </p>
<h2>Flimsy legal protections</h2>
<p>While it’s understandable that readers would be suspicious of stories that rely on unnamed sources – particularly if the sources have leaked classified information – they have good reason to ask journalists to protect their identities. In the wake of the Trump dossier’s publication, Christopher Steele probably didn’t <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/11/former-mi6-officer-produced-donald-trump-russian-dossier-terrified/">flee his home</a> to simply escape nosy reporters. He probably feared some sort of retaliation.</p>
<p>In the United States, sources who leak classified documents to journalists face possible prison time if their identities are exposed. Many are probably familiar with the leaks about National Security Agency eavesdropping by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/edward-snowden">Edward Snowden</a> (now self-exiled in Russia) and war-related documents by <a href="http://www.biography.com/people/chelsea-manning-21299995#synopsis">Chelsea Manning</a>, who spent seven years in prison before President Obama commuted her sentence earlier this month. </p>
<p>While Obama might receive praise in some circles for this act, his Justice Department <a href="http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2014/jan/10/jake-tapper/cnns-tapper-obama-has-used-espionage-act-more-all-/">prosecuted at least twice as many people</a> for leaking information as all previous administrations combined. </p>
<p>Journalists put themselves on the line too as their legal right to conceal the identities of their sources isn’t well-established. According to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, <a href="http://www.rcfp.org/jailed-journalists">at least 20 U.S. journalists</a> have been jailed since 1972 for refusing to reveal sources. Many more have been fined. </p>
<p>In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/408/665">Branzburg v. Hayes</a> that the First Amendment didn’t give journalists the right to not cooperate with grand juries, even if cooperation meant identifying sources. A concurring opinion by <a href="http://law2.wlu.edu/alumni/bios/powell.asp">Justice Lewis Powell</a> limited the 5-4 ruling to the particular cases involved, however, and federal courts ever since <a href="https://www.rcfp.org/browse-media-law-resources/digital-journalists-legal-guide/federal-constitutional-and-common-law-rig">have tried to figure out what that means</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.rcfp.org/reporters-privilege">Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia</a> have shield laws that protect journalists from being forced to reveal sources to state and local authorities. But Congress’ <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/1962?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Free+Flow+of+Information+Act+113th+Congress%22%5D%7D&r=5">last attempt to pass a federal shield law</a> in 2014 <a href="https://freedom.press/news-advocacy/congress-dangerous-attempts-to-define-ajouralista-in-shield-law-threaten-to-exclude-bloggers/">failed</a> over concerns about whom the law would apply to, such as nonprofessional bloggers or sites like Wikileaks. </p>
<p>The legal problems of journalists and sources could be ameliorated by a strong, broad federal shield law, amendments to <a href="http://employment.findlaw.com/whistleblowers/whistleblower-protections.html">whistleblower laws</a> to protect those who go public with concerns and a less aggressive use of the Espionage Act, which was used in the prosecution of Chelsea Manning.</p>
<p>In the end, the relationships between journalists and sources come down to trust. Sources must trust that journalists will protect their identities. Journalists must trust that sources are being truthful regardless of any ulterior motives. Readers, meanwhile, have to choose whether to trust media reports based on unnamed sources. Each reader has his or her own reasons for trusting or not trusting the news, but media outlets could help by relying as little as possible on unnamed sources and being as transparent as possible when they do.</p>
<p>With a president who has shown particular <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/trump-faces-a-weakened-press-corps/512849/">hostility</a> to the press entering the White House, the media may have to rely more on unnamed sources and leaks to inform audiences. </p>
<p>Audiences, then, will have to decide where to place their trust: in the administration or in the media.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71214/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Fargo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With an explosion of media outlets that don’t adhere to mainstream journalistic standards, it’s became difficult for readers to know whether to trust reports based on unnamed sources and leaks.Anthony Fargo, Director, Center for International Media Law and Policy Studies, Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/576142016-04-14T15:09:04Z2016-04-14T15:09:04ZThe murky ethics of Gay Talese’s ‘The Voyeur’s Motel’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118603/original/image-20160413-22050-nlge78.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">For years, Talese's subject, Gerald Foos, spied on his motel guests.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-171971531.html?src=download_history">'Binoculars' via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In order to report on a motel-owning voyeur who, for years, secretly spied on guests having sex, writer Gay Talese agreed to not identify the motelier, Gerald Foos. Talese even signed a confidentiality agreement that Foos had prepared.</em></p>
<p><em>With this agreement in place, Talese got access. He visited the motel, witnessed the motel sex from the voyeur’s secret viewing perch and would go on to interview and correspond with Foos for years. In 2013, after 23 years, Foos waived the confidentiality agreement; last week,</em> The New Yorker <em>ran Talese’s <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/04/11/gay-talese-the-voyeurs-motel">“The Voyeur’s Motel.”</a></em></p>
<p><em>The story is gripping and salacious. But since its publication, some readers have expressed uneasiness with both the content and the measures taken to report on – and protect – Foos.</em> The New Yorker’s <em>editor, David Remnick, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-ethical-dilemmas-raised-by-gay-taleses-latest-article/2016/04/08/8e40e916-fd92-11e5-9140-e61d062438bb_story.html">has defended the article</a>, writing</em> “The New Yorker <em>does not believe that Talese or it violated any legal or ethical boundaries in presenting Foos’ account.”</em> </p>
<p><em>We asked three journalism professors to give their take on the story, Talese’s reporting and the murky ethics involved.</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Can you ever break a confidentiality agreement?</h2>
<p><strong>Dick Lehr, Boston University</strong></p>
<p>Talese has been criticized for not notifying authorities about Foos’ privacy invasions, as well as Foos’ eyewitness account of a murder apparently committed in 1977 in Room 10. (Bizarrely, Talese found no official record of such a crime.) </p>
<p>To do so, however, would have entailed Talese breaking his promise. Critics have argued that, in Foos’ case, such a breach was warranted.</p>
<p>But was it? Promises reporters make to sources are a very big deal. They give sources sharing secrets and information for the public good the protection they need. It’s a matter of trust, a principle so vital that some reporters will go to jail rather than break the promise. It’s a promise so sacrosanct that many reporters would consider breaking it only in the rarest of exceptions – when life or death, or the nation’s security, was at stake, or to prevent a miscarriage of justice, such as a wrongful conviction in a murder case.</p>
<p>For important stories, like the Pentagon Papers, this trust is paramount. But Foos’ voyeur papers could hardly be equated with the Pentagon Papers. Nor could Talese’s promise ever be equated with ones the journalist James Risen has made in recent years to his sources, <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/03/james-risen-anonymous-source-government-battle">which have allowed him to report about the federal government’s domestic surveillance abuses</a>.</p>
<p>Instead, Talese’s central character Gerald Foos comes off as a creepy and delusional Peeping Tom who thinks his extreme privacy violations are for the greater good in understanding the human condition. There’s no greater good here; Talese has captured a strange and (briefly) compelling story of one man’s obsession and the extremes to which he will go to satisfy it.</p>
<p>So why not turn Foos in years ago? Because except for the rare exceptions, a promise is a promise, even ones given to repugnant, unsavory sources. While we’d prefer all secret sources to be noble whistle-blowers, often they are not, and a reporter’s handshake with them carries a stench.</p>
<p>More troubling than Talese’s promise is that Foos proves to be so thoroughly unreliable. More than once, Talese expresses doubts about Foos’ credibility, so much so that if Talese had not personally verified the voyeur’s perch in the motel’s ceiling, then the tale in its entirety would not be believable. Talese even admits that while Foos’ voyeur journals are dated as starting in 1966, he’d learned from the registry of deeds that Foos bought the motel in 1969. It’s a mess.</p>
<p>From that moment there is little reason to believe anything Foos says.</p>
<hr>
<h2>An ethical bind</h2>
<p><strong>Kim Walsh-Childers, University of Florida</strong></p>
<p>Imagine yourself being observed, without your knowledge, while having sex.
Have you been harmed?</p>
<p>The answer, I would argue, is yes. Your privacy has been violated. The voyeur has taken something from you without your consent. </p>
<p>Then, if a journalist tells the voyeur’s story years later, is he contributing to that harm? That’s the issue in Gay Talese’s story about the Manor House Motel. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118605/original/image-20160413-22075-o70hc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118605/original/image-20160413-22075-o70hc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118605/original/image-20160413-22075-o70hc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118605/original/image-20160413-22075-o70hc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=896&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118605/original/image-20160413-22075-o70hc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118605/original/image-20160413-22075-o70hc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118605/original/image-20160413-22075-o70hc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1126&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gay Talese.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5675/23464188170_0aa56d3b31_b.jpg">j-No/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In my opinion, Talese was complicit in Gerald Foos’ violation of his guests’ privacy, and not only because in the initial reporting of the story, he climbed into the motel attic with its owner and watched a young couple having sex. By failing to report Foos’ actions – either in an immediate story or to authorities – Talese enabled Foos’ unethical and, indeed, illegal action to continue unabated for at least 15 years longer.</p>
<p>Signing Foos’ confidentiality agreement – in effect agreeing to protect Foos’ privacy even as Foos violated the privacy of his guests – left Talese in an ethical bind. Revealing Foos’ activity meant breaking his promise. Keeping that promise allowed Foos to subject hundreds, perhaps even thousands, more guests to his voyeurism, judgment and scorn.</p>
<p>In addition, through his continued correspondence, Talese provided affirmation of Foos’ activity, helping him maintain the myth that his actions served some higher purpose, some noble societal goal, rather than simply gratifying his own sexual desire.</p>
<p>But even if the initial voyeurism had caused no harm, Talese’s approach to telling the story after gaining Foos’ consent did. First, the story contains details from Foos’ notes that, while titillating, are not necessary to what is presumably the story’s purpose: helping us understand the mind of the voyeur. Second, telling the story with Foos’ blessing no doubt satisfies the voyeur’s need to feel that he is important, that he has accomplished something noteworthy. </p>
<p>In that way, it’s much like the decision to publish or broadcast the rants of someone like Charleston church shooter <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-lethal-gentleman-the-benevolent-sexism-behind-dylann-roofs-racism-43534">Dylann Roof</a> or Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho.</p>
<p>Finally, and in some ways, most troubling, Talese’s story offers a primer to others who might want to copy Foos’ voyeuristic ways. He details exactly how the motel’s viewing platform was constructed and how successful it was in hiding Foos’ behavior. </p>
<p>It’s one of many aspects of the story that, I suspect, will have journalism ethics professors discussing it – as an example of behavior to avoid – for years to come.</p>
<hr>
<h2>The slippery slope of rationalization</h2>
<p><strong>Russell Frank, Pennsylvania State University</strong></p>
<p>When I read about Gay Talese’s relationship with Gerald Foos, I thought of a character in a journalism ethics video game dodging one fireball after another in his pursuit of a juicy story.</p>
<p>First, Foos declines to identify himself in his early communications with Talese. “As a nonfiction writer who insists on using real names in articles and books,” Talese writes, “I knew that I could not accept his condition of anonymity.” And yet, journalists sometimes promise anonymity in exchange for permission to report on a source’s nefarious activities.</p>
<p>Next, Talese says he is “deeply unsettled” by Foos’ “study” of the sexual habits of his guests. But of greater concern to him is the possibility that the innkeeper is only fantasizing about spying on his guests. So Talese goes to Denver to see for himself. Once he confirms that this guy really is a Peeping Tom, does he then have an obligation to go to the police? Foos reasons that his guests are unharmed by his voyeurism if they don’t know about it. Talese concurs, apparently. </p>
<p>Would Foos’ guests feel unharmed after reading Talese’s piece?</p>
<p>The trip to the attic to see Foos peeping at his guests was all the verification Talese needed. But he also joins his host at the peephole, ignoring “an insistent voice in my head telling me to look away.” Needless to say, Talese did not obtain the consent of the couple he spied upon.</p>
<p>Then Talese becomes even more deeply unsettled when Foos reveals that he witnessed a murder. The incident recalls <a href="http://ajrarchive.org/article.asp?id=501">the case of <em>Philadelphia Inquirer</em> reporter Nancy Phillips</a>, who kept her promise of confidentiality even after her source confessed to arranging a murder-for-hire. Critics contend that when it comes to violent crime, public safety trumps the reporter-source relationship. Talese seems not to have considered this when he first learned of the information.</p>
<p>It was only in 2013 – 36 years after the alleged murder, when Foos released Talese from his promise of confidentiality – that Talese ended up going to the police. Nothing came of it. Maybe Foos made up the murder story?</p>
<p>Either way, I see Talese’s video game avatar going up in a fireball of ethical missteps.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57614/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When Gay Talese signed a confidentiality agreement with a motel-owning voyeur, he got access to the voyeur’s journals and secret viewing perch. But he also allowed the spying to continue for over a decade.Dick Lehr, Professor of Journalism, Boston UniversityKim Walsh-Childers, Professor of Journalism, University of FloridaRussell Frank, Associate Professor of Communications, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/565592016-04-05T20:06:31Z2016-04-05T20:06:31Z‘Our man elsewhere’: Alan Moorehead in war and peace<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117414/original/image-20160405-27150-9s3b8a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Journalists Alexander Clifford of the Daily Mail and Alan Moorehead of the Daily Express in the North African desert, 1942.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Imperial War Museum, via Wikimedia Commons.</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Alan Moorehead was once one of the most famous Australians alive. A celebrated correspondent during World War Two, his bestselling popular histories ranged in subject matter from 19th century Africa to Captain Cook. </p>
<p>Beginning in 1956 with <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/877614.Gallipoli">Gallipoli</a>, his books such as <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/345912.The_White_Nile">The White Nile</a> (1960), <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/618802.The_Blue_Nile">The Blue Nile</a> (1962) and <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2152416.Cooper_s_Creek">Cooper’s Creek</a> (1963) were gracefully written accounts of men (never women) encountering hostile and alien environments.</p>
<h2>Fleet Street beginnings</h2>
<p>In 1936, Moorehead was the model of an Australian expatriate bunking off to London. His ambition, self-discipline, talent and luck took him from just one of a large number of jobbing Australian journalists on Fleet Street to famed war correspondent. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117413/original/image-20160405-27125-jgbe42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117413/original/image-20160405-27125-jgbe42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117413/original/image-20160405-27125-jgbe42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117413/original/image-20160405-27125-jgbe42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117413/original/image-20160405-27125-jgbe42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117413/original/image-20160405-27125-jgbe42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117413/original/image-20160405-27125-jgbe42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117413/original/image-20160405-27125-jgbe42.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eclipse, Alan Moorehead, 1946.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Soho Press (2003 edition).</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>He covered the Desert War in North Africa from its outset in 1940 to the end of the conflict in Europe, the final stages of which he described in <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/877617.Eclipse">Eclipse</a> (1946), my favourite of his works. By then he was one of the most important figures at Lord Beaverbrook’s Daily Express.</p>
<p>After 1945, Moorehead, with his Australian accent eliminated, turned his back on lucrative offers from Beaverbrook to stay in his job. He decided to change shape again and become a proper writer like his idol Hemingway. </p>
<p>As a child in the 1960s, many of his books were on our family bookshelves. The derring-do of the imperial explorers fascinated me – though when I re-read them years later, the locals were often secondary to the colonial narrative. </p>
<p>The war books are better, yet they suffer a little from the inevitability of repetition when years of conflict are being described. Moorehead used language well but his stock of terms and expressions was often limited. </p>
<p>His novels were not a great success, but as a writer of popular history incorporating his own love of travel and with a feel for larger than life characters, Moorehead’s non-fiction books won prizes, sold well, and ensured a steady flow of work offers. They were on shelves everywhere.</p>
<h2>Our boy made good</h2>
<p>Many books have been written about Moorehead. There was Tom Pocock’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2152414.Alan_Moorehead">1990 biography</a>, Ann Moyal’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/676614.Alan_Moorehead">more recent study</a> (which concentrates on his post war historical work), and of course, Moorehead’s own <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3143239-a-late-education">hybrid autobiography</a>, published in 1970. </p>
<p>I say “hybrid” as this work was patched together from disparate drafts by Mooreheads’s wife, Lucy, after the writer was incapacitated after emergency surgery for a blocked artery that went horribly wrong. </p>
<p>Restricted in speech, incapable of writing, Moorehead’s career was over by the end of 1966. He was then just 56, but he lived on until 1983, surviving Lucy by four years. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117405/original/image-20160405-27112-1kg6ah5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117405/original/image-20160405-27112-1kg6ah5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117405/original/image-20160405-27112-1kg6ah5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117405/original/image-20160405-27112-1kg6ah5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117405/original/image-20160405-27112-1kg6ah5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=908&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117405/original/image-20160405-27112-1kg6ah5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117405/original/image-20160405-27112-1kg6ah5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117405/original/image-20160405-27112-1kg6ah5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1141&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Our Man Elsewhere: In Search of Alan Moorehead, Thornton McCamish. 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Penguin Books Australia.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The latest biography is Thornton McCamish’s <a href="http://www.blackincbooks.com/books/our-man-elsewhere">Our Man Elsewhere: In Search of Alan Moorehead</a> (2016). It’s a handsome looking book with a striking cover photograph: Moorehead close up, enormous eyes, staring out of the past at the reader. </p>
<p>In this book, McCamish combines an elegantly written account of Moorehead’s life in all its various phases with detailed analysis of the work – from potboiling travel articles to the histories. Within this framework, McCamish also examines his own changing attitudes to Moorehead: as an individual, as a writer, as an Australian living abroad.</p>
<p>What can McCamish offer in the way of new interpretation? There are few secrets in Moorehead’s life. McCamish argues that earlier studies have each concentrated on different aspects of Moorehead’s work but taken together the field has been pretty thoroughly covered.</p>
<p>That said, to say McCamish doesn’t offer any major reassessment of Moorehead (though the analyses of his many books and articles are discerning) is to misunderstand what this book is about. </p>
<p>This is not a conventional biography, though all the materials are there and the research is impeccable. Instead, McCamish is part of the story. </p>
<p>The opening chapter, “Notes on a Disappearance”, reviews Moorehead’s current status: largely unread, obscure, revived by scholars but without the general public he once possessed.</p>
<p>McCamish takes us though his visit (with family) to Italy, where Moorehead once lived, his discussions of Moorehead with his friends and how he read all of Moorehead’s works devotedly, tracking down even the most marginal magazine piece. </p>
<p>Later on we are told that, “at some murky, furtive daydreaming level”, McCamish wants to be Moorehead. This is a biography where the author often stands in front of the scenery.</p>
<p>Personally, I would have liked McCamish to have stepped back and left the story to Moorehead. But that is to impose my own preferences, rather than take this book on its own terms.</p>
<h2>Finding the personal</h2>
<p>Often this personal approach works well, as when McCamish interviews Moorhead’s surviving family members. Here, Moorehead’s gift for personal friendships is treated delicately and his warmth and loyalty to those close to him come through. </p>
<p>At other times it’s less successful. At the end of the book, when McCamish has returned to a cheap motel on the outskirts of Canberra – which, from my own bitter experience, are as vile as he says – the personal stuff reads like filler.</p>
<p>Yet, when McCamish discusses Moorehead’s work he does it very well. One of the best parts of Our Man Elsewhere is the analysis of just how poor a novelist Moorehead turned out to be. The flowing prose of his war years, the eye for detail, the structure and material supplied by events swirling around him – all these go missing. They are replaced by stilted characterisation, cornball psychology, and paralytic plots.</p>
<p>McCamish shows how Moorehead was subject to the fickle opinions of Australians back at home. He could be our boy made good or he could be a self-appointed expert, resented for his success. </p>
<p>This, incidentally, was grossly unfair to an author who did not assume the role of the expat who knew more about this country than those who had stayed behind. Moorehead might have rejected Australia in 1936 but he spent some time rediscovering it.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117417/original/image-20160405-27131-1scbcby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117417/original/image-20160405-27131-1scbcby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/117417/original/image-20160405-27131-1scbcby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117417/original/image-20160405-27131-1scbcby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117417/original/image-20160405-27131-1scbcby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117417/original/image-20160405-27131-1scbcby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117417/original/image-20160405-27131-1scbcby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/117417/original/image-20160405-27131-1scbcby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=534&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lucy and Alan Moorehead with their children.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And then the silence. His still active mind was trapped within a body that refused to work. Gradually his fame eroded. The support of his family and friends was crucial. Throughout, Lucy was Moorehead’s most valued reader and critic, the centre of his domestic life. </p>
<p>Given Moorehead’s commitment to “serial infidelities”, as John Lack expressed it in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, McCamish is right in stressing Lucy’s loyalty and the strength of the marital bond. Still, I’d go further than McCamish: I think Lucy deserved a bloody medal.</p>
<h2>A balanced look at a fading past</h2>
<p>McCamish is a fan though, not a fanatic. He is aware that Moorehead has faded, perhaps unfairly, but that is the lot of almost all writers. Times change, histories are superseded. Les Carlyon and Peter FitzSimons have replaced Moorehead as chroniclers of Gallipoli and other Australian military exploits. </p>
<p>Even the nature of war journalism has changed in many ways, with conflict going live to air, and the demand for instantaneous reporting often replacing close analysis. Al Jazeera is the go-to outlet for news on the Middle East today, not the correspondent from the Daily Express. </p>
<p>War correspondents might become nostalgia themselves.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in Australia’s rich tradition of war reporting, it’s time to leave the world wars and their famous names alone, and resuscitate the journalists who shaped our history. </p>
<p>One of these might be <a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/willoughby-howard-4862">Howard Willoughby</a>, our first warco, way back in 1863, in the third New Zealand War – a great candidate for a full scale biography. So is <a href="http://old.melbournepressclub.com/halloffame/inductees/williamlambie">William Lambie,</a> the first Australian war correspondent to be killed in battle (during the Boer War in 1900). </p>
<p>Women war reporters certainly deserve more attention. A good beginning was made by Jeannine Baker in her recent book, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25942655-australian-women-war-reporters">Australian Women War Reporters: Boer War to Vietnam</a> (2015). </p>
<p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/may/15/guardianobituaries.pressandpublishing">Kate Webb</a>, who covered wars from Vietnam to Afghanistan, and who has to be Australia’s greatest woman war correspondent, is crying out for a biographer as sympathetic, as hard working and as skilled as Thornton McCamish.</p>
<p><br></p>
<hr>
<p><em><a href="http://www.blackincbooks.com/books/our-man-elsewhere">Our Man Elswhere: Searching for Alan Moorehead</a> (2016) by Thornton McCamish is published by Black Inc.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/56559/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Trembath does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Alan Moorehead’s accounts of the second world war revealed his vital and gripping talent, but his peacetime novels were stilted and corny. A new biography delves into his life and language.Richard Trembath, Lecturer in history, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/503432015-11-06T20:43:20Z2015-11-06T20:43:20ZHollywood shines a spotlight on real journalism<p><em>Note: this article may contain spoilers for those unfamiliar with the story.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>In the new movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1895587/">Spotlight</a>, there’s a wonderful scene where a reporter is seeking documents in a courthouse. The building is a dreary linoleum monument to The Way Things Are. In the scene, a recalcitrant clerk treats the reporter as if he were a nuisance and declines to lift a finger.</p>
<p>The moment perfectly captures an ethos that I remember well from my own adventures as a reporter covering Massachusetts government, courts and politics. In that world, the idea that knowledge is power is intuitively understood by all parties, like an article of faith or an early item in the Catechism. </p>
<p>The feeling is this: <em>If I know something that you don’t know, why should I tell you? If I do, then you’ll know as much as I do. So screw off.</em></p>
<p>Freedom of information? <em>Ha! Information’s free only if someone is stupid enough to give it away!</em></p>
<p>That belief pervades much of the world that the movie Spotlight tries to illuminate. The film takes its title from the special investigative unit at the Boston Globe that cracked open the scandal inside the clergy and hierarchy of the Catholic Church. The Globe team documented the pervasive, long-running practice of high-ranking Church officials covering up for priests who sexually molested, abused and raped children. (During this period, I covered the trials of two of the Church’s “bad apples” – Father Porter and Father Geoghan. But like everyone else, I failed to connect the dots of the larger cover-up.) </p>
<p>The film pits two powerful Boston institutions against each other: the Catholic Church and the city’s big newspaper. Worthy adversaries, the two sides battled for years in the early 2000s. The paper was trying to pry evidence of the scandal out of court records (which were sealed, naturally, under terms of the many settlements the Church reached with its victims), out of victims, out of lawyers and out of anyone who would talk. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, Church officials – starting with the disgraced former cardinal, Bernard Law – used a variety of classic techniques: stonewalling, threatening, denying and appealing to old friendships. According to the filmmakers, some Church leaders and some lay defenders of the Church tried to demonize the Globe’s then-new top editor, Marty Baron, by raising insidious questions about him: <em>isn’t he Jewish? Why isn’t he married? He’s not from here, is he?</em></p>
<p>Ultimately, of course, the journalists triumph in the film – just as they did in real life. In doing so, Spotlight sends out a strong and welcome message: journalism ain’t dead. For a field that has had more than its share of bad news for more than a decade now, it’s nice to be reminded that journalism matters. </p>
<p>Writer-director Tom McCarthy clearly holds journalism in high regard, and gives viewers an inside look at the reporting process. We watch the team of reporters made up of Matt Carroll (played by Brian d'Arcy James), Sacha Pfeiffer (Rachel McAdams) and Mike Rezendes (a twitchy Mark Ruffalo) as they are led by “Robby” Robinson (played with eerie intensity by Michael Keaton) and his boss, Ben Bradlee Jr (John Slattery).</p>
<p>One of the best things about Spotlight is the way it portrays the thrill of the chase that fuels reporters when they’re trying to pin down an important story. We see the Globe reporters toiling into the night, wrecking their weekends and actually enjoying their work. We root for them as they match wits with surly clerks, the oily fixers protecting the Church and the dead weight of centuries of Catholic indoctrination and obedience. (“Yes, Father.” “Of course, Father.” “Yes, Your Eminence.”) </p>
<p>In my opinion, the film makes one major misstep: it is unnecessarily harsh in its portrayal of <a href="https://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/04/18/the_hole_in_the_heart_of_a_star/">Eric MacLeish</a>, grandson of poet Archibald MacLeish and a Boston attorney who represented many of the Church’s victims. I spoke to MacLeish many times during those years, and he was always straight with me and as forthcoming as his legal duties would allow. In the film, he is depicted as the jerk lawyer who could help the Globe, but won’t. Instead, attorney Mitchell Garabedian (played marvelously by Stanley Tucci) gets to play the only decent lawyer in sight. </p>
<p>I saw Spotlight recently at a special screening for Journalism Department faculty and students of Boston University (the alma mater of two real-life Spotlight reporters, Sacha Pfeiffer and Mike Rezendes). All the key figures from the Globe investigation were there, except for Baron, who has moved on to be the top editor of The Washington Post. Robby acknowledged a point made in the film that I hadn’t been aware of: sources had sent the Globe much of the evidence needed to break the story years earlier, but no one paid much attention the first time. </p>
<p>The film ends just as the Globe <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/specials/clergy">breaks the big story</a>, in January 2002. The story rocked the Church, all the way to Rome, by dragging all the foul deeds of priests out of the darkness and into the light (the spotlight, if you will). It won the paper a Pulitzer Prize.</p>
<p>The folks at the Globe (at least, <a href="http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2015/10/15/boston-globe-cuts-dozens-of-staffers/">those who still have jobs</a>) <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/movies/spotlight-movie">are rightly proud</a> of their newspaper. The depiction of reporting that we see in “Spotlight” gives all of us who work in journalism a reason to feel proud too, by reminding us that the world would be a pretty crummy place without those driven, impertinent, nosy people who won’t take no for answer. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zg5zSVxx9JM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for Spotlight, which opens in theaters on November 6.</span></figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50343/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher B Daly is a former journalist (The AP, 1980s; Washington Post, 1990s) who sometimes cooperated with and sometimes competed against reporters working for The Boston Globe. </span></em></p>For a former Boston reporter, Spotlight evokes the thrill of hard-hitting, influential reporting.Christopher B. Daly, Professor of Journalism, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/479702015-09-22T16:59:42Z2015-09-22T16:59:42ZBrian Williams returns to the air – and memory research says we should give him a break<p>After being suspended without pay from NBC in February, Brian Williams <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/09/21/brian-williams-msnbc-return/72577410/">returns to television</a> this week. He won’t be heading back to the Nightly News desk (now anchored by Lester Holt), but he will be reporting breaking news updates on MSNBC, beginning with the pope’s visit to the United States.</p>
<p>Williams’ fall from grace at NBC came after he misrepresented, during a newscast, events that occurred while he was in Iraq in 2003. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/11/business/media/email-to-nbc-news-staff-about-brian-williams-suspension.html?_r=0">In a memo to staff</a> announcing Williams’ suspension, president of NBC News Deborah Turness also expressed concerns about Williams’ misconstrued accounts of other events that had taken place while reporting in the field.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/12/business/media/frantic-efforts-at-nbc-to-curb-rising-damage-caused-by-brian-williams.html">News reports indicate</a> those concerns included Williams’ claim that he’d seen a body floating in the French Quarter in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and even that Williams may have exaggerated rescuing puppies when he was a volunteer firefighter as a teenager.</p>
<p>The staff memo from Turness quoted Stephen B Burke, chief executive of NBC Universal, who said Williams’ actions were “inexcusable” and “jeopardized the trust millions of Americans place in NBC News.”</p>
<p>Of course, it would have been inexcusable if Williams had <em>intentionally</em> misled viewers about his reporting experiences to bolster his credibility.</p>
<p>But there’s also a body of research that suggests these recollections could be honest mistakes, made over time – that his memories of the events may have gradually melded together, becoming confused with other news reports he’d seen on TV. </p>
<p>After all, let’s not forget that Williams’ initial eyewitness accounts of his experiences in Iraq were accurate. A colleague and I <a href="http://doi.org/10.1207/s15506878jobem5001_3">studied</a> embedded reporting during the Iraq War. We found that embedded reporters used more personal pronouns in their reporting than non-embeds did, but they did so in the context of factual eyewitness coverage, and rarely offered personal opinions. So Williams’ reporting style is precisely the type of reporting that ensures – rather than violates – reporter objectivity. </p>
<p>It was only years later that Williams <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/07/brian-williams-rpg_n_6637014.html">incorrectly recalled</a> being behind the plane that was shot by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG), and not in another formation.</p>
<p>Even then, the gist of much of what Williams recalled was not fabricated: he was traveling with troops in Iraq in 2003 and there was a plane that took on enemy fire from an RPG. Undoubtedly, it was a terrifying and highly memorable event. </p>
<p>Though something that frightening should be recalled in vivid detail, sometimes those vivid details, despite their verisimilitude, <a href="http://pss.sagepub.com/content/19/9/919.short">are wrong</a>. Numerous studies have shown that memory is fallible, that even <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/?fa=main.doiLanding&doi=10.1037/0033-2909.112.2.284">recollection of highly emotional events</a> can be distorted over time. </p>
<p>Studies of “flashbulb memories” – memories of highly emotional news events – show people’s recollections of how they learned of those events (such as what they were doing and with whom) <a href="https://theconversation.com/flashbulb-memories-why-do-we-remember-learning-about-dramatic-events-so-vividly-39842">are still quite detailed years later</a>. </p>
<p>But they’re not always accurate. </p>
<p><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511664069.003">One study</a> looked at the flashbulb memories of how people learned of the Challenger explosion. The researchers found that those memories were often inaccurate years later. And when they were wrong, the original memory of how they found out about the explosion was often replaced by a memory of watching it on television.</p>
<p>The authors of that study did not explore this television link further, but as a media scholar I did in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Media-American-Crisis-Studies-September/dp/0761831843">a study</a> of flashbulb memories and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. </p>
<p>Unlike the Challenger study, I looked at memories of the event months, rather than years, after the terrorist attacks. I found no false memories, but participants did report viewing television almost immediately after learning about the event. And they continued watching for hours. </p>
<p>So is it any surprise that, after watching TV so soon after hearing of a horrific news event, people might, years later, falsely remember that they first learned about it while watching television? And that journalists who were on the ground might conflate TV reports with memories of their own experiences? </p>
<p>How much video did Brian Williams watch of the Katrina aftermath? His recollection of the floating body happened in 2006, a year after covering the event. That’s less time than the three-year study period of the Challenger flashbulb memory research, which did find that television intrudes into memories, but more than the three-month time period of my study, which did not. </p>
<p>It’s certainly possible that Williams’ recollection a year later confused what he’d witnessed firsthand and what he later viewed – most likely repeatedly – in recorded coverage of this highly emotional event.</p>
<p>Williams is smart enough to know it would be foolish to intentionally exaggerate his experiences, especially when there’s a record of his initial accounts to contradict them – and that he had a lot to lose if he did. </p>
<p>While NBC executives may insist this doesn’t excuse making incorrect statements from the anchor desk, it may at least explain <em>why</em> it happened.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47970/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia Fox does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the years after a traumatic news event, we’re prone to confuse things we saw on TV with what we witnessed in person.Julia Fox, Associate Professor in the Media School , Indiana UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/394552015-04-10T09:47:38Z2015-04-10T09:47:38ZCan media reporting lead to more suicides?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77251/original/image-20150407-26507-tulele.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Media can influence our interpretation of suicide clusters. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&search_tracking_id=lBF2XTjkTL9S4-_61k_10g&searchterm=suicide%20%20students&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=185853248">Girl Image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the past year there have been clusters of student deaths and suicides at several US colleges including, MIT, <a href="http://www.universityherald.com/articles/8456/20140328/upenn-criticized-for-response-to-rash-of-suicides-in-past-academic-year.htm">University of Pennsylvania</a>, Tulane University, <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/02/12/several-students-commit-suicide-tulane-appalachian-state">Appalachian State College</a> and George Washington University. These clusters have received quite a <a href="http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/03/01/third-mit-student-commits-suicide-this-school-year/TxljHhCHGQIROChsA5JoqI/story.html">bit of media attention</a>, and have precipitated discussions about campus mood, college stress, student vulnerability, leave of absence policies and access to care on campus.</p>
<p>How are we to understand and respond to these clusters of student deaths? How far does the media influence our view of the events? And, importantly, what impact does media have on the incidence of suicide itself?</p>
<p>I came to experience the impact of a “cluster” of student deaths during the 2003-2004 academic year, when I served as medical director at NYU’s student counseling service. I also came to see the impact of media reporting on campus suicide. </p>
<p>For several years prior to the 2003-2004 cluster of deaths, there had not been a single death on NYU’s campus. Then many followed within a brief span of time. This pattern has also occurred at schools like University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University. As rates of school suicides are not available in any research setting, I say this, based on <a href="http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-03-16-IHE-cornell-suicides-16_ST_N.htm">anecdotal reporting</a> and my experience.</p>
<h2>Media can influence interpretation of suicide rates</h2>
<p>In fact, when we look at the rates of suicide and other deaths at NYU over a span of several years, the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3200/JACH.54.6.341-352#.VSQXkJTF8mV">rates are similar to other schools</a>. The same appears to be true of the other schools that have <a href="http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Journal/Current-Past-Book-Reviews/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/494/Understanding-and-preventing-college-student-suicide.aspx">experienced recent clusters of suicides</a> and other deaths. </p>
<p>Media <a href="http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/lessons/media/">can impact our interpretation</a> of events. It can frame events in a way that make them feel like a cluster.</p>
<p>Consider if three suicides were to occur among young adults in a town of 40,000-50,000 people over six months. It is likely that local newspapers (if there is one) would not report these deaths and if they were reported, it is not very likely they would be presented as a cluster of suicides unless they happened within an unusually brief time or possibly occurred among a group of friends. </p>
<p>If this same series of deaths occurred among college students at a school of 40,000 students, it may very likely be reported as a cluster of deaths, particularly if the school has had few suicides in prior years.</p>
<h2>Media could also lead to ‘suicide contagion’</h2>
<p>But the interaction of suicide and media is, in fact, more complicated. Reporting can not only create the perception of suicide clusters but can actually in subtle ways <a href="http://reportingonsuicide.org/research/">impact the suicide rate</a> in a community or school. In other words, media reporting can also increase the risk of <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-it-comes-to-suicide-how-may-be-just-as-important-as-why-33426**">suicide contagion</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77252/original/image-20150407-26496-16row0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77252/original/image-20150407-26496-16row0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77252/original/image-20150407-26496-16row0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77252/original/image-20150407-26496-16row0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77252/original/image-20150407-26496-16row0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77252/original/image-20150407-26496-16row0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77252/original/image-20150407-26496-16row0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Media reporting can create a perception of suicide clusters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&search_tracking_id=hsNt2LHB9u91KoXnwR_PVQ&searchterm=newspaper%20&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=241650187">Newspaper image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>We know that at any given time in any population there are people at risk for suicide. We know, for example, that <a href="http://www.acha-ncha.org/pubs_rpts.html">six to eight percent of college students</a> report having experienced serious thoughts of suicide in the prior year. People with psychotic illnesses, especially in early stage of illness, are also at <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19570653">significant risk for suicide</a>. Thus, students who may be in early stages of a psychotic illness also may experience greater risk of suicide contagion.</p>
<p>We know that reporting can, at times, suggest suicide as a typical response to stress. Or, in providing rich biographical data, might make the person who died seem heroic. Media could also provide graphic details about the mode of death – all of which are thought to <a href="http://jech.bmj.com/content/57/4/238.full">increase the risk for those who read the articles</a>. </p>
<p>It seems that the more someone is able to identify or feel connected to the person or people who have died by suicide, the greater the increase in risk. </p>
<p>In fact, I’ve wondered whether the high-profile reporting and attention given to the <a href="http://www.afsp.org/news-events/in-the-news/afsp-s-statement-on-the-death-of-robin-williams">suicide of Robin Williams</a>, has impacted or contributed to the recent seeming upsurge of campus deaths. Williams was a much loved and admired figure; someone who many young people could “connect” with. </p>
<h2>What can college do to prevent suicides</h2>
<p>So, what can colleges do when faced with a series of suicides?</p>
<p>How do they know whether this is a cluster that is an artifact of perception or whether it reflects an actual trend or increase in suicide deaths? It may not be possible to know right away and it may not matter. </p>
<p>When faced with any suicide death, a school needs to institute a <a href="http://hemha.org/postvention_guide.pdf">postvention plan</a> – that is, a series of activities undertaken by a community to respond to a death, suicide or other public crisis. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77371/original/image-20150408-18075-1fb55js.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/77371/original/image-20150408-18075-1fb55js.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77371/original/image-20150408-18075-1fb55js.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77371/original/image-20150408-18075-1fb55js.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77371/original/image-20150408-18075-1fb55js.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77371/original/image-20150408-18075-1fb55js.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/77371/original/image-20150408-18075-1fb55js.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Colleges need to put a plan in place to prevent suicides.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&searchterm=suicide%20doctor&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=151516103">Doctor image via www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>This plan includes developing a protocol for identifying, tracking and when needed, intervening with those at risk as well as providing emotional and clinical support to the campus as a whole.</p>
<p>The school needs to broadly examine current services and support programs to identify any gaps. But of great importance to the community, the school counseling leadership needs to manage and educate campus and local media about safe and healthy reporting. </p>
<p><a href="http://hemha.org/postvention_guide.pdf">The way we convey information</a> will matter. Too little information might lead to community anxiety and suspicion while too much of the wrong kind of information may increase risk for contagion. </p>
<p>So here is the complexity and the challenge. Media needs to report events, but the manner in which these events are presented will impact how we understand the events and even the way the events might unfold. </p>
<p>In the context of suicide reporting, prevention and postvention, media has the responsibility to not only share information, but also, arguably, to protect the community at whom reporting is directed. </p>
<p><a href="http://dartcenter.org/">Dart Center’s</a> reporting guide for journalists urges journalists to be careful so they are not <a href="http://dartcenter.org/content/covering-suicide#.VSWA2pTF8mU">“inadvertently ‘selling’ suicide as a meaningful way out.”</a> Journalists need to ensure their <a href="http://dartcenter.org/topic/suicide">reporting on suicide is accurate, as well as safe</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/39455/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victor Schwartz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Media reporting can not only create a perception of suicide clusters on university campuses, but it can affect the suicide rate in subtle ways.Victor Schwartz, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, New York UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.