There are some basic guidelines that journalists in print, broadcast and online media houses abide by - principles of ethics and good practice. The main rules a journalist must observe in the course of duty (newsgathering) include: accuracy, truthfulness and objectivity. The objective of the rules and guidelines is to provide a framework for self-monitoring and self-correction during professional assignments. Most established media houses have a detailed written code of ethics that journalists have to observe. The issue of how strictly media houses live by the book is a topic for another day.
The role of media is to inform, educate and entertain. In the course of duty journalists encounter all sorts of people. Many want to get information out to the masses but majority have interests and would like their story told in a ‘good' way. It then becomes very tricky when accuracy, truthfulness and objectivity are involved.
Take for example, a business writer notices that the share prices at the Nairobi Stock Exchange are falling and decides to write a story. She picks several companies as examples and researches on their performance in the last four weeks. From her research she finds out that, generally prices at the bourse have been falling but the price of three companies catch her attention. In the last week their prices have fallen by almost 25%. She calls an official at the stock exchange and an economist for their expert view on what could be the cause of the major decline in share price of company X, Y and Z.
After getting all the facts, the journalist writes the story and it is published the next day. When she reports to work the next day, the writer is shocked to find a lengthy email from the marketing director of one of the companies that she cited in her story. He has copied the editor and the advertising manager of the paper. He is very unhappy because his company was picked as part of the lead story and is demanding to know why the writer chose company Y in her story yet there are other companies whose stock prices are also on the decline. He is also very upset because the writer did not inform him in advance that the story would be running. It gets worse because company Y is just about to release its half-year results and the marketing director feels the story will adversely affect investor confidence and general stakeholder confidence in their business.
However, the writer believes she did nothing wrong. She observed something, got the facts and even got comments from experts. She did not misquote, give false facts or even give her opinion.
The marketing director then threatens to withdraw advertising support. He has branded the front page of the newspaper for two months but because of the story he will cancel the contract. The newspaper needs the revenue (printing in Kenya is an expensive venture) but at the same time, there is need to be factual and truthful. Media is caught up between a rock and a hard place. What should they do?
In journalism issues of integrity are very important and many times there is no clear line. Sadly, many media houses fail to implement rules regarding integrity. For example, is it right for a journalist to accept a fully paid trip to cover a story of a hotel chain in Mombasa? After meeting the transport and accommodation costs, the hotel will expect the journalist to write the story in a favourable light. Some will even insist on seeing the copy before it is published. This means the journalist will not be objective and will not give the public a true picture of the situation.
Ways of attracting the attention of journalists have become innovative. At the end of a function/event journalists get press kits which apart from having information (speeches, facts and figures) also include gifts ranging from t-shirts, caps, flash disks, bags, key rings, product samples etc. It is up to the journalist to decide if to accept the gift/s or not - the latter rarely happens.
Global media houses like the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Al Jazeera, CNN etc have very strict codes of ethics. There are rules that govern newsgathering that will avoid compromising the integrity of the journalist. Some media houses require journalists to hand over a gift/token if is over a certain amount. For the BBC, when it comes to the use of third party material in news and factual output, they are very reluctant to use video and audio news releases or other material. “We do not normally use any extracts from such releases if we are capable of gathering the material ourselves. If it is editorially justified to use it then we must explain the circumstances and clearly label the material on air.” That is a section under accuracy in the BBC editorial guidelines.
The media is not perfect either. Journalists are known to accept bribes to publish/broadcast a story while some dig up dirt on personalities and companies and threaten to publish the information. The media profession just like all others has some unscrupulous people who taint the image of the profession. The line between the profession and making money is not very clear. To begin with, journalists are not well remunerated and the rarely get good training. There are also very few media houses in Kenya and journalists have to scramble to get into one. To stay in business, journalists have to be friendly to the advertisers in the process compromising the content. The sword therefore, cuts both sides.
