Let me tell you, if one were to compare the 4th Estate to any other property in the current housing market, its value would still be dropping just as quickly.
Thomas Jefferson once penned, “Information is the currency of democracy.”
When America’s 3rd President wrote this he was espousing a belief that freedom of speech and the press was the best method to prevent the tyranny of a people by their own government.
However, what if that information is being twisted and bought at a price?
Australian author and journalist Phillip Knightley recently wrote an article for the New Matilda on the 31st August 2009, called Some Of My Best Employees Are Journalists.
He explained that during last year’s conflict between Russia and Georgia in South Ossetia, each nation hired PR firms from America and Europe to pump out “subtle but convincing case(s) for their clients.”
Thomas Jefferson must be rolling in his grave.
According to the report, Moscow hired New York agency Ketchum, which has some 50 advertising men, ex-politicians and journalists working for them.
Buzzle.com’s David Teather wrote about the hiring of such PR companies, “In conflicts gone by, it might have been called propaganda, but it is now carefully co-ordinated public relations, devised by agencies in London, Washington and Brussels.”
English media outlet the Guardian stated that the Russians have paid Ketchum and its affiliate The Washington Group at least US$14 million in the past three years.
So, information is the currency of democracy? Then apparently it can be bought at quite a cheap price.
There is cause for major concern.
Who’s getting the money? Is it ethical? How much is being paid that we don’t know about? Is the truth being reported or is this just agenda setting?
Teather continues, “As with any client that signs a commercial contract, it is difficult to know how much each state has committed to PR in Britain. But in the US, where agencies have to register any contracts with foreign governments, it is more transparent.”
So it’s the barmy Brits who are to blame for this journalistic shoddiness.
At least we have the Land of the Free to guide the way and carry the torch ever onwards, in the pursuit of a journalistic utopia.
Think again.
Knightley stated that, “All this might appear not to matter much but it raises important questions about truth and how wars are reported,” and this warning couldn’t be more correct.
The 21st century might only be in its infancy, but already it’s contracted a virus. The symptoms maybe disguised, but don’t kid yourself, they are deadly.
It’s the disease of apathy and instant gratification, wrapped in an unhealthy reliance on a Matix-esque connection to the internet.
The news we get, we don’t care about. Yet, we still want it as fast as possible.
Compile this with the fact that it must be in digital layout, because we all know that anything that comes in hard print is too time consuming and difficult to read.
The news we want is painstakingly simplified into black-and-white, 30 second sound bites, and can reduce the ‘truth’ about a conflict into a mere popularity campaign.
On the 26th of June, Yahoo! had posted this report,
“While news websites are constantly running stories of Michael Jackson’s … death, internet pranksters have posted fake stories of the deaths of two more celebrities on the same day-’Jurassic Park’ actor Jeff Goldblum and ‘Indiana Jones’ star Harrison Ford.”
This is hardly life changing. Two over-the-hill actors are reported to have died on the same day an over-the-hill singer did, purely because someone felt the urge to start a rumour.
The problem is that gossip is much like a pillow that has been slashed by a knife. Try collecting those feathers once they’ve taken to the wind.
It’s next to impossible.
Naysayers will also say, “Oh, but everyone caught onto it quickly. Everyone now knows that they’re not dead.”
This is not the point of Knightley’s argument.
On June 25th, I had heard via 6PR radio that there were unconfirmed reports that Jeff Goldblum had allegedly died on set, before I knew that Michael Jackson was dead.
It’s clear that media outlets just as much as the gossip makers wanted to stoke the fire and bleed the stone just that bit more.
Again, some might say, “Oh, but it’s hardly changed your day-to-day lifestyle!”
This is true, but what if this method of spinning was applied to a more drastic stage, with more serious implications.
Let’s say, validating a second war in the Middle East with ‘proof’ Iraq has weapons of mass destruction?
If everything on the internet is taken with more than a pinch of salt, then it might convince me that the maths nerd from Jurassic Park is dead.
But it can also convince a nation to go to war.
This kind of spin can lead to serious implications.
Don’t get me wrong, the internet has been a massive jump in human ingenuity. The ability for information to be exchanged freely and instantly has helped connect the world in unimaginable ways.
However, what stops that information from being manipulated?
Knightley surprisingly doesn’t even blame journalists or their media outlets, “I blame, in part, those journalists who have taken what an old reporter friend of mine calls the ‘Walk of Shame’ and abandoned their honourable craft for the better-paid job of public relations. In their new careers it is not a requirement of the job that they believe in the story their client wants to project. They are merely guns for hire to the highest bidder.”
In my opinion both sides are to blame.
Journalists need to realise the serious effects important stories can have on a country or society.
Therefore, for the preservation of democracy as we know it, media outlets and journalists need to adjust their ethical compass and re-assess their journalistic skills.
Are the stories’ facts being checked properly?
Is the truth being presented it?
Would the journalist be breaching the notion of representing the citizenry by submitting the story?
Liberal democracy prides itself on the protection of individual rights from government power.
Jason Diceman, a political blogger, explains to his readers that the media must represent the people within a society, act as a public watchdog and inform society.
If journalists are pandering to political press releases then they’re not even getting close to fulfilling their role.
Even if you’re a pundit, an expert or an analyst, it’s important to remember that you rarely know all the facts.
The media tends to forget this; unfortunately for the public, they tend to want a quote and a public relations contact to attribute it to.
The juicier the sound bite offered, the faster the story will be jumped on by journalists.
If the US or Russia can shape a story with the help of a crafty PR company and present the public with a version of the ‘truth’ that suits their agenda, then the media has not upheld its role as the 4th Estate and has contributed towards the erosion of liberal democracy.
