After media convergence, the corporatization of media and social media boom opened the floodgates for the dissemination of news (or messages), and often, the authenticity of the source and news has been questioned. While you can neither ignore nor overlook social media becoming a crucial part of media, helping it expand its ambit and multiply plurality, news authenticity has often been compromised.
Primary news sources are authorized spokespersons, press releases, websites, press conferences, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media feeds. Over the years social media platforms have been invariably used for disseminating information and news to target audiences. While it has multiplied plurality and made news gathering easier it has also significantly diluted accountability. Open access allows anyone and everyone to be a part of the larger information-sharing system.
‘Fake news’ often disrupts law and order, creating chaos and unwanted situations. Since the press is the fourth pillar of the state, it is a crucial entity for nascent, developing, and developed economies. However, increasing doubt over news authenticity will affect its credibility in the long run. Prof Brahma’s conversation gives us insight into the issue and suggests tentative ways to rectify it. He also talks about how he mentors his students, who will be journalists soon.
Why is it so difficult to stick to ethics while delivering responsibilities as a journalist?
When I started my career two decades back, journalism was not meant for all, it was meant for a chosen few and so was the media. So, the quality of content generated could be controlled. Today, with the onset of thousands of channels, newspapers, and portals it has become almost impossible to control the quality. Media convergence has made it even more difficult to control the quality of news. It has become a race. It has become a war! And in a war, everything is justified, and only winning matters so ethics has to take a backseat.
When delivering news first becomes the objective, how can any media do justice to follow the ethical unbiased method of vetting a report? It is a race to be the first to break the news.
Media laws and ethics have been and will always be the backbone of journalism. So whenever a story is filed it becomes critical to vet it for making it balanced, carrying the views of both the sides with honesty. There is a need to check the authenticity of the source. The news medium has to be a conduit a “medium” and not a party to the news that is broadcast to printed. The story has become very different now. I am sure the mediums are trying their best to be as ethical as possible in their reportage but there are constraints of marketing, advertising and commerce. Somewhat the fine line between journalism and the business of media has, perhaps, blurred.
As a teacher how would you inculcate a sense of ethics in media students?
Media law and ethics as I said earlier has been and will always be the backbone of journalism. Therefore, this is the most important part of the journalism curriculum. A sense of ethics and value system are your assets for success in any profession and journalism is no exception. So the stepping stone towards becoming a journalist or a communicator is to learn media ethics and so I make sure my students here at NSHM Media School in India, where I am a Dean, or at Bath Spa University in the UK, where I am a Visiting Research Fellow have their heads clear in not making ethics a negotiable currency.
How do you suggest verifying the authenticity of news sources? How to refer to online sources as an authentic source since the information can change with every update?
The reason print journalism has always been considered more reliable and authentic than any other form is that once it is printed it will be there till the paper decays into mother earth… unlike in the other media wherein, blink…and it is changed. With the onset of social media as a source of news and convergence in media, it has become more and more difficult to vet the authenticity of news, because your social media “source” may change their version.
News reporting has become very reaction-oriented today. This needs to change. Otherwise, less and less attention will be given to the authentication of the news, leading to a lowering of the credibility of the medium or channel. So every journalist, bureau chief and news editor have to make sure that a sufficient amount of time is allocated towards this authentication process. So, either you have to get back to your source asking probing questions regarding the claim or you have to vet the claim with other players who are experts in the field. The process is time-consuming, but news reporting is a responsibility and the medium or channel can’t blame the source for the lack of authenticity, it is also their job to vet it properly before publishing or broadcasting it.
Since newspapers maintain a comparatively strict standard (when it comes to their sources), are they better at maintaining news authenticity than broadcast and online media?
It is all about deadline pressures. If you look at the print medium, you will see that there is some time that is allocated to the editorial for authentication of news before publishing it because its frequency is not real-time like a TV channel or a newswire or portal. So even today, newspapers can maintain a certain standard of news reportage in terms of authenticity unless they deliberately try to push an agenda. And also, there is the issue of once it is printed, it stays.
Often journalists refer to social media for information and leads, how far is that a safe practice?
In today’s day and age of convergence, you can’t ignore social media as a source of news. News can come from the most extraordinary sources. There are CEOs and MDs who never take calls of journalists but are very comfortable responding on Twitter. So, the journalist can’t ignore that as a potent source of news. However, it is imperative that the handle has to be authenticated. As far as being a safe practice is concerned, it is walking on thin ice. It is not safe at all, so it makes the vetting process all the more critical.
As an educator, how do you teach your students to differentiate between sources? How do you help them to develop their integrity?
The curriculum is designed in such a way that the students as their first exposure understand that authentication of source is paramount and non-negotiable. As journalists, they deal with earned media so they understand credibility cannot be compromised. So the journalism they learn has integrity as its cornerstone. What is taught is the ideal form of journalism so that these value systems always remain with them throughout their career.
Do you think integrity can help journalists work more responsibly and refrain from inauthentic sources, maybe push them to take the hard way to verify the sources before reporting? How far do you think journalists (who are new to the field) sincerely stick to such practices?
In my career spanning two decades as a Copy Editor, I have risen to the level of Chief Editor across leading national and international publications like The New York Times and The Economic Times, and never did I ever compromise on my integrity or the quality of news. So I firmly believe, if you trust yourself you can be a successful journalist even without compromising on authenticity or integrity.
Naturally, I give my students examples of successful journalists who have never compromised with their integrity so that they do not think that to make money or rise the ladder you have to use integrity as a negotiable currency.
You have been a journalist yourself for quite a good number of years. How do you mentor your students for the profession that calls for strong mettle and undeterrable integrity?
Integrity is hard work and so if a journalist is willing to work hard it is not difficult to work more responsibly and refrain from falling into the trap of inauthentic sources. It is the responsibility of the journalist to refrain from such trappings so that the readers or viewers are not deceived by an agenda.
Hard work is always difficult but that is the ingredient that makes the difference.
News can come from unconventional sources more times than you think so it is incorrect to discard news because the source is not conventional. So it is important to verify the news and verify the source so matter what the deadline pressure is.
I would like to believe that still there are a handful of journalists who are not compromising with the quality of news because of external and internal pressures.
What's the status of news authenticity according to you and how do you suggest improving it?
Unfortunately, there is a huge scope for improvement when it comes to adherence of news authenticity today. There is only one way to improve this situation: make it mandatory and do not keep it as an option for the sake to being the first to break it. It is true that sometimes the news seems so tempting and it becomes difficult to hold on to it and it comes across as a calculated risk to run with it without proper authentication. But that temptation must be avoided for the sake of the commitment towards the readers or viewers.
Please elaborate on some of the actionable ways to improve news authenticity in an environment where the media fraternity has to operate in a multi-channel environment and cannot ignore the growing influence of social media.
- Make verification of source, including social media, a part of the news-generating process by the reporters so that no story will be accepted no matter how tempting they are.
- The bureau chief will only approve a news story when both sides of the story are presented.
- The bureau chief will not approve a story where the journalist has become the news and has made judgemental remarks.
- The News Editor will not publish or broadcast any story that is agenda-driven, biased, or judgemental, with dubious sources, who are not verified or authenticated.
- There will have to be a clear demarcation between paid and earner news which is an advertorial and an editorial.
What are a few upcoming media trends that you foresee or we can expect in a few years?
- There is a tendency of everyone posing as a journalist with the rise of smartphone usage. It has become very easy to open a news portal and start reporting stories using various media, including video stories. With convergence, the same news is narrated across various media. This lowers the standard of reportage and increases the risks of propaganda journalism devoid of authenticity. This is on the rise.
- Like the Advertising Standards Council of India, there may be a need for the formation of a centralized body that will control the quality of news across all media.
With the increase in interest in media across all channels, including social media, there is a rise in interest in media education by Gen Z across the country. It is reassuring that students still think there is a need to learn the craft.