A British newspaper journalist
Answers
- Difficult question. Informing and educating are important social goods, but
a paper that isn't entertaining won't sell, so no one will read it and it
won't do the other things either. I think the media do their job well within
limited constraints - that is, there is a set of basic assumptions that
underlie most stories that are rarely questioned: capitalism good,
dictatorship bad; Jesus nice man, all religions equally true. Anyone who
challenges these can find themselves treated with horror.
- Public taste shapes the media and the media shapes public taste.
Unfortunately, the British press enjoys no government subsidy (except that
Rupert Murdoch's News International pays almost no tax) and has to sell
newspapers and advertising to survive. So we have to give people what they
want, at least to some extent. Of course, we don't really know what they
want, so we have to guess.
- No. When journalists talk about being unbiased, they generally mean that
someone has the same prejudices as them. Journalists should strive to be
fair, balanced and accurate, ensuring that no one has grounds to say their
views were not represented fairly. Often, it's the journalists who claim to
be unbiased who are worst at this: their conviction that theirs is the only
reasonable view leads them to characterise anyone with a different view as
mad. I do think journalists should have opinions. It would be silly for them
not to. Would you trust someone who watched the liberation of Dachau and had
no opinion about what had happened there?
- I think our competitive market means our papers are zippier and more
interesting than those of any other country I've encountered. We're almost
much less reverent towards institutions. On the other hand, we can get
overexcited.
- I don't believe in the freedom to shout fire in a crowded theatre - telling
lies that cause danger to the population. However, almost any legislative
attempt to restrain free speech ends up being used by wealthy crooks to
cover up their misdeeds.
- I love newspapers. I love the feel of them, the look of them, the smell of
them, their portability and their offer of instant access to information.
But they all annoy me in different ways. I have a huge respect for Newsnight
on BBC2. And I read the Times and the Guardian most days on my Palm.
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