by Karen Brune Mathis
Managing Editor
In the wake of the News Corp. phone-hacking scandal in the United Kingdom, a panel of Jacksonville media professionals took on the topic of “integrity in journalism.”
Newspaper editor Wayne Ezell and broadcast veterans Melissa Ross and Mark Spain discussed the issues last week at a Southside Business Men’s Club program moderated by Florida Rep. Charles McBurney.
The panel began with questions about the “Murdoch scandal,” the phone-tapping reporting practices at the “News of the World” run by Chair and CEO Rupert Murdoch.
“The tabloid press in Britain is not what I would call the legitimate press,” said Melissa Ross, producer and host of “First Coast Connect” on 89.9 FM WJCT.
“They don’t care about journalistic standards,” she said. “These are not practices we engage in and never would.”
Wayne Ezell, business editor of The Florida Times-Union, agreed. “The tabloid world in Britain is nothing like we have here,” he said.
Ezell said that the Internet has resulted in more examination of reporting. “We can’t go far without being called on it,” he said.
Ezell also encouraged the group to do the same. “If you read something you question, pick up the phone and call.”
Regarding the Murdoch scandal, Mark Spain, a co-anchor at CBS 47/FOX 30 Action News, talked about the focus on profits by media companies.
“The lines have been blurred,” he said. “It used to be the bottom line didn’t even matter that much. Now it does.”
McBurney asked questions and also read those submitted on note cards from the audience. The meeting was Wednesday at the San Jose Country Club.
“What holds journalists accountable?” he asked.
Ezell responded that government regulation of journalism through licensing of some sort “might get rid of some of the scallywags but you would chill journalism.”
Ross said that media ombudsmen, such as the role Ezell formerly held as a reader advocate, keep watch on the “watchdogs.”
She also referred to that “self-inflicted wound with Juan Williams” at NPR.
In October, NPR News terminated the contract of longtime news analyst Juan Williams after remarks he made on the Fox News Channel about Muslims. Some top NPR executives were out of jobs not long after that event and other problems.
The organization reviewed its ethics policies and its policies and training for roles by NPR journalists appearing in other media, according to www.npr.org.
Spain said reporters at Action News are held accountable by news directors, executive producers and managing editors. He also pointed out there is no affiliation between Fox 30 and the Fox News Channel, which features conservative hosts Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity.
“Our checks and balances come from our editors,” he said. When necessary, reports also are sent to the station’s lawyers.
Asked whether media ownership dictates coverage, Ross noted that it has changed the national information landscape.
“You can get all of your news from a partisan source and tune everyone else out,” she said.
Ross said 89.9 FM WJCT, which airs local programming and NPR and other programs, has a mission to serve the “entire community.”
Spain said his independence in reporting has not been challenged. “I’ve never been told by anybody to take a particular slant on a story,” he said.
McBurney also asked about how far “the public’s right to know” should extend.
Spain brought up the recent move by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office to take back handheld scanners that local media had been using to monitor police calls. The office said the policy was to take back the dozens of loaned scanners because the JSO needed them for its staff.
Media offered to pay for the cost of the scanners, which have encrypted frequencies exclusive to the sheriff’s office, but the office did not agree.
Reporters now depend on police-issued statements and alerts as well as tips from the public.
“That hampers us severely,” said Spain, regarding news coverage.
Also, “if we’re not out there to monitor what they’re doing, how do we know what they are doing?” he said.
Ross said she didn’t understand the decision.
Ezell said he feared the media has a “knee-jerk reaction” to the scanner situation.
“I don’t know that we’re not serving the public,” he said.
However, “I’d like to talk to the sheriff to find out why” the scanners were pulled, he said.
The journalists were asked to compare the Murdoch scandal with The New York Times reporter Jayson Blair.
The Times reported in May 2003 that Blair, a 27-year-old staff reporter, “committed frequent acts of journalistic fraud while covering significant news events in recent months” and that “the widespread fabrication and plagiarism represent a profound betrayal of trust.”
Ross said Blair was a single reporter, while the Murdoch scandal was “widespread collusion” that was “at the very highest levels.”
“It goes far beyond bad journalism,” she said.
A recent Wall Street Journal report described it as “the tangled phone-hacking scandal in the U.K.” that involved “the alleged cozy relationship between tabloid editors and top police officers and leading politicians.”
Ross summed up the role that integrity plays in journalism.
“Your reputation is your calling card,” she said.
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Journalists’ code of ethics
The Society of Professional Journalists, a 9,000-member national organization founded 102 years ago, has a code of ethics. It says that “members of the society share a dedication to ethical behavior and adopt this code to declare the Society’s principles and standards of practice.” Here is part of the code:
Seek truth and report it.
Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information. Journalists should:
• Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible.
• Diligently seek out subjects of news stories to give them the opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing.
• Identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources’ reliability.
• Always question sources’ motives before promising anonymity. Clarify conditions attached to any promise made in exchange for information. Keep promises.
• Make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional material, photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and quotations do not misrepresent.
• Never distort the content of news photos or video. Image enhancement for technical clarity is always permissible.
• Avoid misleading re-enactments or staged news events. If re-enactment is necessary to tell a story, label it.
• Avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information except when traditional open methods will not yield information vital to the public. Use of such methods should be explained as part of the story
• Never plagiarize.
• Avoid stereotyping by race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance or social status.
• Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.
• Distinguish news from advertising and shun hybrids that blur the lines between the two.
• Recognize a special obligation to ensure that the public’s business is conducted in the open and that government records are open to inspection.
Minimize harm
Ethical journalists treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect. Journalists should:
• Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief.
• Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance.
• Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention.
Act independently
Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public’s right to know. Journalists should:
• Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.
• Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.
• Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment, and shun secondary employment, political involvement, public office and service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.
• Disclose unavoidable conflicts.
• Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable.
• Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests and resist their pressure to influence news coverage.
• Be wary of sources offering information for favors or money; avoid bidding for news.
Be accountable
Journalists are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other. Journalists should:
• Clarify and explain news coverage and invite dialogue with the public over journalistic conduct.
• Encourage the public to voice grievances against the news media.
• Admit mistakes and correct them promptly.
• Expose unethical practices of journalists and the news media.