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Subject: The Duty of Human Beings Including Journalists
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2002 09:35:56 +0530
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From: "Bala Pillai"
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The Duty of Human Beings Including Journalists
We all have a duty to be truthful. The microcosm of journalist minds, is
merely a subset of a larger macrocosm of human minds. If the larger is not
strong enough for the truth, can we expect it's derivative, the smaller, to
be?
anpudan../bala
bala@...
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/charter2000/message/108
> The duty of journalists
> Zakiah Koya
>
> The main reason why professional journalism has yet to thrive fully
> in Malaysia is not the curb on press freedom or the hidden agenda of
> those who own the media but the attitude of local media journalists
> themselves.
>
> Harping on the fact that the press is very much controlled by
> political parties and that a journalist is never given the freedom to
> write what he or she sees is a lame excuse if the journalist himself
> or herself never took the effort to uphold the very ethics of
> journalism.
>
> At this moment in Malaysia, there are two main ethical mandates that
> need to be upheld when one is working for the media - reporting the
> whole truth and maintaining responsibility to the public. If these
> two standards are upheld, then the mainstream Malaysian media would
> not be in the mess it is now and the public would not have gone
> looking for alternative media and relying on the foreign press.
>
> Having worked in two major newspapers for the past five years, it is
> a sad thing to say that many a time, the news reported is padded and
> the truth hidden away so much that one fails to see the whole truth
> in the story. This can be seen when feature editors in mainstream
> papers - in exposing the irregularities in this country - have had to
> many a time camouflage the truth so as to escape the scrutiny of the
> authorities who have the last say what goes to print and what does
> not. Thus, the partial truth is told.
>
> A simple example, the many revelations of environmental problems have
> always been highlighted in major newspapers but it has yet to hit
> hard on Malaysians, simply because the way it was written by
> journalists failed to drive the truth home hard enough.
>
> (I am not talking of printed copies. I have personally seen non-
> edited copies written by journalists themselves and they do not
> differ when they see final print. Journalists who are willing to bare
> the facts are few and rare. Today, this type of journalists have
> either left the industry or prefer to write for foreign media.)
>
> Messing up
>
> Actually, the situation was not so bad before. In recent years,
> however, a number of issues, particularly pertaining to Orang Asli
> and dams, have been downplayed as the whole truth hurts certain
> parties a bit too much.
>
> Then there are the instances when politicians opened their mouths and
> said things which were just not comprehensible. The reporter, if
> interested in reporting the truth, would write out exactly what the
> politician had said and not cushion the statement or try to word it
> intelligently.
>
> Even if the politicians "mess up", journalists seem to be at a loss
> whether to report the "mess" as it is, or check first with the editor
> what should be written. For example, during the recent Lunas by-
> election, when politicians from the same party contradicted
> themselves, the journalists say that they cannot write exactly what
> was said as they say their report will not come out in print, even if
> it is written.
>
> What local journalists fail to understand is that it is of utmost
> importance that they themselves write the truth as it is. If it comes
> out in print in a different version altogether, so be it. The
> journalist has done his duty, that is what matters most. The debate
> with the sub-editors and editors can be shouted out later.
>
> I personally have had the fortunate experience of being shouted at
> and thrown out by former tourism minister Sabaruddin Chik for asking
> the question: "Why did you not visit your contituency as you claim
> to?"
>
> The article that I wrote narrated the details of exactly what he said
> and did, but when it saw the light of print, it was as if he was the
> best wakil rakyat ever visiting the farmers and all, when in truth he
> was not. The most important thing is my conscience is clear as I have
> written the truth.
>
> Today, many journalists have come to an extent that when he or she
> writes, it is self censorship that has the upper hand.
>
> Would this anger such and such a person? Would this lead to the
> downfall of such and such a person in authority? Does our editor know
> this Datuk personally? Is this too harsh for the minister? Who owns
> this company?
>
> Good mood
>
> And because of this, the truth is downsized and the article in the
> end, had to be read between the lines. If the journalist does not
> know how to write between the lines or if the reader does not know
> how to read between the lines, the truth is lost.
>
> The second most important ethic in journalism is upholding the
> responsibility of what is written to the public. In short, writing
> for the people.
>
> Many a time, I have heard mainstream journalists entering press
> conferences of top politicians in this country with this
> statement, "I will ask him the question if he is in a good mood."
>
> The journalist does not exist to humour politicians, whether the
> Prime Minister or a branch leader. It is the journalist's
> responsibility to ask the questions with all the respect that is due,
> and if the interviewee is not in a good mood, that is simply none of
> the journalist's business.
>
> If he refused to answer, then the journalist has a right to report
> that he has asked the question but the answer was in the affirmative.
> If it was a grunt of reply, then a grunt is what should be written.
> Let the people know.
>
> There has also been the incident when I was offered a envelope of
> ringgit notes so that I do not report what I had just witnessed.
>
> On returning the envelope the state assemblyman was so shocked that
> he said to the others, "Oh, dia bukan orang jenis ini! (Oh, she is
> not of this type!)"
>
> Back doors
>
> The reason why he gave the envelope to me and photographer colleague
> was to keep my mouth shut on the fact that he had made promises to
> give RM1 million to Orang Asli in his constituency in Pulau Indah who
> had water pipes and fans and computers in schools but without water
> and electricity supply. I was supposed to report on his promise but
> not the conditions of the Orang Asli.
>
> The story got through after months it was written but no mention of
> the fact that the wakil rakyat was there at the place.
>
> Especially in the case of elected politicians and authorities who
> themselves have a duty to the people, it is the right of the people
> to know how they behave and the words they exactly use.
>
> With journalists perhaps being the only ones who are allowed to
> question the authorities, it is most pertinent that journalists be
> responsible to the people.
>
> If the journalists have tried his or her best but was pushed aside,
> then try the back doors. It must be remembered that the world can be
> entered by many doors and there is not only one media today.
>
> Journalists, who have always written the truth and take the effort to
> be responsible to the public in their reports, will come to a stage
> when they will to leave the media institution if the institution is
> no more credible in reporting the truth.
>
> When journalists leave the media institution, journalists can live on
> but the media institutions will never be able to operate without
> journalists. That is an undisputed fact and if journalists push hard
> enough, the media institutions will have to move along to the demands
> of journalists. Only when journalists die, the media dies.
>
> That is the simple truth.
