Editors quash journalists’ hopes

I read with interest Anton Harber’s column (Up to editors to inspire despondent newsrooms, February 17), where he laments that “reporters feel disempowered working at the mercy of complacent editors” and criticises editors who forever chant the mantra: “We are a business, we are about making money”. He then goes on to say that good editors should “motivate a team of people to sense the zeitgeist, find the stories that capture it and process them”.

While I agree with this, I think the reason so many of our journalists feel disempowered is that many of our editors approach “what goes in the paper” from a Eurocentric, neoliberal standpoint — they mimic what they see as the business model of western media ; they scoff at playing a positive role in nation-building and healing in a traumatised society.

Contrast this with the writings of prominent African thought leaders. Chief Anyaoku, a Nigerian intellectual, said: “Experience from different regions of the world has shown us that the media can become instruments intensifying the sense of otherness, hence, impede the process of integration and co-operation in divided societies … the outreach capacity of the media is enormous and it can affect respect for and appreciation of the diversity of the country.”

Robert Kabushenga, editor-in- chief of New Vision in Uganda, at the Highway Africa Conference 2009 (a gathering of 500 African journalists), talked of “shallow” and “deep” journalism. “Shallow” journalism being a concoction of cheap and nasty sensationalism combined with a heavy dose of cynicism ; “deep” journalism being investigative, interrogative, sensitive and profound. He urged young journalists to aspire to the latter despite pressure from their editors to deliver on the former.

Cedrick Ngalande, a South African writing from California, notes in a letter to Business Day (Negative press, Letters, June 11 2008), “It appears they (editors) have resolved that good journalism means being antigovernment all the time. There are so many good things happening in SA everyday but we never get to hear about them. Every piece written about SA is negative. Remember that negative perceptions are easy to plant in people’s minds but it takes years, even generations, to eradicate them. The South African media may yet regret the perceptions they are creating about SA in the minds of many across the world.”

My sense is that young journalists are becoming disillusioned with the leadership role played by their editors. Take the recent e.tv interview of thugs as an example; while this was in clear violation of the Press Code of Professional Practice, the South African National Editors Forum remained mealy-mouthed.

Many young journalists want to play a role in the transformation of our society, they want to be given the space to confront the bad and celebrate the good. They sense the media has a profound role to play in shaping our future but is locked into a tired “if it bleeds it leads” construct. Young journalists want to change this. They want their editors to show them the way. As Prof Harber concluded, “How many of our editors are doing that?”

This article refers to another article which you can read here

-February 18, 2010 by Steuart Pennington

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Source:  www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx (accessed 18.02.10)