Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong Freedom and Responsibility Thomas...

Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong

Freedom and Responsibility

Thomas Abraham

Critical issues in journalism and global communications

Week 4

20 Sept 2011


We begin our story with Henry Luce, the founder of Time magazine….


In 1942 Luce, was puzzled by a question he could not answer. So he asked Robert Hutchins, an eminent legal scholar and president of Chicago University for an answer

His question was: “ I know what my freedoms are, but what are my responsibilities?

Hutchins reply: “I dunno” “Why don’t you form a Commission to find

out?”


Why was Luce asking this question? The modern media age began in the 18th

century: throughout the western world governmental restrictions on the press began to be removed

The growth of literacy, and the arrival of new printing technology had made it possible for a mass media to emerge

It was assumed that a media market in which newspapers were privately owned, would best serve society’s need for accurate, unbiased information


It was thought that press ownership would be widely dispersed, and that there would be many different kinds of newspapers reflecting many different kinds of opinions

It was assumed that the press would be a market place for ideas, and that individuals would be able to use the press to reflect their ideas and opinions

Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong KongBut by the early 20th century problems had begun to appear

Press barons like William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer discovered that newspapers based on gory murders and sensational stories were commercially very successful.

Luce commented in 1937 “ There is no significant restraint on vulgarity, sensationalism, or even incitement to criminality”.


Instead of being a free market place of ideas, owners and editors determined what voices could be heard: the freedom of the press, appeared increasingly to be the freedom of press owners

It was no longer easy for individuals to set up newspapers and the number of voices in the media began to reduce

Many thinking people were uneasy with the direction that the press was taking- did press freedom exist merely to benefit newspaper owners?


So Luce asked “I know what my freedoms are, but what are my responsibilities?”

Luce provided US$ 200,000 for Hutchins to form a commission of eminent thinkers to go into this question

Hutchins assembled a stellar cast of thinkers, including the philosopher Reinhold Niebuhr, and the poet Archibald MacLeish

Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong KongThe commission was worried about what it found Declining numbers of newspapers, and

declining competition. The number of cities with newspaper monopolies had increased

The number of tabloids specialising in sensation and trivia had increased

Newspaper proprietors were shaping news to reflect their views. A survey of Washington reporters found that 56% said their stories had been altered, cut, or not published because of their owner’s policies


The Commission set out five functions the press should perform

1. Provide a truthful, comprehensive and intelligent account of the day’s events in a context that gives them meaning

2. Provide a forum for the exchange of commentary and criticism

3. The projection of a representative picture of the constituent groups in society

4. Provide a method of presenting and clarifying the goals and values of society

5. Provide a full access to the day’s intelligence to all


The press is given freedom in order to perform these functions.

The Commission’s report was important because it established the idea that press freedom has a definite social purpose.

In the words of the Commission, the press should be “ free and responsible.”

Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong KongCommission suggested press freedom should be linked to responsibility

“Freedom of the press for the coming period can only continue as an accountable freedom. Its moral right will be conditioned on its acceptance of this accountability”


The newspaper industry hated the report “ The word responsible, as used by the

Commission, is no different from censorship” The Wall Street Journal

“ A free press, Hitler style sought for the US” Chicago Tribune

“I’m sick and tired of criticisms of the press..responsible people in this country had better start showing more appreciation of the press.” Paul Thompson, Chair of Journalism at the University of Texas

Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong KongOthers argued that the public could not make any demands on the press

“A newspaper is a private enterprise owing nothing whatever to the public, which grants it no franchise. It is therefore affected with no public interest. It is emphatically the property of the owner who is selling a manufactured product at his own risk.”-William Peter Hamilton, editor of the Wall Street Journal in the 1920s.


“It is precisely because newspapers make profits and do not depend on the government for their livelihood that they have the resources and wherewithal to hold the government accountable” Rupert Murdoch

“Free society requires an independent press: turbulent …enquiring…bustling…and free…that's why our journalism is hard-driving and questioning of authority. And so are our journalists” Murdoch


Some problems with the Commission report Their ideal of a serious high minded serious

press was wonderful, but did people want this?

"If the people will not buy a good newspaper and will buy a poor one, what is a businessman to do?” Robert Hutchins

One commission member said “ we have to ask the press to be better than the public”- is that possible?


Who was to ensure, or make moves towards a more responsible press?

The commission toyed with the idea of suggesting an independent commission that would be charged with setting standards for the press, examining cases of bad reporting and so on, but never made any firm proposals


Press Councils and codes of ethics http://

www.presscouncil.org.hk/en/web_ethics.php

http://www.pcc.org.uk/index.html


Asian values theory of journalism Based on the idea that Asian societies were

different from western societies, and therefore Asian journalism needed different values

Proponents argued that while westerners prize individual rights and personal freedom, Asians prize an orderly society and economic advancement.


Asian values

The concluded that the press in Asian societies should not adversarial, but should be supportive of government.

Role of the press was to help national development

Main proponent of Asian values school: Lee Kuan Yew, Mahathir of Malaysia and former President Suharto of Indonesia


How relevant is this Asian values school?

Most countries in Asia do not follow this model- Singapore and to a lesser extent Malaysia are the only countries that do

Other than China, Vietnam, Laos, North Korea and Burma, countries in Asia have largely independent media organisations

An excuse to bring the press under the government


Civic journalism in the US Going back into the community, finding

out what issues people care about and what to know about, and then writing about that

Shifting from a conflict to an explanatory frame

Motivating citizens to try and find solutions.

Giving ordinary people a chance to express their views


Development Journalism Started in the late 1970s at the Press Foundation

of Asia in the Philippines Based on the notion that a primary role of the

media in poor countries should be to focus on the problems of the majority of people- poverty, development, lack of access to health care

Media should be a tool empowering poor people with knowledge and information

This idea fell into disrepute after leaders like Suharto in Indonesia used it to suggest that the media should support the government’s development efforts


The dilemma

1. An accurate, independent, serious minded press is essential if people in a society are to be able to monitor their government, and form opinions on important matters

2. Very few people seem to want to read such newspapers- the most popular and profitable newspapers are those that report sensational stories

3. What should the news industry do? 4. Is there place for quality journalism?


The Mohammad Cartoon controversy

On September 30,2005, a Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten printed 12 cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in an attempt to raise issues of freedom of expression.


Muslims were upset. Why?

Islamic traditions generally forbid the pictorial or other depictions of the Prophet

The content of the drawings were considered offensive: one in particular showed Mohammad as a terrorist, with a bomb in his turban

Denmark’s Muslim community already felt vulnerable after 9/11, and felt this was another attack on them


Why were they published? “The modern, secular society is rejected by

some Muslims. They demand a special position, insisting on special consideration of their own religious feelings. It is incompatible with contemporary democracy and freedom of speech, where you must be ready to put up with insults, mockery and ridicule. It is certainly not always attractive and nice to look at, and it does not mean that religious feelings should be made fun of at any price, but that is of minor importance in the present context. [...] we are on our way to a slippery slope where no-one can tell how the self-censorship will end..” Flemming Rose, culture editor of Jyllands-Posten


Worldwide response

Initially, very little. In 2005, an Egyptian newspaper reprinted the cartoons with a critical commentary, without attracting criticism

But as newspapers in more European countries, and several in the Islamic world began reprinting the cartoons, protests grew, and editors were fired in some cases.


Economic and Social Cost

Danish and Norwegian embassies were set on fire in a few countries

Street riots. Between 40-50 people are estimated to have died in violence related to the protests

Goods from Denmark boycotted by customs across the Middle East


You are the editor in chief of a newspaper in a country with people from different religions and ethnicities living together

Some of your senior editors are in support of printing the cartoons, because they see it as an important press freedom issue “You cannot allow self censorship”

Other colleagues feel that it would unnecessarily upset Muslims in the country and perhaps provoke violence : “We have the right to print the cartoons, but it is not the right thing to do”

You need to decide: what are your rights and responsibilities as a journalist in this case?

Journalism and Media Studies Centre, The University of Hong Kong Freedom and Responsibility Thomas...

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