Beware the Dark Side of journalism

[box]The following is an extract from Alec Hogg's Biznews.com newsletter of last week about the insidious PR industry. It caught my eye as I make a real effort to avoid running press releases on Grubstreet (if I do I'll tell you so) and I can't stand those "thought leader" pieces that masquerade as the original work of company CEOs but are, in fact, written by freelance journalists. I have also recently come across this very interesting new beta website from Media Monitoring Africa to track and monitor churnalism in our media. Please have a look at it but bear in mind the site is still in its early test stages. I think it's a great idea. Well done to William Bird and his team – and please help them build the site by emailing the press releases that clog up your inbox to  prspin@newstools.co.za. Visit Biznews.com here and you can follow Alec Hogg on Twitter here.[/box]

As a journalist, every day I do battle in the Court of Public Opinion. Have done so for more than three decades. And what I see is often deeply concerning.

Journalists are the public prosecutors in the Court of Public Opinion. Most start off armed with little more than a head full of university-taught theory and a dream to change the world, to right the wrong, to make a difference.

As soon as these poorly paid youngsters develop a modicum of competence, they get ego-boosting job offers. First, from other media. All too soon they hit the radar of those on the other side of the fence – lobbyists, public relations consultancies and the communications divisions of corporates.

I call them the Dark Side. And have warned every young journalism recruit about their allure. With only mixed success. Everyone has financial aspirations. When the Dark Side flashes a multiple of your income, it's hard to resist.
Three things got me thinking about this in the past week.

First, because of the mushrooming of Biznews.com, I needed to take stock of my commitments. And looking back in the files, came to the horrifying realisation that the going rate for freelance journalism today is exactly what I was being paid 20 years ago.  Two decades. Surely the media business cannot be in such a bad shape (or so good back then)?

Second, I witnessed from close up how a public relations company pushed its weight around by demanding something that, in my experience, it should never have even dared raise. That this consultancy could act so blatantly (and stupidly) says much of how the balance of power has shifted.

And third, I was pointed to an excellent piece in the Vancouver Observer tracking how PR has grown in direct proportion to the way newsrooms have shrunk. It quotes US Bureau of Labor Statistics figures showing how in 1980 there were .45 public relations people for every 100 000 Americans. That doubled to .90 in 2008. Journalists went from .36 in 1980 to .25 in 2008: "That's a ratio of more than three-to-one, better equipped, better financed." Where the US goes, we follow. And the stats are for five years ago – before the newsroom retrenchments began in earnest.

What does this mean?

Although we're flooded with information, the proportion that's sanitized by "corporate journalists" has grown exponentially. Add in the growing influence of advertising Rands, and even those charged with providing independent information can easily be compromised.

[box]SEE ALSO: PR fills the void left by shrinking newsrooms, Vancouver Observer, Nov 2013, and go to Media Monitoring Africa's Churnalism SA website here.[/box]