In the public interest?
This website is produced by journalists and media workers for journalists and media workers, at a time when our industry is in crisis. But the whole country and the world beyond it are facing an economic slump. So why should the public care about us?
The answer is that the media industry matters because our product is information, and from information comes knowledge – public knowledge – and public knowledge is public power.
Practically every choice people make, from the goods they buy to who they vote for, depends on the information they have available. And quality information – news that’s not slanted for a favourable impression or to suppress damaging facts – can only be produced by media workers with a commitment to doing the job straight, without commercial or political bias. People who believe in the public’s right to know. People like us.
Newspaper readers, television viewers, radio listeners and website loggers mostly take us for granted. They don’t care about our pay and conditions – in fact many people think journalists are overpaid, or peddlers of sensationalism and fraud. And let’s be honest – at worst some journalism can be trash. But at best it’s the bedrock of democracy and it gives people the information they need to put themselves more in charge of their lives, their country and their world.
That kind of journalism costs money, because it needs professionals with the dedication and skills to dig for the real story and then get it to the public.
Here’s just one practical example: the children overboard scandal. The initial version of this incident was a fake, pushed by politicians in Canberra trying to swing a national election. The reason everyone now knows the truth is that a gutsy young reporter had the sense to realise the navy crew at the scene knew what had really happened, and a newspaper editor had the commitment to run the true story.
That was a News Limited reporter and a News Limited editor, and examples of similar stories are pretty well unlimited – ranging from international financial scams to skulduggery by the local council. But they all have this in common – they were produced by journalists, artists and photographers who were willing to look behind the spin, and editorial teams who were ready and able to get the story to the public.
As a great British newspaperman once put it: “A good story is something some bastard somewhere does not want to see in the paper.” And it’s not just the hard news – it’s the sport and business and entertainment, the great images and the arts and colour and humour and goss and slap and tickle that make the world go round.
That’s what our industry brings to our public every day, and we’d better be good at it – our jobs are at stake.
Now the media industry is in trouble, with newspapers hard hit. Some top papers overseas have closed, and every media company in Australia has made cutbacks, including News Limited. We’ve lost pretty much all our casual staff – that is the people who regularly worked to help get the papers out at times of high pressure such as weekends or coverage of major issues like budgets. This means the regular staff who are left have to work harder just to keep up.
And we’ve lost some well-loved and respected regulars – journalists and photographers who’ve given years of their lives to papers they love, and got laid off just because there’s a recession on. It can be a brutal business.
At least the people who were made redundant received payouts on the terms set by our union, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance. There’s a lesson there for everyone in the union or out of it – it’s the Alliance that sets the pay and conditions, the professional and ethical standards, even the termination settlements for our industry. If you work in the media, you should be in the Alliance.
What we’re asking for at News Limited is basically two things. First, we want the company to talk to us – to tell us what they’re planning, how they aim to go about it, do they foresee further layoffs, how will their planned restructure work, what investments will they be making in new technologies and what job opportunities will this create? These are simple and clear questions, and the people who produce the company’s media products deserve straight answers.
Second, we want the chance to put our own suggestions – for starters, how about voluntary redundancies instead of forced layoffs? Management might be surprised at how many people would be willing to look at other career options if they’re given the opportunity of a payout. Or there are people prepared to consider working a nine-day fortnight or even a four-day week, so they can combine more time off with the security of regular employment. That’s potentially a 10 per cent or 20 per cent pay saving, and you keep valuable staff on the job where they’re most needed.
Above all, journalists are realistic people. We know there’s a global slump, and it’s hitting the media hard. We want our newspapers and websites to succeed, and we need our companies to be profitable – our living depends on it.
In John Hartigan, News Limited in Australia has a boss who knows the newspaper industry from the bottom up. He says newspapers in this country should come through the recession stronger than ever, and that’s what we want to hear.
The Media Alliance is our voice, and working together, both sides can help to make it happen.
So come on, Harto – let’s have those talks. They should be good for all of us.
Seumas Phelan is a 40-year media veteran, and is a senior sub-editor with The Australian. He has been an AJA and Media Alliance member since he arrived in Australia ex the Irish Times in 1985.
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