Oj Pres Final

Ch. 16: Transparency in Journalism: Meanings, Merits, and Risks Public trust in the media is vital for the job of journalists to work .Transparency has been readily embraced as a means of increasing this often tested public trust. It is worth noting however that calls for transparency in journalism are part of a global trend for transparency among other institutions such as corporate financial reporting, monetary policy and international politics. The media are often the voice which calls for accountability among other institutions so it would be hypocritical if we did not apply the same standards to ourselves. What needs to be transp. and how should it be done? In the chapter the author discusses two schools of thinking as to how transparency should be achieved. That of the ACTIVE and PASSIVE transparency. Passive transparency is that which exists in business whereby openness is achieved by ease of access to documents and reports and the like. Active transparency is where an organisation on its own bat explains the various decisions it takes. In my opinion, the second option seems the more productive for several reasons. The first being is that by definition our profession is one where we seek to broadcast information to the public, it would not make sense if we did not go out and report on ourselves in a similar fashion. I also believe that if a request is made by the for the reasoning behind the motive or reporting of a story it is a natural reaction to go on the defensive and the truth may not be totally forthcoming. There have been several recommendations as to how it is to be achieved. In 2005 an American report into transp. in the industry gave several suggestions into how it can be achieved. Recommendations included virtual newsroom tours on news organisation websites, weekly editors columns review and correction policies that go beyond a standard correction box. One idea which I thought sounded very open was that of a daily blog by the editor explaining the decisions he faced. Of course in online news there is even greater scope for transparency. We have talked previously about hyper linking to research material and its ability to not only increase a reader’s knowledge of the content but their trust in its accuracy and authenticity. Bloggers have always been some of the fiercest critics of the mainstream media’s lack of transparency. As Jane Singer concluded: “ What truth is to journalists, transparency is to bloggers.” Increased transparency through these methods could also be counterproductive and lead to confusion among readers. The job of a journalist has always to bring clarity to complexities and this could be impossible to achieve if they are constantly explaining their motives and methods.

There is also possibly a more dangerous outcome to being too transparent as Ann Florini explained when she said that, “In a cynical view, if you really want to hide information, the best thing to do is to bury it in a flow of data”. Perhaps then best way then to increase transparency isn’t to give readers access to all the information. But what is the alternative? In their book “The Elements of Journalism” Kovach and Rosenstiel called for “embedding in the news report a sense of how the story came to be and why it was presented as it was”. Although this sounds like the perfect solution it could be difficult in practice. For example the recent controversy over RTÉ’s coverage of the Brian Cowen paintings could serve as an example. Much of the trouble centered on the light-hearted tone of the report. It would have been difficult to incorporate into a story exactly why it was covered that why. Although the comedy value of the material itself should suffice to explain the coverage. This I feel it what Kovach and Rosenstiel meant. Another question that is difficult to answer is being transparent in relation to the motives behind pursuing a particular story. One example given is the chapter is the inclusion of an editor’s note accompanying the story, but again it could lead to the page becoming too wordy. Perhaps even it may be difficult to explain if the motive behind the story was simply that the reporter had a hunch. In the future it is clear that with greater competition and amateur bloggers acting as a check on the mainstream media greater transparency is not just inevitable but vital. It must be said however that there is no place for transparency if it simply means a greater access and interactivity by the public. It is difficult to quantify the level of activity necessary for something to be considered transparent enough. It is only if transparency forces journalist to think more about what they report and the manner in which they report it will it add to how journalism is practiced.