The NUJ

Jonah

The Importance of Cultural and Social Awareness

Journalists can be very important figures in our society who's opinion and views on situations can shape the views of others who are exposed to their writings. Because of this they have a duty to take their social, legal and ethical responsibilities seriously and be mindful of the impact that their work could have on society.

To help journalists, and give them something to refer to if they are unsure of something, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) have released a set of guidelines for there members to follow. There is even a hotline that can be called to talk to someone who can offer advice.

These guides and advice must be followed by journalists to insure they meet their obligations. If a journalist who is a member of the NUJ repeatedly does not follow the guidelines then they may be thrown out of the union and lose all the privileges that come with it. These privileges include things like legal backing and the resources such as the hotline.

Social and Cultural Awareness

• Because Journalists write stories that are published nationwide or even worldwide, the groups of people they write about will always reach people who have had little or no interaction with the people featured in the news story.

• This gives journalists the very important responsibility of making first introductions. They must report the news accurately, but must not represent a whole group of people badly. For example if one illegal immigrant makes it across the border only to thief and fight his way into prison a journalist must not give the impression that all immigrants are this way.

• Many groups are badly represented in the news and media and this changes social attitude towards these people in general society.

• The NUJ have compiled a range of ethical guidance sheets so that its members can refer to them when writing about different groups of people.

The NUJ’s Ethical Guidelines.

The NUJ have prepared guidelines for the reporting of;• Terrorism• Race• Asylum and Immigration• HIV• Age• Disability• Suicide

These guidelines include different do’s and don’ts to assist journalists. In the Asylum and Immigration section it says to only call an immigrant an “illegal immigrant” if this is strictly relevant and accurate. All call for a balanced report to be presented, seeking the opinions of both parts and in the Racism section journalists are asked to take on a measure of responsibility in fighting the evil of racism.

Guidelines concerning current situations are also released as well as the above seven. For example there is a set of guidelines for the reporting of Ebola on the NUJ website in the wake of the recent outbreak.

Examples of journalists disregarding their obligations.

• All these headlines give the impression that this whole group of people does this.

• For example all Muslims did not plan to kill the pope.

• And not all people on benefits are scroungers.

Connotation

• When you read a word, your brain does not stop there, doorways are opened to hundreds of other words, descriptions and opinions you have learnt to associate with this word from your past experiences.

• This is called “Connotation”.• Journalists must be mindful of the words they use and the connotations that these words

have in order to make the correct representation of a person or group of people.• For example because of the negative press around this subject for a long while now, the word

“immigrant” must be used carefully.• The reason for this is because immigrant has now become too heavily associated with words

such as “illegal”, “Crime”, “Stealing” and “Ban”. Because of this even if the journalist is talking about a perfectly legal, hard working immigrant, simply by using this word a negative representation is likely to be made about them.

• A journalist should try to avoid using this words that have negative connotations or if they are completely relevant and necessary writers should explain the persons situation in order to cancel out the negative connotations.

• Sometimes of course these words with strong emotive connotations are used purposefully to manipulate a readers opinion the way a journalist or editor wants them to be.

Alternative Readings

• When a journalist writes they must be mindful of the fact that anyone could pick up and read their article. Because of this they must write in a way that the people they are writing about would be pleased about as well as the people they are writing for.

• For example, a report on a religious tradition must be properly researched and understood so that nothing is said that would cause offence or disrespect members of this religion whilst educating others about it.

• If a news reporter writes an article about Halal meat and how the animal is slaughtered they should be careful to make it clear that the animals are still killed humanely and cleanly, just by a different method. Failure to do so and any suggestion that this method of slaughter is unclean or barbaric will offend and anger Muslims who see the article and could give an unfair platform to anti-Muslim groups.

Objective.

•Journalism should be unbiased and always present a clear and impartial argument in order for it to be considered credible.

•When a journalist starts writing their work with a premeditated outcome for it, they will form a piece of work heavily influenced by their opinion and not a fair, impartial one. This is often done by including a much larger proportion of evidence supporting their opinion and disregarding compelling counter arguments.

•The ideal situation would be that no newspapers would publish bias work, but the reality is that many papers are motivated by their political standings and will write work in order to make their particular party look the best. Editors will only publish stories that match their political agenda and will only publish stories that are written in a way that matches this same agenda.

•If you were to compare two articles on the same story from either side of the political spectrum you would see clear differences in the way they were written.

Accurate.

•Professional, Credible journalism must be accurate.

•Simple information like names, dates, quotes and places must all be recorded correctly to be used in support of the evidence.

•If a piece is written around incorrect facts then it will be inaccurate and can tarnish the reputation of the responsible journalist, the Newspaper that featured it and the people the story is about.

• If a person feels that an incorrect story has been written about them they can report it to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) who will then, if required, force the publication to print a correction or retraction, apologising for the mistake.

•In many cases sadly, by this point the damage has already been done and the reputation of the person involved has already been damaged beyond repair.

•One example in a story published by The Sun openly released photographs and the rough location of a man who they claimed to be a pedophile, brandishing him “Kid Ban Pervert”. This forced him to flee his home in fear of being attacked and having to start the process of clearing his name to his family and everyone he knew.

Truthful.

•It is very important that for journalism to be credible it must be truthful.

•A journalist must ensure that they are writing facts and stories that are completely truthful. Straying away from the truth will mean cause people to believe untrue facts and will shape their opinions falsely.

•Bad journalists will sometimes write a story they know is untrue to either fill their page or adding a section onto a story that will support their opinion on the story. This is not only untrue but inaccurate and if done to shape an audiences opinion is also not an objective report so breaks many of the guidelines.

•Journalists often twist statistics and figures in order to make a point that will support their viewpoint or the viewpoint they are being paid to write from.

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Fair & Balanced.

•Writing should be non-discriminatory and be written with an open mind. Journalists should never produce work that is likely to lead to hatred or discrimination.

•Journalists should tell both sides of the story in their writing to form a well balanced and fair report of it. This allows a reader to make their own opinion based on the facts they have learned.

•This rule is often ignored and newspapers and journalists usually break it in order to appease their audience or to keep to a specific political agenda.

Legal Obligation:

Journalists have many legal obligations that they must consider when writing.

Defamation:This is the false accusation off an offence or the misrepresentation of someone's words or actions in away that could damage their reputation. This goes against many of the obligations such as being truthful, fair and accurate. Defamation often leads to libel cases.

Copyright:Copyright is the law that allows people to take ownership of work that they create. Journalists must ensure that they don’t break copyright law by reproducing work without expressed permission.

Children and Young Persons:When reporting a story that concerns children or young people there is clear guidelines telling journalists how this should be handled. They state things such as that children should be free to complete their time at school without intrusion and that children under a certain age must not be named unless permission is given.

Confidentiality:In order to get a clear and well rounded story, journalists often speak to criminals or people that attend illegal events or do some illegal things. Journalists are protected from having to reveal their sources of information and the names of people involved in cases. This is because no one would talk to the journalists if the journalists then went to tell the police who and where these criminals are.In the Editors code of practice it says; “Journalists have a moral obligation to protect confidential sources of information”.

Official Secrets:This law protects state secrets and national security.When people work in places that deal with secrets of the state they often have to sign the official secrets act to ensure they do not reveal these secrets.This act is sometimes used to force journalists to reveal their sources if the authorities believe that there has been a threat to national security.

EthicalThere are many ethical responsibilities that a journalist must consider when going about their work.

Codes of Practice.There are many different codes of practice that act as guidelines to help journalists with certain issues. For example the NUJ codes and the Editors Code of Practice help journalists on how to write about different things.Having these codes gives a journalist and the public a set of standards to compare work to or to ensure that they meet. It makes it easier to see when something is ethically wrong and easier to write ethical work.The industry regulates the codes themselves and so is often not enforced strongly enough. It has been found in the case of some journalists and editors that they break the codes on an almost daily basis! If a person believes that a journalist or newspaper has acted inappropriately then they can put a compliant to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO).

PrivacyIn the editors code of practice there is a section on Privacy. It states that everyone is entitled to their own privacy and that journalists have an ethical obligation to respect their private and family life, home, health and correspondence, including digital communications.In the NUJ code of conduct it outlines that journalists should not “intrude into anybody’s private life, grief or distress unless justified by overriding consideration of the public interest”.This means that if a journalist believes that the public need to know something, they can report on it, what it has often become however, is just an excuse allowing journalists to ignore the privacy guidelines.There is a difference between public interest and matters the will interest the public and this difference is often misunderstood or more likely purposefully ignored by journalists.

IntrusionIn the Editors Code of Practice it says that journalists must not intrude into grief or shock.In cases involving personal grief or shock any enquiries or approaches must be made with sympathy and discretion with the publication handled sensitively. This does not restrict the right to report legal proceedings.The NUJ code of practice also covers intrusion stating that a journalist must ensure they do nothing to intrude on an individuals private life, grief or distress unless justified by overriding consideration of the public interest.

HarassmentThe Editors Code of Practice is very clear about harassment stating that journalists must not intimidate, harass or persistently pursuit people. If asked to do so they must immediately stop photographing or contacting a person.In practice, as many of the other codes, the defense of harassment usually revolves around the “Public Interest”.