On
21st May Amol Rajan (Editor of The Independent) wrote
about the confrontations between Donald Trump and Megyn Kelly of Fox
News. He made the point, quite rightly, that “..For a civilised
society to advance, there needs to be a reasonably settled view of
what we call facts: sequential events that we can all agree have
taken place.” In saying this Amol Rajan attacked, again quite
rightly, Trump's attempts to simply deny and/or ignore facts as we
understand them. He goes on to identify that many (not just in the
USA) do not believe what the News Media and Journalists in particular
tell them. How has this come to pass? Moreover how on earth could a
significant minority of people believe/support what Trump says? One
could engage in a heavy discussion about truth and meaning in the
philosophical sense but where I do agree with Amol Rajan is facts are
important and that these are generally accepted events and
happenings as well as scientifically based true representations of
reality.
It
is my view that much of the declining reputation of Journalism is due
to two principal reasons: first the expansion of news presentation
particularly 24 hour visual media together with the accompanying
expansion in the numbers involved – paid and unpaid; and secondly
much greater awareness by the general public of the distinction
between fact and opinion – not always evident in News and
Journalism.
The
expansion of news presentation leads to competition for
readers/viewers as revenues depend on audience numbers. Slightly
different for the BBC but it is clear they still compete for
viewers/listeners/readers. In the end News has to be sold! The visual
media demands/requires attractive presentation and time constraints
which work against rigorous analysis and accuracy . This is a
diversion from truth telling and reporting things as they are! The
myriad of players (they all term themselves as Journalists but
whether they are depends on what they do). Reading the news does not
make one a journalist even if you have been trained it should be much
more than that! I certainly do not claim to be Journalist only a
mere commentator with life experiences. The expansion has seen people
pursuing their own stories sometimes admirable stuff sometimes
celebrity voyeurism. This expansion therefore leads to confusion as
to what is Journalism and what is no more than gossip. It also
diverts attention away from the seeking of truth and rigorous
analysis.
The
absence in much of the media of a clear distinction between fact and
opinion has also contributed to the decline in the reputation of
journalism. Sometimes the Journalist cannot help themselves
particularly if they are “reporting” politics. How often have we
heard, “..the agenda has now moved on...”; “..the issue is
now...”. It is likely that these ideas were input from an external
source maybe sometimes in the media and sometimes from a politician.
Remember the old adage: “Just because you say it does not make it
so!” Which brings us back to Trump. Don't give up Independent, New
York Times, Economist, Washington Post. Trump is an ignorant, loud
mouthed, egotistical and dangerous opportunist and while the
political elites in both the USA and Europe have much to answer for
Trump is not the answer more a nightmare for reasonable discourse.
