Sadly, the erosion has begun. Sensationalism, hype, embarrassing self-congratulation, phoney scoops, contrived drama, breathless reporting, breaking news epidemics, have all combined to do the damage. The culprit almost entirely is the electronic media which, because of the murderous, cut-throat competition, is desperately fighting viewership wars by catering to the lowest common denominator. I do not wish to sound preachy, I just want to sound the alarm bells.
All my working life I have stayed steadfastly loyal to print despite some tempting anchoring offers. So my real concern is for print, not TV. How can we remain uncontaminated, how can we ensure that news channel standards do not become print standards? I can see the rot creeping in—and I am not referring to page 3 proliferation, which is a harmless distraction. As long as print persists with time-tested professional reporting—honouring confidentiality, working the phone, connecting the dots, poring over documents, cultivating sources, avoiding stings—it can set its own standards.
I'm not very hopeful.
