Extract from The Guardian
This is how I imagine a recent news conference unfolded inside Victoria’s most popular newspaper, the Herald Sun. The state was embarking on an election campaign so there were all sorts of important issues for the senior editorial staff to discuss, including debt, law reform and renationalising the state’s electricity grid.
“Anyone got any ideas?” asked the editor. “Sure,” said a senior reporter, “I’ve got a hot tip about a cyclist colliding with a car driven by the then opposition leader’s wife nearly 10 years ago which has been thoroughly investigated and where no wrongdoing was found.”
“Perfect,” said the editor, “You can have the front page. What about an inside spread?”
The meeting may not have gone quite like that, but the resulting story, headlined “Crash fight”, and several follow-up pieces, were all real. Together they revealed more about the Murdoch press’s interest in harming the Labor government of Dan Andrews than they did about a decade-old traffic accident.
The stories were laced with suggestions of cover-up and intimidation. They created a picture of wrongdoing. The claims relied on a cyclist who was ready to dish it out to Victoria’s popular but divisive premier.
When Andrews dismissed the media’s follow-up questions by explaining they had all been dealt with exhaustively, he was accused of evasion, as if that confirmed the legitimacy of the story.
Mission accomplished. The piece had undermined confidence in the premier and the Labor government.
But back in the newsroom I imagine there was no time to celebrate; there were still three weeks of the campaign to go.
“How about we reprise the story about the premier taking 111 days off work by discrediting his claims about falling down some steps?” someone might have said.
“Good one,” might have come the reply. “Can we get some of those conspiracy theories in the piece, you know, the ones that have no substance? Put the premier’s denials in, of course. I mean, we don’t want to get sued.”
The approach includes denigration of Labor, Green and teal candidates but hagiographic profiles of friends from the right of centre, some of whom are lucky enough to be photographed relaxing at home with their families and pets. But at the same time, it’s crucial to engender some fear – of nasty unions, a looming debt crisis or oppressive political correctness. If all that fails, just focus on crime, particularly gang crime and, best of all, race-based gang crime.
Lastly, on election eve, surprise no one by penning an editorial that says you’ve given the matter careful consideration and decided the Coalition parties are best placed to form government.
So far, it all seems to be going to script in Victoria. What hasn’t happened yet is sure to by election day.
I do wonder why the Murdoch press keeps doing this though, given the damage it must be doing to the newspapers themselves and to the public’s trust in journalism. I sometimes conclude that News executives must have a pretty low opinion of their readers. Either they assume audiences don’t see through this so-called reportage or, more worryingly, they think balance and fairness don’t matter, so long as they’re reinforcing their readers’ assumed prejudices.
But the thing to really fear is that News may still have deeper depths to plumb. The Herald Sun’s decision to republish baseless rumours about Andrews’ fall looked a little like the approach Fox News might have taken in the US, where the Murdoch-owned cable TV network routinely amplifies the most obscene and absurd conspiracy theories. It distorts reality, denigrates opponents and shuts down civil debate. There is no pretence about balance.
Is this where we’re heading? Sky News is our Fox-wannabe. It has its own retinue of angry conservative anchors who are keen to rant against progressive politicians. Some are already running with the Herald Sun’s theme about Andrews’ supposed lack of integrity, creating a nationwide echo chamber in which only those views get heard.
All this is the antithesis of journalism but I had to laugh when I read the Herald Sun’s editorial on Sunday. It argued that integrity is the most important value for politicians and ended with the line: “Our job is to inform, your job is to decide.” Well, yes, that is your job, because integrity matters in journalism too. Over the last two weeks of the election campaign you could try giving it a go.
Andrew Dodd is the director of the Centre for Advancing Journalism at the University of Melbourne and co-editor of Upheaval: Disrupted Lives in Journalism, published by New South
No comments:
Post a Comment