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Calum’s Conclusions
Before we talk this subject to death, I think it’s time to sum up everything we’ve been through.
It is very clear from discussions on Straight Down The Middle, Twitter, during our presentation and by adventuring around the internet, that impartiality is a debate which is very much alive.
People expect it, demand it, and yet are often happy for it to be ignored. It is a pet topic for those looking at the practice of journalism and as there is never going to be an ultimate conclusion, everyone can continue to have their input.
I think everyone seems to be in favour of public service broadcasting, such as the BBC, trying its best to be impartial, because that is what we are paying for.
Pretty much everyone else though should get a bit of leeway to do as they please, as long as it is acknowledged that they are reporting things that way.
Most importantly, I think we have seen that impartiality is a rather personal process. Each individual has their own inputs into journalism, so impartiality will come from a slightly different place for everyone. But this is where the journalist earns their crust, by striving to be impartial.
And I think we are all on our way to finding that crust!
Norway and Nigeria finally get together
The Norwegian government have held a workshop for Nigerian journalists, to reinforce the principles of journalism which we have bandied around our blogs this year.
Firstly, how often are Norway and Nigeria connected in the news? Not often enough if you ask me. I would like hear about the Nigerian cross country skiing team more regularly. Or maybe the adventures of a lonely Norse smoked salmon seller in Lagos. But that just might be me…
Anyway, last week the Norwegian government ran a 4 day training workshop for 50 Nigerian journalists in Abuja. There aim was to create a set of rules which journalists should work by, including this particularly relevant one:
“Journalists should support impartiality and objectivity in the management of words, identity of parties and their fears.”
The conference worked under the premise that the actions of journalist will have a huge impact on any conflicts in Nigeria, and therefore show the responsibility that many journalists have. The media are thought to be crucial in smoothing the path of the forthcoming elections in the country.
This case shows when impartiality could have a serious impact on the lives of many people, and how governments from all over the world recognise this. Impartiality is not just always a simple case of how we would prefer to consume our news.
The Daily Mail is worried, the sky is blue, and other obvious statements
The Daily Mail has noticed a little impartiality issue coming up for the BBC.
In an upcoming documentary, presented by political baldicoot Nick Robinson, the BBC will show the worst case scenarios caused by the government cuts in public spending.
Filming has already got underway. To show what we can expect our country to soon look like, a street in Preston was mocked up as ‘dire vision of municipal Armageddon’. The odd uncollected wheely bin is probably not technically an Armageddon, but you can see what they are trying here.
For those with an eye on impartiality, it will be interesting to see how the programme manages not to fall too heavily on one side of the argument. By hiring in 20 dogs to mark their territories on a Lancashire cul-de-sac, the obvious angle seems to be critical of Coalition policy. But they could quite easily present this downpour of dog dumps as only an unrealistic fear.
So whatever your political preference may be (please don’t tell me, you’ll only embarrass yourself), this documentary could well kick up a bit of stink.
Brian Cox: The Science of Impartiality
Trendy TV Scientist Brian Cox says that the an obsession with impartiality has left the public confused by which science to believe.
Speaking at the Hugh Wheldon Lecture in December 2010, he said that views which were strongly against scientific consensus were being given too much air time. Especially by the BBC.
He uses the MMR controversy as the perfect example of the media incorrectly publicising a marginalised viewpoint. This example shows exactly what can happen if impartiality is taken to mean complete and indiscriminate reporting balance.
He does defend the right for scientific debate to take place in the public. Despite disagreeing with The Great Global Warming Swindle, he is happy for it to be broadcast as long as it is clearly advertised as partisan.
Seems about right to me. What a jolly sensible chap. And he tinkled the ivories on this delightful little number:
What a hero.
Where to begin?
The BBC seems as good a place as any.
As the most commonly used public service broadcaster in Britain, if any of them are going to need to strive for impartiality, it will be the BBC.
In exchange for receiving the license fee, the BBC’s journalism is supposed to take an impartial line on everything it does. The excitingly named Section 4 of the BBC Editorial Guidelines show the rules which they set themselves.
Or perhaps if you like your official BBC documents read at you by a slightly squiffy looking man in the format of a fire safety video, heres Evan Davis.
Not many jokes in there, but it is an important document which covers all the principles which I believe license fee payers will expect to be obeyed.
Not that many of them would actually think about. I reckon the average person assumes that these things are taken into account. Well maybe not this guy. Or this one.
There will always be times when these guidelines and the BBC’s impartiality are questioned.(It may not even be possible, but that is a question for another post.) But given it’s the role and subsequent responsibilities to Britain and the world, it is crucial that the BBC leads efforts to maintain impartial.
By producing stuff like that found on the College of Journalism website, it seems they are indeed trying to.
Impartiality
How realistic is it to expect news and current affairs broadcasters in the digital age to commit to impartiality?
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