Diagnosing what ails the world's press
Breaking the News By James Fallows Vintage Books, New York, January 1997, Paperback edition, 337 pages, ISBN0679758569, US$12
JAKARTA (JP): The deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, and her Egyptian lover Dodi Fayed in Paris on Aug. 31 dominated the world's headlines and triggered a public backlash at the paparazzi, who are often looked on with disdain for tailing celebrities in the quest for sensational stories or photographs.
British journalists, particularly those working for the tabloid press, were also judged to blame for their hostile coverage of members of the royal family.
Journalists, whose main task is to provide accurate and truthful information to the public, are often faulted in other cases, either for revealing too much or for sensationalist reporting.
What is wrong with the press? What changes have occurred in today's press coverage which has caused the public aversion? Why does the press no longer command the respect it once did, even in a country like the United States where freedom of expression is greatly respected?
James Fallows, editor of the newsweekly U.S. News & World Report, gives accurate and candid answers to all these questions in Breaking the News.
Fallows says in his introduction that the public's contempt for the American media establishment is because "the news media have become too arrogant, cynical, scandal-minded, and destructive".
American journalists and editors alike often excuse themselves from criticism of their failure to meet public responsibilities by claiming "they are merely reflecting the world as it is", and hence they cannot be held responsible for the world they display.
Fallows holds this up as press arrogance and cynicism.
He presents numerous examples in which journalists became political liberals and "they twist the news to fit their own preconceived views".
This includes the unhealthy undertakings of the "elite press groups" who, competing for higher pay and more attention for their reports, are surrounded by sycophants.
He also cites the spread of TV talk shows and the lecture circuit business as activities that give more money to journalists at the expense of their credibility.
A long quote by former New York Times correspondent Jim Wooten is used to depict the insidious presence of corrupt journalists.
"The availability of money now, in the quantities journalists are earning from lectures, from TV, from columns -- that availability may represent proper capitalism, but in its essence it is corrupting," Wooten wrote in 1995. "It becomes the raison d'tre of one's life.
"Reporters should not do things mainly for money. And many of them do, as I sometimes have."
Breaking the News is an important work that calls for reform in the media business and the need for more introspection by both journalists and the print media. Fallows hits the mark in stating that the function of journalists, besides informing the public on problems arising from particular events, is also to give more substance to their reports.
This, he argues, will help solve those problems rather than just dramatizing their magnitude.
Written lucidly and backed up by comprehensive examples, Breaking the News is as captivating as it is worth reading, particularly for those in the media. At its core, Fallows' work conforms to his principle that journalistic works should serve the general public and help make the world a better place.
-- Oei Eng Goan