TODAY I SPEAK from the heart as I seek to reflect on the need for periodic introspection in the interest of the better discharge of our duties as a key component of the Fourth Estate in Barbados.
Traditional media workers, including us at the Nation newspaper, are increasingly finding ourselves operating in a world of paradoxes and conflicts. Our audiences want “news” now but they abhor the errors that are more likely in such an environment.
They want us to “investigate” more, but not if it touches them or those close to them in a negative way. And “close” for some people could be as “far” as the political party or candidate they prefer.
When we show “graphic detail”, we are often accused of being sensational, but when even more is flashed around on the blogs or social media sites, readers’ comments can suggest that we in traditional media are covering up and were it not for these new-age channels, the “truth” would never come to light.
When I review some of the “big” stories and front pages of the last three-plus decades and compare them with some of the items of recent times that have upset readers, I can’t help but conclude that society today has raised the standards bar and we, as media practitioners, have not been sufficiently discerning.
Jamaican dancehall icon Buju Banton sang, “Circumstances made me what I am”, and I could not think of a more appropriate analogy last week during a formal discussion with a media practitioner. She was concerned at the number of occasions she had heard persons say the Nation does not cover what they think we consider to be “small” events.
Challenges
The truth of the situation though is that very often we don’t have enough reporters to cover all the events of the day and as a result, news editors find themselves spending more time trying to decide what they cannot cover than at any time in our history. And we have not done the best job of communicating our challenges to those whose expectations we do not fulfil.
All of these factors and more have helped to hurt our image, even as we try to grapple with the changing society, a new “journalism” offered by non-journalists, and the “I-want-my-news-as-it-happens” mentality spurred by the 24-hour news channels like CNN and Fox.
But when all is said and done, we really have no excuse for not observing the basics – being accurate, timely, fair, balanced and relevant, while showing a human face. These are the elements that influence how readers judge our credibility. Additionally, we cannot excuse away our failure as journalists to recognise that we have a special duty when dealing with ordinary members of the public who are not accustomed to interacting with us.
And this brings me to the most important point of this article – an apology; in fact, a number of them.
First, to Liana Blackman and her daughter Sherrita Blackman-Oliver, who was severely injured in an accident on July 11 at Prospect, St James, in which 16-year-old Karim Busby lost his life. In a follow-up story on July 16, we wrote of Blackman complaining about how long it took the police to notify her of her daughter’s misfortune.
When I first read the story, long before the mother complained, I felt we had not handled it as well as we could have and had opened the mother to unnecessary criticism – making her look like someone complaining of petty things while another family was dealing with the tragedy of the death of a loved one.
I should have followed my instinct, in the absence of the reporter, but I did not and therefore accept responsibility for what appeared in print.
There is really no excuse. We could have and should have done better. I apologise to you Liana and Sherrita, on behalf of the Nation.
Dissatisfaction
I also apologise to the family of Zakiyah Defreitas, the Springer Memorial Secondary student who lost an arm in a horrific accident near the entrance to John Beckles Drive on June 10. Defreitas’ family has strongly expressed their dissatisfaction with the picture we published.
On reflection, we could have taken a different approach by blurring the picture to hide the extent of the injuries.
But then there is the case of the accident on June 26 on the ABC Highway in which Abijah Holder, 11, died and his sister Ibriel was seriously injured. We chose to publish only a photo of the mother being consoled by police and still suffered public criticism.
While it is true that our editors routinely engage in robust discussions before such photographs are published, being careful not to show faces or broken and bloodied bodies, I am satisfied it is time for us to look again at the overall guiding principles. Clearly a sizeable portion of our readership, of the population, is measuring our performance by a new standard while we are using old measurements.
For sure, there are times when we will make decisions that will upset some readers and we will stand by them, even in the face of strident criticism because we believe we are right – that there is really no reasonable alternative. And that will continue to be so.
But there are other occasions when the “public interest” will not be adversely affected by a “softer” approach. All of us in this profession need to take fresh guard.
