News Manufacture

1. News Manufacture Review of The Third Filter Elements of News Persuasion The News Cycle Legal & Professional Controls on News Manufacture CMNS 130

2. Goals for this lecture • 1. What are five main news values and their impact on news culture? • 2. What is the political news cycle? • 3. Identify two direct and indirect state controls over news manufacture in Canada. CMNS 130

3. Political Media Nodes in Canada • News editors, parliamentary gallery, political journalists on the local, municipal, provincial, federal and international desks • News wire agencies ( Canadian Press) • Daily newspaper(100) TV (CBC TV, CTV, Global) and Radio CMNS 130

4. Trends in Political News Gathering • But, gallery is outnumbered by communication specialists in government 2 or 3 to one • Press directly used in Question Period • Often linked to Opposition: leads to adversarial mentality ( dismissal just another special interest) • Media do not appear in parliamentary hearings as intervenors but only as observers • Senior politicians meet with editorial boards informally and off the record • Journalists keep links with government sources: network, network, network. CMNS 130

5. Elements of News Persuasion • Top 10 criteria for newsworthiness • Impact on News Culture • Some fast news facts CMNS 130

6. Top Ten Newsworthy Values • Timely: NEW • Immediate: SPONTANEOUS, CURRENT • Unusual: ODD, NON NORMATIVE • Conflictual: CONTROVERSY • Simple: EASILY LABELLED CMNS 130

7. Newsworthy Values • Personal:DAY TO DAY RELEVANCE • Proximate: UP CLOSE, WELL KNOWN • Superlative: BEST, FIRST, WORST • Celebrities: POWERFUL • Compressible: REDUCIBLE CMNS 130

8. News Scripts • A set of expected scripts • Elections– horserace or focus on game • EG 2004 election: Martin and story of father • Dominant focus on strategy: • Political journalism is more focused on style of politics and the performance aspects of political communication. It is more focused on the mechanics of news and public relations, the game, and it is more analytical and interpretive than in the past….( Brian McNair, 171) CMNS 130

9. Ideological Bias • Favouring of status quo • Fishman: journalists’s view of society is bureaucratically structured and bureaucracies reflect the establishment ( CC 106) • System works/disruptors deviant • Types of liberal news scripts: • Social problems are the fault of individuals and not the system • People who win are smart or lucky • Individuals solve problems, not collective efforts • The free market system is sound • Professionals are more interesting than blue collar workers • Everyone is equal and if you are not, prove it • Source: Fleras, 121 CMNS 130

10. News Culture • Values tend to reinforce emotion over rational statements • Events over issues • Individuals over groups • Negative over Positive • Action over Contemplation • Lowest Common Denominator over Sophisticated Understanding CMNS 130

11. Fast News Facts • Half of print news is government news • 40% of news is from unedited PR releases( Fleras:116) • One in two articles have at least one factual inaccuracy ( Pew-Columbia Journalism Review) • News still very very important as a democratic resource: • 2/3 of Canadians watch the news (21 million) • 55% say very interested in keeping up with the news • One quarter of all time spent is with the news • Adults spend 47 minutes a day reading a paper • YET– only 1 in 2 actually functionally literate • Only about 30% are involved in civic activites, actively consume news CMNS 130

12. Other Fast News Facts • One in three Canadians believe that news reports are inaccurate ( lower than in the US) CMNS 130

13. Sociology of the News Gatherers • Trend to higher education • Specialist journalism degrees • Still not the same cachet as lawyers, accountants • Self styled left leaning on social issues in Canada • Libertarian theory of the press not as wide as in the US • Fraser Institute and Alliance here • Historically watchdog role implies a lobbying presence, which is more open in the US system than the Parliamentary one which stresses executive unity, cabinet secrecy • Analysis of ‘access to information requests’ show watchdog role– abuses of patronage etc. really only about a third of activities • Social Responsibility • One in two Canadians think the media help society to solve problems( versus 31% in US). • Source: Canadian Media Research Consortium CMNS 130

14. Canadian Professionalism of the News • Canadian Association of Journalists (www.caj.ca) • Code of Ethics strongly prohibits conflict of interest with sources and arms-length relationship • The ideal type is to ‘speak truth to power’ • Watergate myth of the crusading journalists • Various agencies: • Local press councils • Canadian Broadcast Standards Council Radio and TV News Directors Code of Ethics CMNS 130

15. News Codes: the Ideal • CAB Code of Ethics(2002) • Clause 5 - News • It shall be the responsibility of broadcasters to ensure that news shall be represented with accuracy and without bias. Broadcasters shall satisfy themselves that the arrangements made for obtaining news ensure this result. They shall also ensure that news broadcasts are not editorial. • News shall not be selected for the purpose of furthering or hindering either side of any controversial public issue, nor shall it be formulated on the basis of the beliefs, opinions or desires of management, the editor or others engaged in its preparation or delivery. The fundamental purpose of news dissemination in a democracy is to enable people to know what is happening, and to understand events so that they may form their own conclusions. CMNS 130

16. Code Cont’d • Nothing in the foregoing shall be understood as preventing broadcasters from analyzing and elucidating news so long as such analysis or comment is clearly labeled as such and kept distinct from regular news presentations. Broadcasters are also entitled to provide editorial opinion, which shall be clearly labeled as such and kept entirely distinct from regular broadcasts of news or analysis. • Broadcasters shall refer to the Code of Ethics of the Radio and Television News Directors of Canada ("RTNDA") for more detailed provisions regarding broadcast journalism in general and to the Voluntary Code Regarding Violence in Television Programming for guidance with respect to the depiction of violence, graphic reporting of delicate subject matter or the use of explicit language in news and public affairs programming on television. • Commentary CMNS 130

17. Code Cont’d • Clause 6 - Full, Fair and Proper Presentation • It is recognized that the full, fair and proper presentation of news, opinion, comment and editorial is the prime and fundamental responsibility of each broadcaster. This principle shall apply to all radio and television programming, whether it relates to news, public affairs, magazine, talk, call-in, interview or other broadcasting formats in which news, opinion, comment or editorial may be expressed by broadcaster employees, their invited guests or callers. • commentary • Clause 7 - Controversial Public Issues • Recognizing in a democracy the necessity of presenting all sides of a public issue, it shall be the responsibility of broadcasters to treat fairly all subjects of a controversial nature. Time shall be allotted with due regard to all the other elements of balanced program schedules, and the degree of public interest in the questions presented. Recognizing that healthy controversy is essential to the maintenance of democratic institutions, broadcasters will endeavour to encourage the presentation of news and opinion on any controversy which contains an element of the public interest. • Commentary (www.cbsc.ca) CMNS 130

18. News Adjudication • Complaints • Problem: not well known and 55% of Canadians believe news will not act on complaints • Two monitoring agencies: • Canadian Media Research Consortium ( www.cmrc.ca) • McGill Observatory on Public Policy • Fraser Institute • Not as many institutes on left and right of spectrum monitoring media output CMNS 130

19. Accountability: Cases • CTV case on W-5 Detaxers CMNS 130

20. The Political Press Cycle • Reportage • Interrogation • Investigation • Intepretation CMNS 130

21. Reportage • Framing • Moulds public understanding of problems and merits of alternative solutions • Hackett and Zhao: • Persistent patterns of cognition, interpretation and presentation; of selection, emphasis and exclusion, by which symbol handlers routinely organize discourse. • Framing becomes important because of theories of agenda setting CMNS 130

22. Agenda Setting • Media may not tell us what to think, but they do tell us what to think about • A product of political science surveys which ask “what is the top problem facing the nation today?: • Public opinion polls produce answers which closely track the issues that hit front page or headline coverage discovered in content analysis CMNS 130

23. Interrogation • Watchdog Ideal • Holds journalists must keep an eye trained on government in order to expose and prevent abuse • Two ways to do so: • Cultivate inside sources with conscience who may leak stories • Lobby government to get embarrassing legislation CMNS 130

24. Investigation • Policy initiation, inquiry, analysis • Third party– independent of government • Eg: organized crime series in Vancouver Sun • Costliest part of reporting cycle, and most serious litmus test of how seriously an organization takes its obligations to inform the public • Lack of time and money and expertise are major constraints CMNS 130

25. Key Enabler of Investigation • Government Access to Information Legislation • Compels disclosure of information in public interest • Small fee • Used by Canadian reporters at the rate of 1000 a month or so, but still relatively underused compared to other countries • Best practices - Toronto Star story took 2 years • Accessed police arrest records and analysed them • Headline on racial profiling of police • Black activists called for immediate action • Toronto’s police chief issues denial and union sues for Libel demanding 2.6 billion in damages, still before the courts. • Other papers: Globe, Winnipeg Free Press, La Presse, CBC, frequent award winners CMNS 130

26. Media Protections: Freedom of Information Legislation ( 1982) • Protects citizens and media from arbitrary concealment of information • Freedom of Information legislation may compel governments to release information if requested by press or public– depending on terms and conditions of the legislation • Freedom of Information Ombudsperson may help • 30 years later, ‘apprehended insurrection’ grounds found false in the cabinet deliberations of the War Measures Act • Other cases: Pharmaceutical cases etc. • FOI desperately needs reform • helpful as long as there is a vigilant/investigative press CMNS 130

27. Interpretation • Commentary, editorials, documentary public affairs shows or hot docs.. The Corporation, Fahrenheit 9-11. • Focus on background, depth, context and causality • Increasingly shifting in tabloid, talk radio etc to opinion, without analysis • Good interpretation is value based • Requires regular monitoring to decide the quality of interpretation • Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has found since 2000, 5 drugs released • 68% of stories mention only drug benefits, no risks • Of those that mention risk, one in 4 misleading or wrong • Issue important because a survey of doctors finds that news inflates demands for treatment. CMNS 130

28. Legal Controls and Freedom of Expression • Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms • Section 2b) guarantees freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication • but Section 1 ( the preamble) states that: • The guarantees (of ) the rights and freedoms set out in it are subject only to such reasonable limits by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society CMNS 130

29. Constitutional Bottom Line • Canada’s law does not guarantee absolute freedom of the media from State Control or Judicial Review by the Supreme Court of Canada • Freedom of Press is conditional • A delicate balancing act: • Between primordial State role in guaranteeing national security ( collective rights) and individual freedoms • Between individual/media right to FOE and ‘rightness’ of selective censorship CMNS 130

30. Constitutional Limits • What are the limits? • The Notwithstanding /Preamble Clause Section 1) if law can be demonstrably justified • Entrenches equality rights Section 15: • Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and benefit of the law without discrimination…based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability • Multiculturalism :Section 27: • Consistent with the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canadians CMNS 130

31. First Legal Controls: Protections of National Security • Powers over security: imposition of acts to restrict civil liberties • When security threatened, State may censor to protect itself • Also exercise sweeping emergency powers and powers of arrest and detention without parliamentary approval CMNS 130

32. Second Legal Grounds: Social Cohesion and Domestic “home land” Security • The War Within: cultural and /or violent • Common in Highly Culturally Pluralistic States • Different tribes, cultures, languages • Cleavages of race,religion,class, language • Internal wars of secession • Addressed in Criminal Code CMNS 130

33. Criminal Powers • State introduces classes of criminal expression: • Incitement of ‘violence against state’ ( seditious libel) • Incitement of cultural genocide: S. 319 of the Criminal Code (1970): prohibits advocating killing of members of an identifiable group • S 117 : Prohibits intentional spreading of false news which may cause harm ( fire!) • State may compel journalists to release their sources in a criminal investigation CMNS 130

34. Other Indirect Controls: Induce Media to Set Up Standards/Self Regulate • For Example: • After the Kent Commission, a set of regional Press Councils was set up to hear complaints about bias or unfair news • The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council another • Articulate values of Press independence, prohibition of conflict of interest, fair comment, now consonant with the Charter • ( see overhead of the CBSC code) CMNS 130

35. Direct / Indirect use of economic clout • Governments are very large buyers of advertising: economic clout • As a consequence, newspapers or media may resist biting the hand that feeds them… private press may self-censor (eg. Resist coverage hostile to Bush’s invasion of Iraq) • Governments may potentially own/ produce news agencies (eg. CBC News and Newsworld) which compete for ad money with the private media sector– and keep it ‘honest’ • Governments may also potentially regulate competition of the industry (eg.News) but have not done so in Canadian printed press or have done so rarely in TV ( Lorimer,p. 47.) CMNS 130

36. Regulation during Elections • Political Advertising is strictly regulated ( See Week 6) CMNS 130

37. Rivalry of Press and Governments • Where political power is very concentrated in democracies – in the executive or the media--there is a risk of abuse • Press struggle with a ‘love-hate relationship’ with the State • In theory: provide a counteractive force to potential abuse by the State • In reality: mutual co-dependence CMNS 130

38. Bargaining Power of the Media • Media act as Gatekeepers • Their political capital resides in their independence, reputation and public trust • Obvious cases of disrepute and dirty tricks are therefore unlikely, or are likely to self-correct CMNS 130

39. Limits on Media’s Political Power • But --Capacity of the media to perform their democratic responsibilities in the affirmative model are limited by the market • EG: what happens when democratic responsibilities conflict with the need to make a profit? • fewer overseas bureaux, • deskilling of journalists, • fewer permanently assigned to the Parliamentary Press Gallery– hollowing out of adversarial intelligence to government despite rise of competition ( See week 7) CMNS 130

40. Trends in Politics and the News • Rise of TV as most credible news sources • Focus on Leadership/Celebrity image politics • Shortening of News Clips • Search for the ‘visual bite”: 24 hour news • Infotainment: merger of news and entertainment • Rise of Horse Race Journalism • Advertising methods now widely used in packaging political campaigns • Even the elected representatives of the people are using mass persuasion techniques( See film: 60 second democracy) CMNS 130

41. Trends in Political Effects • Declining voter turn out ( 60% in Canada, 25% among those under 25 years of age) • Declining trust in institutions: • Declining trust in government/ in motives behind government actions: deception, exclusion • In 1960s, 80% of Canadians said they trusted government most or all of the time • Today, that figure ranges between 20 and 30% CMNS 130

42. Trends 2 • When asked what is top problem: voters rarely talk about stories other than those that dominate the headlines: do the media set the public’s agenda? • When analysts study the impact of heavy TV viewing on citizens: heavy viewers tend to middle of the road views: mainstreaming ideological effect in the theory of cultivation • Studies of political literacy suggests levels are declining. Variously, studies of the public’s power to recall items of the news commentary, or ability to suggest what they mean, is low. Power to frame or plant views is stronger where there is no direct prior knowledge. CMNS 130

43. Sources • A. Fleras, Mass Media in Canada. 2003. pp. 90-96. • William A. Hachten and James F. Scotton, The World News Prism: Global Media in an Age of Terrorism. 2003. • John Keane, Media and Democracy 1991 • Allan, Stuart. 1999. News Culture. Buckingham: Open University Press. • Paul Nesbitt Larking, Politics, Society and the Media: Canadian Perspectives 2001 • Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber, Weapons of Mass Deception.2003. CMNS 130

44. Sources Cont’d • Bennett, W. Lance. 1996. News: The Politics of Illusion. White Plains NY: Longman. • Canadian Association of Journalists. 2004. “Special Issue: Handcuffed: Investigative Journalists in Canada fight to remain free of interference from politicians, police and courts”.Media, Spring 2004, vol. 10 #3. • Canadian Media Research Consortium. 2004. Report Card on Canadian News Media.www..cmrcccrm.ca/English/reportcard2004/01.html. CMNS 130