Culture of fear
created cruel creed of corruption
The Leveson Inquiry has laid bare the rotten heart of
British journalism, but it is very much the corrupt bosses that have set the
beat. As testimony presented by the NUJ made clear, a lack of union rights and
freedom of conscience for individual journalists has enabled unscrupulous
bosses to cultivate a culture of fear. This in turn has surely helped the likes
of News International to nurture the scandalous sleaze the inquiry has uncovered
THERE is a saying that a journalist should never be bigger
than the story, otherwise they intrude and become the story, but right now
journalism – courtesy of a certain newspaper proprietor – is very much the
story.
The Leveson Inquiry has laid bare the putrid innards of
Rupert Murdoch’s News International empire, exposing the rotten practices that
his titles have contributed to British journalism in a scandal that has reached
into the heart of the Establishment.
Starting out with the hacking scandals that brought down The
News of the World, it has cascaded into an Augean stable of foul play, an
orgy of sleaze and corruption, bribery and deceit.
The tarnished ‘Sun King’, however, is only the shittiest end
of a spectrum of abuse that has come to place journalism – and by extension
journalists – in the dock. The flipside of the sleaze scandal is a bullying and
abusive newsroom culture that crushes journalists into compliance, thereby
creating the conditions for the scandalous abuses to take root and flourish.
Effectively, a culture of fear nurtured from the top has
created the conditions that allowed the scandals revealed by Leveson to take
root and grow. It’s a process that has been aided and abetted by the often
fiercely-held anti-union stance of many newspaper businesses, that have held
out against recognising the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and similar
unions.
Michelle Stanistreet, the General Secretary of the NUJ,
recently gave evidence at the Leveson Inquiry, presenting testimony compiled
from personal interviews with journalists that revealed a catalogue of bullying
and abuse in the newspaper industry.
“The range of issues the journalists have raised with me
include, but are not restricted to – endemic bullying, huge pressure to deliver
stories, overwhelming commercial pressures which are allowed to dictate what is
published, and the overweening power and control of editors over their
journalists and of employers over their editors,” said Stanistreet.
A journalist should always protect their sources, and it was
no different with the presentation of this evidence; it was presented
anonymously because those who gave their testimony feared reprisals if they
were identified. Indeed, those who came forward were guaranteed anonymity after
Associated Newspapers – owners of the Daily Mail – failed in a court bid
to prevent the evidence being brought to the inquiry at all.
“[The journalists who gave evidence] feel too scared and
frightened to give evidence in a way which would allow them to be identified by
their current or prospective media employers,” said Stanistreet. “Those who
have experienced or witnessed bullying of a vicious and engrained nature have
largely been too fearful to speak out in case they lost their job or were
forced out. Those who have witnessed first-hand unethical behaviour or been
pressured into working in a way that is unethical are frankly terrified about
being identified.”
The NUJ is calling for a conscience clause for journalists
that will allow them to cite the union’s Code of Conduct as a safeguard against
being forced to use unethical methods. Members of Parliament involved in the
NUJ Parliamentary Group have backed the call. The group has called for such a
conscience clause to be included in their contracts to give them legs to stand
on for principled journalism and to protect them against unscrupulous editors
and newspaper proprietors.
“The NUJ’s evidence just shows how bad the atmosphere of
bullying and intimidation has been in newsrooms,” said John McDonnell MP,
Secretary of the NUJ Parliamentary Group. “The reign of terror by certain
editors left journalists vulnerable to being forced to survive by employing
dubious and, at times, illegal practices. This is why journalists need the
protection of a conscience clause in their contract.”
Austin Mitchell MP, who chairs the group, added: “The
bullying of journalists at some newspapers shows the need for them to be
protected at work. The NUJ has been campaigning for a conscience clause for
journalists for a number of years. A conscience clause and recognition for the
NUJ are two ways to help tackle the dodgy practices that some in the media have
engaged in.”
Of course, a contractual conscience clause may not mean much
in a workplace where unions are not welcome. Perhaps, along with Code of
Conduct and conscience clauses, it’s time for a call to arms for union
recognition.
MC
Category: JOURNALISM
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