Disclaimer: The
following essay contains my own thoughts and opinions. As a journalist, I
always try to work by high ethical standards. However, our profession contains
its own particular challenges, and I wanted to reflect on this in a
constructive way.
The Brisbane media
landscape was this week rocked by the so-called “Choppergate” scandal. Channel
Nine sacked two journalists and a producer, and its head of news resigned,
after revelations they faked two “live” crosses from their news helicopter.
Instead of flying near the search site for missing teenager Daniel Morcombe as
the station claimed, it was instead on the Mt Coot-tha helipad, or hovering
nearby.
I do not know any of
the persons involved beyond cursory bump-ins at media conferences. I do know
that they were all well-respected, particularly 25-year veteran Lee Anderson,
the former head of news.
I’ve seen the reaction
unfold via social media and news sites, and it’s spanned the sympathy spectrum
from “a lot” to “absolutely none”.
I feel
conflicted.
On the one hand, I
certainly accept that for the station to have journalists pretending to be
somewhere they were not was wrong. News reporting is about facts. A studio
cross, explaining that bad weather meant they couldn’t be over the scene, would
have been sufficient in this instance.
News organisations do
demand truth and high standards from those it reports on – for example,
governments and businesses – and so it has a responsibility to set an example.
I also accept the
“slippery slope” argument – the idea that if a news organisation is prepared to
fudge or fake one thing, where does it lead? Tripping down that rabbit hole can result in situations like
the UK phone hacking scandal.
However, I can also
see these two faked crosses, taken together, as an isolated operational
incident. In the first instance, I don’t know that those involved would have
had a deep ethical evaluation of the incident before it occurred.
While the goal of completely
independent news is noble, the reality is that many news organisations are also
businesses, and thus in a certain degree of competition. Local rivalries are
often the most intense; and each network wants to be seen as “the best” or “the
fastest” or “the most up-to-date”. TV news is about vision, it’s about
providing interest and spark. We
can argue about the merits of this model, but that seems to be the way it is.
So I can envisage a
scenario in which journalists and producers consult, and on hearing bad weather
would prevent them from being in the air, decide they could still use it as a
backdrop. And why not just say “We’re near the search site?”
The reason? It's possibly a controversial thing to say, but… it
didn’t “hurt” anyone.
Even as I type these
words, I think myself foolish for thinking them. The broader “hurt” is of
course to the profession of journalism itself, which already suffers from
distrust and wariness from wider society (see previous point about the
“slippery slope”). But the reporters/news program didn’t show footage of the
site and say “This is the site right now”. They didn’t make up any facts about
the search itself, or the Morcombe case in general. From my perspective, they
faked the backdrop.
Perhaps that is not
the point. The Daniel Morcombe case is the biggest missing person search in
Queensland history. I would suggest very few people in the state would not have
heard his name or seen his face. I would agree with the argument that the case
simply does not NEED any extra “oomph” (for want of a better term), and so it
is right that any poor judgement in relation to this case should be corrected
swiftly.
But I find it telling that Daniel Morcombe’s father Bruce has subsequently described the affair as a “storm in a tea cup”. That suggests to me that Mr Morcombe feels there was
little harm to his family’s work to find their son’s remains and give him the
dignity of a proper farewell.
There's another reason why for me this is such a grey area, and quite frankly it's all because of the Nazis.
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Among many things, they also ruined Hugo Boss uniforms and toothbrush moustaches. |
In 1961, a Yale psychologist named Stanley Milgram conducted a now-infamous series of experiments to test the obedience of subjects to an authority figure. He developed it in response to the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. The experiment has since been replicated a number of times in a number of ways, but the general conclusion is that a majority of people will perform acts that conflict with their personal values when consistently told to.
Now I’m not trying to
compare the “Choppergate” affair to war crimes, or acts of violence or personal
harm. Indeed, it’s this kind of incident that should be protested and
questioned more regularly, in the interests of raising standards all round.
But I’ve seen the
argument a number of times now that the Channel Nine reporters should have
“made a stand” and refused to fake the helicopter cross – and I think that is
very simplistic.
Even if you leave
aside my earlier argument that perhaps they didn’t perceive an ethical dilemma
there in the first place – it’s not always possible for people to “made a
stand”. Humans are flawed, and we don’t always do what is “right”, 100 per cent
of the time.
Yes, journalism
attracts particular expectations, which should be met as much as possible.
Again, this is not about saying “We all do it, so don’t blame just us
journalists”.
But I ask you to think
of your jobs. Have you done work that does not sit well with your moral view?
Have you been forced to cut corners, or reject someone’s ask for help because
you were not able to? Have you ever done something for a boss that you rather
wouldn’t?
Why? It’s good old
self-interest. We have careers, families, bills. Few people actively want to
lose their jobs.
I am grateful I have
not been placed in a position in my working life where I have been pressured to
do something against my moral values. But I understand that in journalism –
like many other professions – sometimes it really is a case of “If you don’t do
this, somebody else will”.
Hopefully, very few of
us will ever have to encounter a situation where if we don’t speak up people
could die, and if we do, WE could die. But humans are forced to make moral
bargains with themselves in all sorts of little ways all the time.
It is admirable to
aspire to everyone having the courage of their convictions all the time. But
looking at every dilemma and saying “You should have stood up to them!” is a
very black-and-white filter for a world that is more often than not very grey.