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Journalism 00_Harcup - Journalism_Prelims.indd 1 2/25/2015 2:37:39 PM NOT JUST A TEXTBOOK ... Check out the extensive FREE online resources to support your study Free interactive Author Journal Useful eBook tutorials articles weblinks Find out more at https://study.sagepub.com/harcup 00_Harcup - Jou...

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Journalism

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NOT JUST A TEXTBOOK ...

Check out the extensive FREE online resources to support your study

Free interactive eBook

Author tutorials

Journal articles

Useful weblinks

Find out more at https://study.sagepub.com/harcup

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Use your interactive eBook on your smartphone, tablet, laptop or computer to: Hightlight and take notes

Watch author tutorials

Read journal articles

Find links and examples of journalism in action

At the end of each chapter, the video icon takes you into Tony’s office where he will tackle a common problem in journalism practice and give you step-by-step ideas on how to solve it.

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Journalism PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE --- 3rd edition

Tony rcup Ha 00_Harcup - Journalism_Prelims.indd 5

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SAGE Publications Ltd 1 Oliver’s Yard 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP

¤ Tony Harcup 2015 First edition published 2004 Reprinted 2005 (twice), 2006, 2007, 2008 (twice)

SAGE Publications Inc. 2455 Teller Road Thousand Oaks, California 91320 SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd B 1/I 1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area Mathura Road New Delhi 110 044 SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte Ltd 3 Church Street #10-04 Samsung Hub Singapore 049483

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Second edition published 2009. Reprinted 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014948965 British Library Cataloguing in Publication data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978-1-4462-7408-8 ISBN 978-1-4462-7409-5 (pbk) ISBN 978-1-4739-3033-9 (pbk and eBook)

At SAGE we take sustainability seriously. Most of our products are printed in the UK using FSC papers and boards. When we print overseas we ensure sustainable papers are used as measured by the Egmont grading system. We undertake an annual audit to monitor our sustainability.

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Contents List of boxes Acknowledgements Preface to the third edition Guided tour

PART ONE WHAT IS JOURNALISM? 1. The who, what, where, when, why and how of journalism

x xi xii xiii

1 3

2. Constraints, influences and ethics

17

3. What is news?

35

4. Where does news come from?

53

5. “The best obtainable version of the truth”: journalists as objective reporters?

73

6. “Be curious and sceptical”: journalists as investigators

91

7. “We are in the entertainment business”: journalists as entertainers

PART TWO

HOW TO DO JOURNALISM

111

123

8. Interviewing for journalism

125

9. Writing news

141

10. Writing features

155

11. Telling it in sound and vision

171

12. Style for journalists

183

PART THREE WHAT NOW FOR JOURNALISM?

203

13. An ethical approach to journalism

205

14. Engaging with the audience and social media

217

15. The future is unwritten: challenges facing the journalists of tomorrow

229

References and bibliography Index

241 261

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Guided Tour of the Book and Interactive eBook More than just a book … As well as two new chapters on An Ethical Approach to Journalism, and Engaging with the Audience and Social Media, the third edition of Journalism includes a FREE interactive eBook, providing students with on-the-go access to a wealth of digital resources.

What makes the eBook interactive? Each chapter contains interactive icons which link to the following extra resources: A new journalism scenario video for every chapter and three additional introductory videos for each part of the book Further reading, including SAGE journal articles to help you explore further

Useful weblinks, such as reports, guidelines and YouTube videos

How do I access the interactive eBook? Go to the inside front cover of your book to find your unique code, and follow the step-by-step instructions to redeem your free interactive eBook! You can find out more about using your interactive eBook at https:// study.sagepub.com/harcup x The unique code provided on the inside front cover of this book gives you 24 months FREE access to an eBook via VitalSource Bookshelf® x Access the book from your desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone x Click on the icons to access the extra resources x Make notes and highlights that automatically sync across your devices.

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PART ONE WHAT IS JOURNALISM? People make their own history but not under circumstances of their own choosing, as someone once said (Karl Marx, actually). So it is with journalism. Part One of this book explores scholarly and practitioner accounts of journalism in the context of the real life conditions under which journalists operate: that includes looking at the aspirations and actions of individuals as well as the constraints that can limit journalistic autonomy. The concept of ethics is introduced here and will be a recurring theme throughout the book. The seven chapters comprising Part One examine some of the key roles played by journalists as news-gatherers, witnesses, reporters, investigators and entertainers, the last of which is often overlooked in the academic literature. Journalism can be fun and there is nothing wrong with that. But it can also be harrowing, as the interview with Andrew Norfolk (Chapter 6) makes clear. Together this blend of light and dark is what makes the cocktail of journalism so intoxicating, and the opening chapters of this book describe and discuss the necessary ingredients. The aim is to help readers not only produce better quality journalism, but also to understand journalism better.

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PART 1 VIDEO

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Chapter 1 The who, what, where, when, why and how of journalism

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Key terms Agency; Churnalism; Communication; Ethics; Fourth estate; Free press; Ideology; Journalism; Journalism education; Journalism studies; Leveson; Profession; Public interest; Public sphere; Social media; Trade

“Journalism, like acting and prostitution, is not a profession but a vocation”, declared former Times journalist Louis Heren (1973 [1996]: 187–188) in his memoirs. Rather more recently, Sharon Marshall described former colleagues on assorted redtop tabloids as almost all “mad, drunken, immoral, sexcrazed chancers”. And those were just their good points, judging by her confession that “deep down I love every double-crossing, slippery, two-faced little one of them” (Marshall, 2010: 269). We can see something of the mythology of journalism at work in these two comments about both the weighty and the popular press. There’s a tendency among journalists to see themselves as slightly roguish, verging on the disreputable: ever-present members of society’s awkward squad, except when they are sucking up to the editor, proprietor or proprietor’s spouse. As Andrew Marr puts it in his own memoir:

Communication

The basic questions of journalism highlighted in the title of this chapter – Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? – are echoed in an early model of the mass communication process, formulated by Harold Lasswell in 1948. For Lasswell, analysis of the media begins with the question: “Who says what to whom, through what channel and with what effect?” (McQuail, 2000: 52–53). This has been termed a “transmission” model of communication because it is essentially one way, from sender to receiver. This and later versions of the transmission model have been challenged in recent decades as too simplistic, too linear, too mono-directional to explain the complexities of communication. It has been argued that an “active audience” can filter messages through our own experiences and understandings, sometimes producing readings “against the grain”, or even suggesting multiple meanings. Increasingly, too, audiences are contributing to journalism directly via social “Journalism largely consists in saying ‘Lord media and user-generated content. The Jones Dead’ to people ways in which journalists engage with the who never knew that audience on social media are considered Lord Jones was alive.” in detail in Chapter 14 but also crop up GK Chesterton. throughout the book.

Journalism is a chaotic form of earning, ragged at the edges, full of snakes, con artists and even the occasional misunderstood martyr. It doesn’t have an accepted career structure, necessary entry requirement or an effective system of selfpolicing. Outside organised crime, it is the most powerful and enjoyable of the anti-professions. (Marr, 2005: 3)

That phrase “outside organised crime” pre-dated the revelations of organised criminality at (and closure of) the News of the World, of course, but the point still stands that journalism can be powerful and infuriating and full of contradictions. Journalists routinely juggle complex intellectual, legal, commercial and ethical issues every day, simultaneously and at high speed, all while giving the impression of being little deeper than a puddle. And it can be fun.

Journalism Journalists may indeed inform society about itself, but such a formulation falls far short of an adequate definition. Journalism is defined by Denis McQuail as “paid writing (and the audiovisual equivalent) for public media with reference to actual and ongoing events of public relevance” (McQuail, 2000: 340). Like all such definitions, this raises many questions – Can journalism never be unpaid? Can media be other than public? Who decides what is of public relevance? – but it remains a reasonable starting point for

Who, what, where, when, why and how?

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Practice

Principles

In western, liberal democracies, at least, each of any analysis of the principles and practices of journalism. us is at liberty to commit acts of journalism if we so McQuail goes on to differentiate between different types choose. That is because journalism is a trade, or a of journalism: “prestige” (or quality) journalism, tabloid craft, rather than a “proper” profession along the lines journalism, local journalism, specialist journalism, “new” of medicine or the law. It’s not complete liberty hall – (personal and committed) journalism, civic journalism, in Chapter 2 we will consider some of the constraints development journalism, investigative journalism, that limit the behaviour and autonomy of journalists – journalism of record, advocacy journalism, alternative but it does mean that journalists are not required to journalism and gossip journalism (McQuail, 2000: 340). seek anyone’s permission to practise journalism. That, Such differentiation is rejected by David Randall, in turn, means that nobody can be denied permission who recognises only the division between good and bad to practise journalism, even if they turn out to be a con journalism: artist or a sex-crazed chancer. The bad is practised by those who rush faster to So what is it all for? Journalism is a form of judgement than they do to find out, indulge themselves communication based on asking, and answering, the rather than the reader, write between the lines rather questions Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? than on them, write and think in the dead terms of the Journalism is also a job. Journalists need to pay their formula, stereotype and cliché, regard accuracy as a rents or mortgages and feed their kids, and they have bonus and exaggeration as a tool and prefer vagueness been known to refer to their workplaces as “word to precision, comment to information and cynicism factories”. Yet being a journalist is not the same as to ideals. The good is intelligent, entertaining, reliably working in other types of factory because journalists informative, properly set in context, honest in intent play a social role that goes beyond the production and effect, expressed in fresh language and serves no of commodities to sell in the marketplace. Imperfect cause but the discernible truth. Whatever the though it might be, journalism informs audience. Whatever the culture. Whatever society about itself and makes public “Most of journalism, that which would otherwise be private. and all of the interesting the language. Whatever the circumstances. (Randall, 2011: viii) part, is a disreputable, Journalists have been described as a erratic business which, fourth estate of the realm, the eyesWhether it is as simple as that is a question if properly conducted, and-ears of the people, acting in the serves a reputable end.” we will explore further in this and subsepublic interest. Rather an important job, quent chapters. For now, let’s stick with Max Hastings. you might think, but “the people” don’t defining journalism as: always agree. A set of practices through which information is found Public opinion polls routinely remind journalout and communicated, often involving making public ists that we vie for bottom place with politicians and what would otherwise be private, and which is typically estate agents in the league table of trustworthiness; published or broadcast in a format such as a newspathat has been the case since long before the 21st per, magazine, bulletin, documentary, website, or blog. century phone-hacking scandal and Leveson inquiry Journalism entails discovering or uncovering fresh, topiinto press ethics. Such attitudes have become all too cal, factual material and making it publicly available, but familiar to Jemima Kiss, who explains: It seems pretty much anyone outside the industry takes a sharp intake of breath when you say you’re a journalist, which means I often feel the need to say, “I’m not that kind of journalist.” The assumption is the cliché of a ruthless, doorstepping tabloid hack, I suspect, the type perpetuated in cheesy TV dramas.

Yet despite this image problem, a never-ending stream of bright young and not-so-young people are eager to 6

it goes beyond that to include amplifying, contextualising, or commenting on facts and comments that have already been made public . . . (Harcup, 2014a: 148)

Fourth estate The notion of the press as a “fourth estate of the realm” – alongside the Lords, the House of Commons, and the established Church – appears to have first been used by

Journalism: Principles and Practice

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Practice

Principles

become journalists. Why? Because it can be one of the Edmund Burke in the 18th century. Recalling this usage in most exciting jobs around. You go into work not neces- 1840, in what is believed to be the first time it appeared in sarily knowing what you are going to be doing that day. print, Thomas Carlyle had no doubt of its meaning: You get the chance to meet powerful people, interesting Burke said there were three estates in parliament; but, in people, inspiring people, heroes, villains and victims. the reporters’ gallery yonder, there sat a fourth estate more You get the chance to ask stupid questions; to be one of important far than they all. It is not a figure of speech, or the first to know something and to tell the world about a witty saying; it is a literal fact, very momentous to us in it; to indulge a passion for writing, maybe to travel, these times. Literature is our parliament too. Printing, which maybe to become an expert in a particular field; to seek comes necessarily out of writing, I say often, is equivalent truth and campaign for justice; or, if that’s your thing, to democracy: invent writing, democracy is to hang out with celebrities. Then there’s the thrill of seeing your “Start-off pay is abysmal inevitable. (Carlyle, 1840: 194) and if they are lucky byline or watching your own footage; and Ideas about democracy and a free press it will move on to the odd experience of hearing your voice have to a large extent grown alongside disgraceful after a year, on a piece of audio. You can watch people each other and come together in the and by the end of the training it will be only share and discuss it on social media – or concept of the fourth estate. Although initially just short of appalling.” not, as the case may be. You can then do referring specifically to the parliamentary Sean Dooley. it all over again. And again. Little wonder, press gallery, the term has become a more perhaps, that so many people are prepared general label for journalism, locating journalto make sacrifices for a career in journalism. Sacrifices ists in the quasi-constitutional role of “watchdog” on the such as paying for your own training before even being workings of government. This is central to the liberal concept considered for a job, unless you are either extremely of press freedom, as Tom O’Malley notes: lucky or are the offspring of a powerful figure in the At the centre of this theory was the idea that the press industry; then being paid less than many of the people played a central, if unofficial, role in the constitution. A whose own complaints about low pay might make news diverse press helped to inform the public of issues. It stories. It was more than a century ago that journalists could, through the articulation of public opinion, guide, staged the first strike in the history of the National and act as a check on, government. . . . The press could Union of Journalists, when they walked out of the York only fulfil this function if it were free from pre-publication Herald in 1911 to protest against working hours and censorship and were independent of the government. conditions that were described as being reminiscent (O’Malley, 1997: 127) of Charles Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby (Mansfield, 1943: 159; Gopsill and Neale, 2007: 84–85). For many journalists relatively little has changed since then apart from the technology. If your priorities are a secure job The concept of the public interest is much used in debates with decent pay and predictable hours, you’d be better about journalism but it has not proved easy to define. For off looking elsewhere. The pay of most journalists, former News of the World journalist Paul McMullan, the particularly those just starting out and particularly public interest simply means what people are interested th...