On Thursday, two stories emerged that seemed to mark the extremes of influence on local media practitioners.
In one story, still to be substantiated by verified evidence, it was alleged that certain journalists received payments, via vouchers, to the tune of $1,000. Such largesse goes beyond any reasonable expectation of festive cheer and veers quite decidedly in the direction of influence peddling at best and outright bribery at worst.
In another report, activist and broadcaster Inshan Ishmael announced that his controversial television programme, Breaking Barriers, would end on the Islamic Broadcasting Network after he received threats of violence against himself and his family.
Ishmael claims to have been threatened by a Government contractor after he began doing stories about the Curepe interchange and has received threatening text messages. Neither of these incidents represents a high point in efforts to engage with journalists as they do their work and it's clear that in the year before an election that's already being hotly contested before it's even been announced, more attempts are likely to be made to guide the thinking and reporting of journalists working in the field.
From the perspective of the newsroom responsibility to fair, clear and thorough reporting, bribe attempts are as debilitating as threats and undermine, in a very serious way, both the integrity of working reporters and their capacity to function.
Efforts to influence journalists and newsrooms must be met first by clear and unequivocal action by media managers, who must act decisively to preserve the most compelling attribute of their product, reporting that can be depended on to be fair and balanced. Specific incidents of bribery, threats and influence peddling should be investigated and verified internally by media houses and any such incidents reported to the police as the acts of inducement and intimidation that they are.
If the reporting of local media is to continue to be trusted and respected, as many independent global evaluations of our journalism industry attest, then efforts to bribe and threaten must be met with the strongest possible response at the leadership level of the media.
Having clear guidelines for media practice, as many local media houses do, is an excellent start, setting the ground rules for the business, but media managers must be willing and clearly able to put teeth into those words, first guiding their employees and then moving to protect them when efforts are made to guide their reporting.
In one story, still to be substantiated by verified evidence, it was alleged that certain journalists received payments, via vouchers, to the tune of $1,000. Such largesse goes beyond any reasonable expectation of festive cheer and veers quite decidedly in the direction of influence peddling at best and outright bribery at worst.
In another report, activist and broadcaster Inshan Ishmael announced that his controversial television programme, Breaking Barriers, would end on the Islamic Broadcasting Network after he received threats of violence against himself and his family.
Ishmael claims to have been threatened by a Government contractor after he began doing stories about the Curepe interchange and has received threatening text messages. Neither of these incidents represents a high point in efforts to engage with journalists as they do their work and it's clear that in the year before an election that's already being hotly contested before it's even been announced, more attempts are likely to be made to guide the thinking and reporting of journalists working in the field.
From the perspective of the newsroom responsibility to fair, clear and thorough reporting, bribe attempts are as debilitating as threats and undermine, in a very serious way, both the integrity of working reporters and their capacity to function.
Efforts to influence journalists and newsrooms must be met first by clear and unequivocal action by media managers, who must act decisively to preserve the most compelling attribute of their product, reporting that can be depended on to be fair and balanced. Specific incidents of bribery, threats and influence peddling should be investigated and verified internally by media houses and any such incidents reported to the police as the acts of inducement and intimidation that they are.
If the reporting of local media is to continue to be trusted and respected, as many independent global evaluations of our journalism industry attest, then efforts to bribe and threaten must be met with the strongest possible response at the leadership level of the media.
Having clear guidelines for media practice, as many local media houses do, is an excellent start, setting the ground rules for the business, but media managers must be willing and clearly able to put teeth into those words, first guiding their employees and then moving to protect them when efforts are made to guide their reporting.