Some Reflections on the Asian Journalists’ Perceptions on Value-based Journalism: A Survey [Archives:2008/1146/Reportage]

By: Dr P L Joshi,
University of Bahrain,
[email protected]
Globalization has churned up a paradigm shift in value system in many professions including journalism. Consequently, journalists today may face ethical dilemma daily in their jobs. There are varied opinions that journalists are ethically challenged (http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=53&aid=75962) though some claim that journalists are more ethical than people realize.

Recently, in the world of professionalism journalism, some discussions have been made on Value-based journalism (VBJ) in order to derive journalism to serve more to public interest and for a self-regulatory mechanism. Essentially, the concept of VBJ focuses on journalist's ethical values and attributes. Professional sentiments or attitudes to the profession are translated into work values held by journalists. In 1997, Borden stated, “values are generally beliefs that make sense of work related activities and serve as judgment criteria during decision making scenarios”. It is also argued that if the owner or founder of some publication ignores ethical values, then the journalists who work with them will not be able to adhere to all the ethical standards”. Ethical values and codes may make journalists more responsible. And, if journalism is to be professionalized, its practitioners must adhere strictly to such values. (http://www.asiapac.org.fj/cafepacific/resources/aspac/phil.html)

With a view to enlighten and create more interest in the public on the evolving concept of Value-based journalism, Dr. Prem Lal Joshi, Profsssor, University of Bahrain, has conducted an online global survey of the perceptions of journalists who are engaged in newspapers reporting, on a universal set of core values which they are supposed to follow or adhere to. A questionnaire was used to solicit the replies Dr. Joshi has also conducted few public interest surveys in the past on other issues.

Out of 126 responses, 55 (43.6%) respondents who participated in this survey were from Asian countries . Additionally, more than half of the Asian respondents were from India , followed by China-HK. However, only 6 responses were received from the Middle East region. On an overall basis, responses were received from 36 countries. A total of 1,164 emails were sent out to more than fifty countries. Here, the responses from Asian journalists are mainly discussed.

About 93.% respondents from Asian continent stated that they adhere to 'Truth and Accuracy' while reporting news and views. This was similar to the findings on an overall basis for the five continents. This finding is important because public may judge daily by how accurately newspapers portray news stories and headlines. If public believe that newspapers lack credibility, it would be difficult for them to survive.

Furthermore, more than 80% of respondents from Asia stated that they also follow or adhere to Verification of facts, Public interest, Objectivity, Independence, Accountability Fairness, Completeness Courage and Inquisitiveness in their reporting of news and views. Aggressiveness and loyalty were ranked the lowest in the order. These responses were very similar to an overall basis; however, significant differences were also observed in responses between Asia and Rest of the World (ROW). Results reveal significant differences in respect of Truth and Accuracy ( t=3.3; df=124; p<0.01), Fairness (t=2.88; df;124; p<0.01], Objectivity (t=2.21; df=123; p<0.05), and Transparency (t=2.06; df= 122; p<0.05). The mean scores for Asian respondents was lower that the respondents for the ROW. This may indicate that respondents from other continents may have more tendencies to adhere to these values than the respondents from Asia in their reporting of news and views. Responses from India reveal significant difference only in respect of Truth and Accuracy (t=2.37; df 124; p<0.05) with the ROW. However, one of the respondents from India commented, I think by and large the media is objective and independent. Trouble is taken to research and confirm facts. Another states, We have to follow trend or else we will be called unprofessional and then it will be too hard to survive in this profession. We have got principles, values but we can change the world what is in our hands is just to change our attitude towards the world. Another respondent states," we must maintain an independence from others whom we cover in interviews or in news stories. We should not be unduly influenced even if we agree with others opinions". One of the possible reasons to be less transparent in their responses for Asia may be attributed to the fact that according to various international transparency surveys, a majority of the countries in Asia are one of the least transparent (http://www.international.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=5299). In this survey, responses were received from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, China-HK, Bhutan and a few countries from the Middle East region. However, a comparison of responses from India and other countries within Asia also showed some significant differences in their responses. Particularly, mean scores in respect of “Aggressiveness” was higher for respondents from India than for the respondents from other countries in Asia. Female journalists have a higher tendency to adhere to “Fairness” than male journalists. This may be attributed to the gender characteristics because males may be generally inclined to be aggressive. . Other findings were that respondents from Asia also have somewhat a higher tendency to resort to sensationalize the news stories. One respondent strongly stated that media sensationalism is almost out of control with respect to human decency and values. Sensationalizing may be when it relates to general public. Respondents also stated that there are a number of hindrances in following a value-based approach to journalism. Some of them may be editorial problems, lack of creativity, access to information, political control and pressure, and commercial and marketing strategies of the media houses. In view of the sensitivity of the topic, the survey may have suffered from certain limitations, e.g., small sample size, response bias, some of the value indicators may be related . Nevertheless, the survey findings provide some reflections on the concept of VBJ , which is still in the evolving process. Once the former Editor of Dainik Tribune, India, Vijay Saigal strongly urged the need of VBJ with honesty, truth and non-partisan reporting as corner stones. He further added that accountability to one's profession should be upper most criterion in the mind of a journalist, who, despite having the power of the pen, should also try to exercise self-restraint while reporting on issues of public interests.”
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