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Ch. 16: Transparency in Journalism: Meanings, Merits,and Risks
Public trust in the media is vital for the job of journalists to work .Transparency has beenreadily embraced as a means of increasing this often tested public trust. It is worth notinghowever that calls for transparency in journalism are part of a global trend for transparency among other institutions such as corporate financial reporting, monetary policy and international politics. The media are often the voice which calls for accountability among other institutions so it would be hypocritical if we did not apply thesame standards to ourselves.
What needs to be transp. and how should it be done?
In the chapter the author discusses two schools of thinking as to how transparency should be achieved. That of the ACTIVE and PASSIVE transparency. Passive transparency isthat which exists in business whereby openness is achieved by ease of access todocuments and reports and the like. Active transparency is where an organisation on itsown bat explains the various decisions it takes. In my opinion, the second option seemsthe more productive for several reasons. The first being is that by definition our  profession is one where we seek to broadcast information to the public, it would not makesense if we did not go out and report on ourselves in a similar fashion. I also believe thatif a request is made by the for the reasoning behind the motive or reporting of a story it isa natural reaction to go on the defensive and the truth may not be totally forthcoming.There have been several recommendations as to how it is to be achieved. In 2005 anAmerican report into transp. in the industry gave several suggestions into how it can beachieved.Recommendations included virtual newsroom tours on news organisation websites,weekly editors columns review and correction policies that go beyond a standardcorrection box. One idea which I thought sounded very open was that of a daily blog bythe editor explaining the decisions he faced.Of course in online news there is even greater scope for transparency. We have talked previously about hyper linking to research material and its ability to not only increase areader’s knowledge of the content but their trust in its accuracy and authenticity. Bloggershave always been some of the fiercest critics of the mainstream media’s lack of transparency. As Jane Singer concluded: “ What truth is to journalists, transparency is to bloggers.”Increased transparency through these methods could also be counterproductive and leadto confusion among readers. The job of a journalist has always to bring clarity tocomplexities and this could be impossible to achieve if they are constantly explainingtheir motives and methods.
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