Africa-Press – Uganda. This week, I have been reading about the phenomenon of news reporting and subject knowledge. An essay (and book) titled, Informing the news: The need for knowledge-based reporting, by Thomas E. Patterson was particularly illuminating. I recommend it to all editors and reporters.
Here are two takeaways from the essay. First “truth”! Truth, it is said, is the “holy grail of journalism”. However according to Patterson, “When journalists speak of truth in news, they often have a narrow conception in mind, one that boils down to the accuracy of specific facts…but fact checkers don’t address the fundamental question: Is the story itself ‘true’?
A story can be accurate in its particulars — what was said, when and where it happened, who witnessed it, and so on — and yet falter as a whole. Even if the facts check out, the story would not be true for that reason alone.”
So where is the truth in a story?
American media scholars Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel say, “Journalists get at the truth in a complex world by first stripping information of any misinformation, disinformation, or self-promoting bias and then letting the community react…”
Second is how truth relates to subject knowledge. Patterson says “journalists’ knowledge deficiency is a reason they are vulnerable to manipulation by their sources. Sometimes a source might be disinterested, but the safe bet is that newsmakers are slanting their arguments… Knowing this, a good journalist will be on guard but it is not enough for the journalist ‘to smell this sort of thing’.”
He adds: “Skepticism is a weak defence against sources that fabricate facts or hide them. Unless reporters have an understanding of where the truth resides, they find themselves in the position of ‘common carriers, transmitters of other people’s ideas and thoughts, irrespective of import, relevance, and at times even accuracy’.”
Journalists can only get around this by being knowledgeable because “without a working knowledge of the subject at hand, journalists are also vulnerable to the experts from whom they seek information, quotes, and story leads.
Many experts are dispassionate in their pursuit of knowledge, but others have an agenda. Sometimes it stems from a core personal or political belief. In other instances, the agenda is that of a sponsor…” Reporters “must [therefore] be capable of dealing with experts from a position of strength.”
Quoting Robert Entman who said “journalists’ knowledge deficit is a reason that contextual information has never been their strong suit”, Patterson reinforces what I have shared in this column many times; that “content is king but context is God!”
Thus, he says; “Knowledge is a key to strengthening story context. For almost any development of even modest complexity, journalists cannot be counted upon to construct ‘a comprehensive and intelligent account’ unless they are knowledgeable of the underlying factors. Context tells how momentary events fit into the larger flow of politics or culture or history. We’re supposed to make those connections.”
I cannot agree more and in my view, two recent stories, “Mukula gets monopoly to import fuel over Lake Victoria” (Sunday Monitor, November 21) and “Uganda surrenders airport for China cash” (Daily Monitor, November 26) would have benefited from greater subject knowledge and perhaps not veered into the realm of sensationalism.
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In one of the stories referenced above, it was reported, inter alia, that: “Zambia lost Kenneth Kaunda International Airport to China over debt gone-wrong” and that “Chinese lenders were already in control of the country’s state broadcasting company, ZNBC.”
I sent a note to a media colleague in Zambia to ascertain the veracity of the claim. This was his response: “About the airport takeover, to the best of my knowledge nothing of that sort has taken place. I’m speaking as an ordinary citizen. Should you require an official government position, do not hesitate to prepare a press query to the chief government spokesperson.
ZNBC is not under control of China. What is on ground is that ZNBC partnered with Star Times, a Chinese company to form a company called TopStar to manage digital migration infrastructure and pay back the digital migration loan to China.
Star Times is the majority shareholder in TopStar. Technically Star Times is controlling TopStar since it’s the majority shareholder. Perhaps it’s from this angle that ZNBC is being said to be under the control of China. Otherwise editorial wise, there is nothing of that nature.”
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