Narrowed Media Ownership - Compromising Journalist Ethics
Abstract
For professional journalists, the fullest expression of professional skill is in producing quality, independent editorial, according to McQuail in (Donsbach & Patterson 2004). However this becomes problematic for journalists, when it conflicts with profit creation in corporate media (Chomsky1988; McChesney1999,2001,2011; McKnight2012). The issue of editorial independence in today’s corporate media arena is an important one for emerging professional journalists, as well as for academics researching the field. This essay concerns itself with the controversial sacking of a business journalist, sacked for labeling a profile in the Australian Financial Review (AFR), on a corporate businessman, as “creeping advertorial.” (Manning 2013). The essay asks firstly, whether the journalist was correct in his appraisal and if so, what are the implications of his sacking for emerging professional journalists. The question will be addressed through a dual examination of the sacking. This involves a case study analysis as well as a dialogue with political economy theory, to analyse the facts and interpret the power dynamics underpinning these facts. The essay findings raise important issues for further research regarding the support vacuum encountered by independent journalists, who challenge editorial independence in corporate media.
The uncluttered architecture of Lasswell’s case study model, provides a transparent framework on which to hang the facts and commentary leading up to and surrounding the sacking. Its guiding values are objectivity, validity and reliability. The choice of political economy theory reflects its “established strength in examining how power operates” (Mosco2009, p. 9) and will further illuminate the facts, by contextualising the power propulsion behind them. Political economic theory assists in evaluating the way corporate media deals with dissenting journalists, who challenge the profit at all costs model (McChesney c
For professional journalists, the fullest expression of professional skill is in producing quality, independent editorial, according to McQuail in (Donsbach & Patterson 2004). However this becomes problematic for journalists, when it conflicts with profit creation in corporate media (Chomsky1988; McChesney1999,2001,2011; McKnight2012). The issue of editorial independence in today’s corporate media arena is an important one for emerging professional journalists, as well as for academics researching the field. This essay concerns itself with the controversial sacking of a business journalist, sacked for labeling a profile in the Australian Financial Review (AFR), on a corporate businessman, as “creeping advertorial.” (Manning 2013). The essay asks firstly, whether the journalist was correct in his appraisal and if so, what are the implications of his sacking for emerging professional journalists. The question will be addressed through a dual examination of the sacking. This involves a case study analysis as well as a dialogue with political economy theory, to analyse the facts and interpret the power dynamics underpinning these facts. The essay findings raise important issues for further research regarding the support vacuum encountered by independent journalists, who challenge editorial independence in corporate media.
The uncluttered architecture of Lasswell’s case study model, provides a transparent framework on which to hang the facts and commentary leading up to and surrounding the sacking. Its guiding values are objectivity, validity and reliability. The choice of political economy theory reflects its “established strength in examining how power operates” (Mosco2009, p. 9) and will further illuminate the facts, by contextualising the power propulsion behind them. Political economic theory assists in evaluating the way corporate media deals with dissenting journalists, who challenge the profit at all costs model (McChesney c