“I became a journalist to find a bad thing happening and I thought if I wrote about that bad thing it would stop.”
Award winning investigative journalist, author, broadcaster and campaigner, Nick Davies, talks about lack of public trust in the media and the implications for the future of local newspapers like Rye News.
Davies has been exposing disinformation, the manipulation of news and the abuse of power and policy through the UK’s mainstream press for thirty-five years at The Guardian, which he feels, like other national papers in the UK, are currently “behaving badly”.
James Stewart, our RyeCast podcaster, who interviewed Nick, asked if there was a time when journalism in the public interest was thriving in the UK. Nick’s answer describes the steady decline of resources for journalists since the 60s up to the arrival of the internet. Campaigning journalism in both press and media can be courageous and responsible in the way it speaks truth to power when journalists are given sufficient time and the freedom to access their sources to do it.
In his book Flat Earth News Davies exposes how the mechanics of falsehood, distortion and propaganda permeate the media now. He is naming names and telling the truths behind printed news stories that demonstrate malpractice and the use of illegal news gathering techniques in this country. It is a depressing read but these circumstances also offer opportunities for local papers to address the democratic deficit in our national and local press.
There are serious challenges for any conscientious journalist striving to serve the public interest in our time. Lack of transparency by corporations, local governments and the workings of the courts, along with a weak Freedom of Information service in the UK and the exponential rise of the PR industry are some of the root causes of the problem. Fewer trained reporters now have access to unfiltered stories. Journalists rely on PR agencies to issue pre-digested biased press releases. The result is more superficial stories churned out to meet short deadlines.
Sometimes five or six stories are expected in one day in national papers. Diminishing resources for enough research time to identify reliable sources and to fact check source material results in misleading articles. Courage and personal risk demonstrated by successful cross media investigations in the past is harder to find now. Davies remembers exemplary TV programmes like World in Action, The Sunday Times Insight Team campaigns and film directors like Ken Loach who for many years continues to expose inconvenient truths. Independent agencies like The Bureau of Investigative Journalism currently fills some of the gaps by offering ground breaking investigations to a risk averse media landscape in Britain.
If journalists are given time and money to expose crimes in our name they will do it. A combination of old-fashioned shoe leather reporting alongside learning how to “scrape” the internet to identify reliable sources and evidence, persistent curiosity and common sense are essential elements in curbing the proliferation of “Churnalism” today.
Davis believes the PR industry changed the fundamental structure and business model and moral compass of journalism today. “PR people are not moral saints,” he says. “They try not to lie but they will tell lies to serve the interests of the governments or corporations who employ them.” They are also deft at the timing of the release of selected stories to deflect attention from others that could embarrass the powers that be. A prime example happened when Boris Johnson’s press office suppressed the release of the Gray Report by breaking news of Priti Patel’s plan to send illegal migrants to Rwanda.
So what does all this have to do with the Rye News?
Rye News, as a unique group of committed volunteers, has a special opportunity to serve the public interest for local on-line readers and subscribers in other parts of the world. Davies is a keen supporter of local newspapers to “speak truth to people as well as the powerful”. He encourages our reporters to take to our streets, to closely observe the work of our local authorities, to follow the money of corporations and charities whose work affects our daily lives. Nick advises us to write about the workings of our local courts. We are alarmed to learn that the only national column on corruption in local authorities today is the Rotten Boroughs column in Private Eye magazine!
A wealth of human-interest stories is on our doorstep to be written about with empathy and compassion. The national press may not care about these stories but they can tell us something about the wider world. As Davies says we need to use our imaginations to build relationships with our sources to discover where the truth lies. PR departments will always try to build walls of silence around reporters looking for leads. The skill in gaining trust from human sources is the key to break through these walls of falsehood. Nick also reminds us of the importance of keeping opinions and factual evidence totally separate. Only in this way can we earn the trust of our readers.
A raft of interesting questions came from the audience: Is it possible to have a war without propaganda? If you stand up for justice, do you have to stand up for the current legal system? Are journalists safe in the UK? What is the legal position of journalists in local newspapers who plan to do an investigation? What about the people who have not had their day in court because of the backlog here? Is there is a crisis in delivering due process in the law because of the current barristers’ strike? What do we think about the lack of due process and impact on press freedom in the landmark Assange extradition case? What are the implications of attacks on journalists in all countries when the CIA and other governments work together illegally try to conceal their crimes?
Davies answers some of these questions with lengthy descriptions of his seven-year phone hacking investigation of the Milly Dowler case and his involvement with Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, currently in solitary confinement in Belmarsh Prison waiting trial for exposing American war crimes in Iraq.
Nick reminds us that Assange is being persecuted for what journalists do every day. A relentless smear campaign across all media worldwide for over a decade is an example of how the CIA operates. The Iraq War Logs video, released by Wikileaks in 2010, showed irrefutable evidence of US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Chelsea Manning, who gave the material to Wikileaks, served multiple jail sentences and was tortured. Assange spent seven years as a political asylee in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London from 2012 until 2019 when the British police were invited, by a corrupt Ecuadorian regime, to arrest him and put him in solitary confinement in Belmarsh Prison.
Julian has to this day not committed any crime in any jurisdiction. Nick Davies, press colleagues, human rights organisations around the world and leading figures from all walks of life publicly acknowledge threats to a free press and the protection of journalists based on the result of this landmark case. Systematic persecution of journalists by state led torture, described by Davies and leading human rights organisations, does not inspire confidence in the rule of law in the US and the UK.
Rye News is grateful for Nick Davies’ hard-hitting talk at the Rye Arts Festival and offers a warm welcome to writers, photographers, reporters, experienced journalists, fact checkers, and sub-editors to join our growing team of contributors. Please contact us via the Rye News website and subscribe if you haven’t already for your online delivery of Rye News every Friday.
Image Credits: Kt Bruce .
Thanks for your fine article, Susan. Nick Davies’ talk was truly illuminating for anyone wishing to understand what he called the ‘catastrophic failure of journalism’, caused by the lack of resources and the dominance of PR within media. PR operatives essentially cover up inconvenient facts, Davies said, by ‘selecting the truth’ — in other words, by deciding what narratives to release. The advent of the internet has destroyed the old business model that financed journalism. Local news coverage has, in effect, disintegrated, as traditional newspapers no longer have the money to pay journalists to report on court cases, investigate councils’ behaviour, etc. Unfortunately, Davies could offer no solution to the systemic problems he outlined so well.
The investigative journalist also pointed out, very perceptively, that ‘the people who want to be powerful tend to have personality disorders’. He made it clear who he was talking about, here and on the other side of the Atlantic!
My view is that it’s extremely difficult for volunteer or ‘citizen’ journalism to fill the gap left by properly paid, professionally trained journalists, employed by respected, well-resourced publications. Local web-based newspapers rely on volunteers to write articles, free-of-charge. Such publications cannot expect unpaid contributors to spend many days each month attending courtrooms, local council meetings, phoning police stations and so on. Unqualified, volunteer reporters can be left exposed in certain situations. The local journalism that results from citizen reporting tends to be rather ‘hit or miss’, and heavy on opinion, but it remains valuable and should be encouraged. Guaranteeing factual accuracy in this type or journalism is often problematical. If there’s one thing that every experienced journalist understands, it’s to GET THE FACTS RIGHT. Rye News should be congratulated for doing what it does, with very few resources. It appears to be determined to make its operations more professional, while still providing a forum for local people to have their say. Thank you, Rye News.
Hear, hear, John.
Very informative and quite worrying
‘Julian has to this day not committed any crime in any jurisdiction’. Say rather that he has not been found guilty of committing any crime. Immediately following his arrest in 2019, the Eastern District of Virginia grand jury unsealed the indictment it had brought against Assange, accusing him of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion in order to assist Chelsea Manning gain access to privileged information, which he intended to publish on WikiLeaks. On 23 May 2019, Assange was further indicted under the Espionage Act of 1917 for offences relating to the publication of diplomatic cables and other sensitive information. The indictment added 17 federal charges to the earlier indictment.
Thank you for your comment. The point here is that even what the US is accusing Assange of is not actually a crime. The computer intrusion claim is misleading. What Julian is actually accused of is trying to help his alleged source protect her identity. The alleged source already had access to the privileged information. Please have a look at this link for further clarity. https://www.computerweekly.com/news252489645/Forensic-expert-questions-US-claims-that-Assange-conspired-to-crack-militry-password?amp=1
The other charges are an overreach by a government who has been embarrassed by their own actions being published by a journalist and publisher. What Assange is being accused of is Journalism.
All the major newspapers around the world who published Wikileaks primary source material were making public information of public importance. This information exposed American war crimes, illegal murders and assassinations. Assange is being tried for the very same reasons he has been awarded the many international journalism awards he has received.
The question should be why are the perpetrators of these crimes not being prosecuted?
Thank you for your reply. The courts, surely, should be left to decide what is and what is not a crime. The problem is that to date Mr Assange has been reluctant both in this matter and that of the sexual assault charge made against him in Sweden to subject himself to the judicial system. His part in the indiscriminate dumping of sensitive information into the public domain without any regard for the possible consequences to government personnel is a world away from the specific intent of a whistleblower who can legitimately claim public interest.
Sadly, this is all too true. However, I also think that we, as the consumers of news, have a responsibility to select a variety of news sources and take time to form opinions before taking a position. The current methodology of receiving news through various social media platforms and news feeds that react to your reading selection and focus on your perceived views is also helping to destroy the ability to have a balanced view on important topics.
Maybe both journalists and readers need to sharpen up their acts?!
“Julian has to this day not committed any crime in any jurisdiction.” That may change once he’s Extradited to the United States and Stands Trial in the Espionage Court. Then all his Crimes will be laid out on the table………