A Bristol media expert has called for the introduction of a ‘kitemark’ for bloggers who can demonstrate they are striving to report accurately and ethically.
Mike Jempson, a co-founder of the organisation MediaWise which aims to give a voice to people harmed by unethical journalism, said that in the light of the phone hacking scandal, a new form of quality control was needed to deal with the growth in social media and the ‘blogosphere’.
The senior lecturer in journalism at the University of the West of England added that he hoped the Leveson Inquiry into press standards would lead to a “more robust” regulatory system that would promote ethical standards.
But Mr Jempson said the hacking scandal, a recent phenomenon whereby some journalists have been able to listen in to people’s mobile phone voice messages, was merely the latest underhand tactic used to invade privacy in order to sell newspapers.
Writing in a new book, The Phone Hacking Scandal: Journalism on Trial, Mr Jempson and Wayne Powell from Mediawise, wrote that journalism standards have been regularly ignored for decades.
They cited the examples from the Moors Murder trial in the 1960s to the Fred and Rose West trial in the 1990s, to publication of the royal ‘Squidgygate’ tapes.
“The Leveson Inquiry will hopefully result in better regulation and has certainly exposed the darker side associated with phone hacking,” said Mr Jempson.
“But much of what has been said at the inquiry is old news. We hope a more robust regulatory system will emerge promoting ethical reporting standards. We all benefit from free and independent investigative reporting, but we all lose when the media abuse their power or refuse to admit to mistakes.
“The growth in social media and the ‘blogosphere’ also poses new and complex problems as ‘citizen journalists’ do not necessarily appreciate the legal constraints and consequences of inaccurate reporting, lack of verification and protection of sources.
“MediaWise advocates the use of a ‘kitemark’ for bloggers to indicate that they are striving to report accurately and ethically and will correct errors.”
The Phone Hacking Scandal: Journalism on Trial, edited by Richard Keeble and John Mair (Arima, £19.95) was published earlier this month. Other contributors include Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian, Brian Cathcart, professor of journalism at Kingston University and founder of the Hacked Off campaign, and Richard Peppiatt, who resigned from the Daily Star over its alleged Islamophobia.
Ok Mike I've made a few generalisations. But I've not referred to you personally only a future scenario which you're suggesting.
If you want to research the facts it's easy to do that online now with a few clicks.
In your kite marked world would you give any credibility to a Syrian government kite marked blog? The real bloggers live in the basements under the barrage and it isn't that hard to find them or make sense of what they're saying.
How about a kite mark for lecturers there's plenty of crap ones getting paid stacks of public money. At least I do this public service for free last thing I need is an overpaid boffin censuring my creative output. It wouldn't be right to leave them with a monopoly of verbal effluent would it?
Get your facts right.. I may teach journalism (part-time) at UWE but I am no 'boffin' (definition?) having worked as journalist for about 40 years. Nowhere is there any suggestion of censuring or even censoring your 'public service'.
BTW, did you know that lecturers have to respond to and act upon student feedback, are subject to regular appraisals, and must account for any failure to meet agreed targets? And tt's not just a box ticking exercise, now that the 'market' is driving further & higher education.
Mr Jempson is part of a movement of old lefties and Guardian readers who are convinced that the way to deal with the press is to put it under the control of people such as themselves with their so-called brand of 'ethics'.
What will start out as an ethical enterprise will become a political one as bloggers find themselves on the wrong side of his committee's politically correct assumptions.It's a crap idea. Jempson really wants to censor us into toeing his line.
Phone hacking is illegal as is bribing coppers. Jempson's time would be better spent tackling establishment corruption than picking a fight with bloggers. But cosy academia's better at picking on us than the real villains isn't it?
I have spent more than 30 years tackling 'establishment corruption' especially in the media – and promoting press freedom in the UK and internationally.
Far from being an attempt to censor anyone or force people to 'toe my line' (ridiculous suggestion) the idea emerged at a gathering of bloggers in Bristol in 2010, with the aim of protecting them from the risk of external interference (a real possibility) and offering a guarantee that the writer has made reasonable efforts to check the facts – always a good thing before shooting your mouth off – and will correct errors!
That’s an interesting idea but can Mr Jempson tell where ‘ the media’ ends and ‘the blogosphere’ begins, because I can’t (and that’s why so much free commentary is interesting)
It seems to me that contributors to the blogosphere have to defune the cut off point. We can all air our views, more or less freely, but when we seek to contribute information about people, places and events in the tradition of conventional news journalism. i thinkwe all have a duty to try and get facts right and correct them when it is demonstrate that we've got them wrong.
Would you not agree that even opinions can be invalidated by reliance upon incorrect data….
A kitemark for bloggers?
I detect another control freak.