NUJ - New Threats to Media Freedom

I had to fight my way in with 10 emails spread across the leadership of the NUJ but I did finally luck into a seat (and thank god, there was a twenty person strong rock-concert-like line outside the venue–poor souls) at Saturday’s conference on New Threats to Media Freedom sponsored by and hosted by the National Union of Journalists on Gray’s Inn Road. Let me just say thanks to the NUJ for putting it on, it was a great morning/afternoon, even if it was mighty early for a Saturday. (It was also a chance for me to put my new digital SLR to the test, see photo above and full gallery below for the results…pretty nice camera if I do say so myself).

The highlight was, unsurprisingly, Alan Johnston’s words on his detainment and censorship on war reporting in general. Its hard to pin down but he just sounds so genuine that he is instantly likeable. He betrays no trace of bitterness about his ordeal, and you get no sense of exploitation or that he is ‘cashing in’ on his newfound celebrity. More importantly, he is just plain charming: after the panel, an audience member asked Johnston if he had prayed during his kidnapping, here is how he responded to a question that felt for me too intrusive and not in the spirit of the morning:

I wasn’t praying at the time so I didn’t feel right starting because of the situation. I’m sure God would have understood but….

Its not an answer anyone expected but it was much appreciated, and genuinely funny.

Other Issues Explored:

• Campaigning vs. Informing - where do journalists draw the line? Is journalism meant to crusade for specific policy changes or is its role to reach for ‘truth’ and ‘objectivity’
• Churnalism - a new(ish) term used to describe the plight of jobbing hacks forced to churn out 15 stories a day giving them no time to check facts or develop sources
• Power of Editors - Peter Wilby (who, incidently, was most dynamic speaker of the entire conference) says editors don’t have enough power, that in any editorial meeting, its the head of marketing that holds all of the cards
• Murdoch - Wilby, as the resident Murdoch expert, also gave a little report on his burgeoning influence on the world’s media saying basically that Murdoch is bad (and that no one really believes Rebekah Wade) but not as bad as some. In fact, he would be mid-table in a league table of media owners.

3 comments January 29th, 2008