Media must balance commercial viability and ethics, says Rabbitte

The challenge faced by the media in terms of balancing commercial viability and maintaining ethical integrity in the age of the internet was described as fundamental to society by Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte during a debate last night.

He was speaking during a panel discussion on the theme of “journalism in the age of the internet: how media can contribute to a more ethical, more interesting society” held in Dublin Institute of Technology.

It was part of a series being held by DIT in response to President Michael D Higgins’s call for Irish universities to contribute to a national discussion on ethics and society.

The panel comprised Mr Rabbitte; National Union of Journalists secretary general Séamus Dooley; The Irish Times editor Kevin O'Sullivan; the Journal editor Susan Daly; and news editor of Index on Censorship Padraic Reidy. The debate was moderated by journalist Karen Coleman.

Some of the strands of the debate included the issues of media ownership, the separation of advertising from editorial content, and whether online platforms have diluted the concept of ethics in journalism.

Mr Rabbitte said obviously technological change was always difficult “and fundamentally the transitions we are going through now are even more so.”

He added: “Print media in particular has experienced a massive fall in advertising revenue, causing existential questions for individual outlets and indeed the industry as a whole.

“There are precious few pensionable positions being created in journalism right now. Given the critical role journalism holds in society, this is a genuinely challenging time for journalists and journalism in general.”

Mr Dooley said there were “difficulties” with ethics in journalism but added “it would be simplistic in the extreme to say that that is caused by the internet.

“When it comes to operating within an ethics framework, the platform is of secondary importance. I think there are a number of pressures on journalists. Sometimes the imperative to make money – or even to survive – can mean ethics suffer.”

Pressure
Related to this, debate moderator Ms Coleman challenged Irish Times editor Kevin O'Sullivan on how the newspaper has adapted to the rise of new media and whether ethics and standards have been compromised.

“The market dynamic is huge and it is changing,” said Mr O’Sullivan. “Nowadays the time pressure is huge while at the same time it is really important verification is applied and we have a value system.”

Asked whether the same level of fact-checking takes place in the new climate, he said: “Yes – but that sometimes means we’re not the first with breaking the news. It’s harder to compete in that environment but we believe our readers value that approach to news.”

On the issue of journalists being paid less, or not at all, in order to compete in this environment, Mr Rabbitte said there were “certainly dangers” where any category of worker doesn’t have the opportunity to make a reasonable living.

“The economic crash has meant that journalists in whatever guise have been squeezed and looking at considerable insecurity in the future. I don’t think that is a healthy state but I think it is beginning to pan out; the pessimism of a few years ago is changing.”