Presenting facts, opinions and public forums

Journalism tips on challenging the experts:

Gaston DE ROSAYRO

Your readers or listeners will find both facts and opinions useful, but they need to be shown which is which. In an earlier discourse we showed how you deal with attribution when writing news stories. Here we will discuss briefly how you can present them to avoid confusion in your newspaper or programmes.

Newspapers often tell their readers what a writer's personal opinion is by the way they present it in the paper. Most newspapers, for example, have an editorial or leader column where they present their own comments on current major events. Regular readers know where that column could be found in the paper.

The column might be headed Opinion or something such as Comment . It might appear under a smaller version of the newspaper's page one masthead. Some readers turn to the leader column first to find out what the paper thinks.

The leader column is usually written by either the editor or by specialist senior journalists employed for the job. Within the leader column opinions are not usually attributed to the writer. It is taken for granted that this is the comment based on the policies of the people in charge of the newspaper.

Independence is an underlying requirement of journalism, a cornerstone of its reliability. Independence of spirit and mind, rather than neutrality, is the principle journalists must keep in focus. While editorialists and commentators are not neutral, the source of their credibility is still their accuracy, intellectual fairness and ability to inform - not their devotion to a certain group or outcome. In our independence, however, we must avoid any tendency to stray into arrogance, elitism, isolation or extreme scepticism.

The job description of a journalist can be very diverse. A good definition of journalism itself could be "what is new?" A journalist discovers a fact which they consider news worthy and follows them up using sources. This is generally followed by more secondary research, and then after all sources and research has been checked and approved, they go ahead and write up the article. A journalist analyses the event, interprets it and then presents it in the most appropriate way to the target audience whether it is for print or broadcast.

Writing for a newspaper, writing for a magazine, and working in broadcast are all very different from one another. Writing for a newspaper is more like reporting. If it is a daily the deadlines are more intense.

You may be expected to cover a story at the last minute and then not leave the news room until your article is complete. If you are writing for a magazine you may have more time to deepen your topics, and in most cases you have a lot more flexibility. TV and radio are mainly dominated by rapidity. They need to be very reactive, to work very quickly, to be able to synthesize.

Readers also expect to find opinions in review and commentary columns. Again, these are usually in a specific part of a paper, perhaps the feature section. They may be published on the same day each week in the case of daily papers.

Commentary and review columns are usually by-lined, which means they have a line of type saying who wrote the article. In some cases this can simply be the author's initials at the end of the article.

Comment and leader columns do not have a close equivalent on radio and television. Although some stations use short comment segments stating the station's policy on an issue, this is not good journalism. This is mainly because listeners or viewers may not be able to distinguish between news programmes and editorial inserts if they tune in once the editorial has started and they miss the attribution. Unless they know that a certain person at a certain time always gives the editorial opinion, they may think they have tuned in to a current affairs programme.

Some stations compromise by inviting guest speakers in to give expert opinion at certain times on certain days. Unless this is done with great care, once again there is the danger that listeners or viewers may miss the attribution.

The central purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with accurate and reliable information they need to function in a free society. This encompasses myriad roles - helping define community, creating common language and common knowledge, identifying a community's goals, heroes and villains, and pushing people beyond complacency. This purpose also involves other requirements, such as being entertaining, serving as watchdog and offering a voice to the voiceless.

Besides, journalism is always at its best when people's opinions are challenged, even the opinions of experts. Above all journalism must provide a forum for public criticism and comment. The letters page and talkback radio and TV programmes are opportunities for ordinary readers and listeners to express their opinions on issues of the day. Many newspapers specifically state on the letters page that the views expressed are not necessarily those of the newspaper.

Letters to the editor are almost always straight opinions, and most newspapers have special pages or distinctive layouts for them. Some radio and television stations have programmes when listeners can express opinions. These are either structured feedback programmes, when they read out letters from listeners or viewers commenting on what they have seen or heard, or talkback programmes when listeners call in and their opinions are broadcast live on air.

All of these provide valuable opportunities for people to have access to the media. However, if you are in charge of a letters pages or talkback programmes you should remember that you are legally responsible for the material you include. If it is defamatory, you can be prosecuted as well as the writer of the letter.

Newspapers should not publish anything which is manifestly defamatory or libellous against any individual or organisation unless after due care and checking, they have sufficient reason to believe that it is true and its publication will be for public good. Truth is no defence for publishing derogatory, scurrilous and defamatory material against a private citizen where no public interest is involved.

Radio talkback or phone-in programmes usually make use of a studio delay system to prevent defamatory or offensive comments going on air. This is equipment in the studio which stores seven seconds of programme in memory before sending it to the transmitter. Delay is usually switched on for phone-ins and talkback programs so if a caller says something that should not go on air (such as defamatory comments), the presenter can press a 'dump button' which effectively deletes the preceding seven seconds and returns the programme to real time transmission. It is usually the job of the producer or presenter to switch the delay system on and off for programming.

Whether it is letters to the editor or radio talkback, you should give people a fair hearing. They might write or say things which are legally safe but which you personally dislike. You should not censor their comments for personal reasons. Their letters or calls may express an opinion about you, perhaps criticising a programme you presented or a report you wrote. You should remember that you have already had your say and it is now the chance for your readers or listeners to give their opinions. It is unfair for journalists always to have the last word by adding footnotes to readers' letters or making the final comment on a talkback programme. But again there are times when it is necessary to do so.

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