Chapter 1 The who, what, where, when, why and how of journalism 01_Harcup - Journalism_Ch-01_Part 1.indd 3 2/25/2015 2:37:35 PM 01_Harcup - Journalism_Ch-01_Part 1.indd 4 2/25/2015 2:37:35 PM Key terms Agency; Churnalism; Communication; Ethics; Fourth estate; Free press; Ideology; Journalism; Journalism education; Journalism studies; Leveson; Profession; Public interest; Public sphere; Social media; Trade “Journalism, like acting and prostitution, is not a profession but a vocation”, declared former Times Communication journalist Louis Heren (1973 [1996]: 187–188) in The basic questions of journalism highlighted in the title of his memoirs. Rather more recently, Sharon Marshall this chapter – Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? – described former colleagues on assorted redtop are echoed in an early model of the mass communication tabloids as almost all “mad, drunken, immoral, sex- process, formulated by Harold Lasswell in 1948. For crazed chancers”. And those were just their good Lasswell, analysis of the media begins with the question: points, judging by her confession that “deep down “Who says what to whom, through what channel and I love every double-crossing, slippery, two-faced with what effect?” (McQuail, 2000: 52–53). This has little one of them” (Marshall, 2010: 269). We can see been termed a “transmission” model of communication something of the mythology of journalism at work in because it is essentially one way, from sender to receiver. these two comments about both the weighty and the This and later versions of the transmission model have popular press. There’s a tendency among journalists been challenged in recent decades as too simplistic, too to see themselves as slightly roguish, verging on linear, too mono-directional to explain the complexities the disreputable: ever-present members of society’s of communication. It has been argued that an “active awkward squad, except when they are sucking up audience” can filter messages through our own to the editor, proprietor or proprietor’s spouse. As experiences and understandings, sometimes producing Andrew Marr puts it in his own memoir: readings “against the grain”, or even suggesting multiple Journalism is a chaotic form of earning, meanings. Increasingly, too, audiences are ragged at the edges, full of snakes, con “Journalism largely contributing to journalism directly via social artists and even the occasional misunder- consists in saying ‘Lord media and user-generated content. The Jones Dead’ to people stood martyr. It doesn’t have an accepted who never knew that ways in which journalists engage with the career structure, necessary entry require- Lord Jones was alive.” audience on social media are considered ment or an effective system of self- GK Chesterton. in detail in Chapter 14 but also crop up policing. Outside organised crime, it is the throughout the book. most powerful and enjoyable of the anti-professions. (Marr, 2005: 3) Journalism That phrase “outside organised crime” pre-dated Journalists may indeed inform society about itself, but the revelations of organised criminality at (and such a formulation falls far short of an adequate definition. closure of) the News of the World, of course, but Journalism is defined by Denis McQuail as “paid writing the point still stands that journalism can be pow- (and the audiovisual equivalent) for public media with erful and infuriating and full of contradictions. reference to actual and ongoing events of public relevance” Journalists routinely juggle complex intellectual, (McQuail, 2000: 340). Like all such definitions, this raises legal, commercial and ethical issues every day, many questions – Can journalism never be unpaid? Can simultaneously and at high speed, all while giving media be other than public? Who decides what is of public the impression of being little deeper than a puddle. relevance? – but it remains a reasonable starting point for And it can be fun. Who, what, where, when, why and how? 5 01_Harcup - Journalism_Ch-01_Part 1.indd 5 2/25/2015 2:37:35 PM Practice Principles In western, liberal democracies, at least, each of any analysis of the principles and practices of journalism. us is at liberty to commit acts of journalism if we so McQuail goes on to differentiate between different types choose. That is because journalism is a trade, or a of journalism: “prestige” (or quality) journalism, tabloid craft, rather than a “proper” profession along the lines journalism, local journalism, specialist journalism, “new” of medicine or the law. It’s not complete liberty hall – (personal and committed) journalism, civic journalism, in Chapter 2 we will consider some of the constraints development journalism, investigative journalism, that limit the behaviour and autonomy of journalists – journalism of record, advocacy journalism, alternative but it does mean that journalists are not required to journalism and gossip journalism (McQuail, 2000: 340). seek anyone’s permission to practise journalism. That, Such differentiation is rejected by David Randall, in turn, means that nobody can be denied permission who recognises only the division between good and bad to practise journalism, even if they turn out to be a con journalism: artist or a sex-crazed chancer. So what is it all for? Journalism is a form of The bad is practised by those who rush faster to communication based on asking, and answering, the judgement than they do to find out, indulge themselves questions Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? rather than the reader, write between the lines rather Journalism is also a job. Journalists need to pay their than on them, write and think in the dead terms of the rents or mortgages and feed their kids, and they have formula, stereotype and cliché, regard accuracy as a been known to refer to their workplaces as “word bonus and exaggeration as a tool and prefer vagueness factories”. Yet being a journalist is not the same as to precision, comment to information and cynicism working in other types of factory because journalists to ideals. The good is intelligent, entertaining, reliably play a social role that goes beyond the production informative, properly set in context, honest in intent of commodities to sell in the marketplace. Imperfect and effect, expressed in fresh language and serves no though it might be, journalism informs cause but the discernible truth. Whatever the society about itself and makes public audience. Whatever the culture. Whatever “Most of journalism, the language. Whatever the circumstances. that which would otherwise be private. and all of the interesting Journalists have been described as a part, is a disreputable, (Randall, 2011: viii) fourth estate of the realm, the eyes- erratic business which, if properly conducted, Whether it is as simple as that is a question and-ears of the people, acting in the serves a reputable end.” we will explore further in this and subse- public interest. Rather an important job, Max Hastings. quent chapters. For now, let’s stick with you might think, but “the people” don’t defining journalism as: always agree. Public opinion polls routinely remind journal- A set of practices through which information is found ists that we vie for bottom place with politicians and out and communicated, often involving making public estate agents in the league table of trustworthiness; what would otherwise be private, and which is typically that has been the case since long before the 21st published or broadcast in a format such as a newspa- century phone-hacking scandal and Leveson inquiry per, magazine, bulletin, documentary, website, or blog. into press ethics. Such attitudes have become all too Journalism entails discovering or uncovering fresh, topi- familiar to Jemima Kiss, who explains: cal, factual material and making it publicly available, but it goes beyond that to include amplifying, contextualising, It seems pretty much anyone outside the industry takes or commenting on facts and comments that have already a sharp intake of breath when you say you’re a journal- been made public . (Harcup, 2014a: 148) ist, which means I often feel the need to say, “I’m not that kind of journalist.” The assumption is the cliché of a ruthless, doorstepping tabloid hack, I suspect, the type Fourth estate perpetuated in cheesy TV dramas. The notion of the press as a “fourth estate of the realm” – alongside the Lords, the House of Commons, and the Yet despite this image problem, a never-ending stream established Church – appears to have first been used by of bright young and not-so-young people are eager to 6 Journalism: Principles and Practice 01_Harcup - Journalism_Ch-01_Part 1.indd 6 2/25/2015 2:37:35 PM Practice Principles become journalists. Why? Because it can be one of the Edmund Burke in the 18th century. Recalling this usage in most exciting jobs around. You go into work not neces- 1840, in what is believed to be the first time it appeared in sarily knowing what you are going to be doing that day. print, Thomas Carlyle had no doubt of its meaning: You get the chance to meet powerful people, interesting people, inspiring people, heroes, villains and victims. Burke said there were three estates in parliament; but, in You get the chance to ask stupid questions; to be one of the reporters’ gallery yonder, there sat a fourth estate more the first to know something and to tell the world about important far than they all. It is not a figure of speech, or it; to indulge a passion for writing, maybe to travel, a witty saying; it is a literal fact, very momentous to us in maybe to become an expert in a particular field; to seek these times. Literature is our parliament too. Printing, which truth and campaign for justice; or, if that’s your thing, comes necessarily out of writing, I say often, is equivalent to hang out with celebrities.