politicians) and more ordinary people – including victims of crime
and people with untypical sexual proclivities.
The Press Complaints Commission (a voluntary industry body)
has been urged to introduce greater self-regulation under the threat
of statutory controls. One difficulty is to find a formula for protecting
the legitimate privacy of ordinary people that will not prevent the
media from revealing misconduct by public figures, which affects
their accountability for their deeds.
One defence which can be made for the present arrangements, in
both broadcasting and national newspapers, is that the actual editing
and presentation of news is done by professionals who, in order to
maintain circulation/audience figures, must respect the values of a
plural society and pursue ‘news values’. One organisation cannot
afford to neglect or distort awkward news because it will be rapidly
and accurately reported elsewhere. In this respect the BBC in Britain
can be seen as an important ‘quality control’ standard against which
other organisations are judged – whilst the possibility of pro-
establishment bias by the BBC is balanced by the existence of
maverick organisations such as the Sunand Private Eye.
There does seem to be some strength in this argument (and it must
be remembered that journalists themselves are often to the left of
their managers and proprietors). But some anxieties do remain
including reservations about the implications of pursuing news
values (including ‘scoops’) in the interests of greater circulation in
this way. Problems which have been raised include suggested biases
against understanding (explaining events is neglected in favour of the
sensational and the new) and against good news in favour of bad. The
economics of capitalist journalism mean it may be a more sensible
strategy to raise circulation by lotteries and price-cutting than to risk
libel suits by expensive and complex investigative journalism. Many
newspapers – especially local ones – do little to search out the news
for themselves. Instead they rely upon a few international news
agencies (Reuters, etc.), standard public sources like the courts,
parliament and local council meetings, and a stream of ‘press releases’
from the public relations arms of government, political parties,
commercial organisations and entertainers.
Another fascinating area of political and sociological research is the
issue of how the potential audience chooses which messages to attend
DEMOCRACY 201