`Times' scandal a valuable lesson for all press

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 06/14/2003 2:09 PM  |  Opinion

Ardimas Sasdi, Staff Writer, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, ardimas@thejakartapost.com

The recent scandal involving plagiarism and fabrication of news by two New York Times journalists, including one of its best reporters, sent shock waves beyond the most prestigious U.S. newspaper, as it highlighted how vulnerable a media is to acts of dishonesty.

Executives and owners of the paper, which was established in 1865 and has a circulation of over 1.1 million copies a day, were fully aware that the credibility of the newspaper was damaged by the incident, and immediately took necessary steps to minimize the impact.

In order to regain public trust and restore its name, the Times set up a 20-member team to review the editorial policy in the newsroom, including two senior executives from the Associated Press and Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which will function as a sounding board and a check-and-balance.

The scandal led to the resignation of Times Executive Editor Howell Raines and Managing Editor Gerald Boyd, who were blamed for promoting Blair despite warnings of the young reporter's shortcomings. Raines and Boyd resigned last Thursday.

Jayson Blair, 27, one of the two problem reporters, worked for the Times for four years and resigned on May 1 amid allegations of plagiarism and fabrication of news in 36 of 73 articles he wrote between October 2002 and April 2003.

The year 2003 is a testing time for the Times, which was also jolted by an alleged act of dishonesty by Rick Bragg, a Times reporter who received the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Journalism.

Bragg, who was suspended for two weeks after the violation came to light, failed to include a byline on freelancer J. Wes Yoder, who conducted interviews and reported on a story about the lives of Florida oystermen.

The Blair and Bragg cases were indeed different in nature and seriousness. Blair's journalistic blasphemy of concocting and plagiarizing information is serious and unforgivable, as he committed the deception intentionally. He later revealed his peculiar ""mental agony"" as a revenge against the Times, which he dubbed as a racist ""snake pit"".

Bragg's sin is lighter than Blair's, because his dishonesty may have been unintentional.

However, both cases are inexcusable, as they have led the public to question media ethics, standards and practices, of which the core is built on trust and credibility.

People buy a newspaper for accurate and reliable information, so a paper that has lost its credibility and the trust of its readers will soon go the way of the dodo.

On journalism Neal and Brown wrote, ""... Each reader must accept what the reporter tells him largely on faith. Readers have neither the time nor the resources to get the story or to check its accuracy, that's the reporters' job. And they must perform it in such a way that they merit the public's trust.""

What is the significance of raising the Times scandal in Indonesia? The work of journalists anywhere in the world is similar in essence, despite differences in the technology used. The process begins with gathering and then writing the news, and ends with editing -- by desk editors, language editors and copyeditors. And throughout this process is the pillar: The journalistic code of ethics.

As such, the Times scandal may have implications on other media, regardless of where they are published or their circulation.

Still, journalists are only human, and do make mistakes. They are working under pressure of a tight deadline and demanding editors. At the same time, journalists are required to work fast, accurately and objectively, covering both sides of the story.

Working under constant pressure, some reporters may be tempted to take shortcuts. Under such conditions, the possibility for journalists to fall into the trap of dishonesty -- through plagiarism, fabrication and other acts of misinformation -- is open.

Critical readers will ignore minor mistakes, but they will not forgive gross violations like frequent typographical errors, inaccuracies, fabricated facts and plagiarized stories.

Media people, on the other hand, are aware of their readers' trust and their demand for credible and high-quality news.

Each media tries its best to meet these demands and instills a code of ethics and establishes standard practices in the newsroom, which serve to prevent mistakes, including stylebooks and editors' meetings held daily, weekly and monthly.

But scandals -- big and small -- persist. What should a media do? Introspect.

The threat of Indonesian journalists -- whether they may work for a Jakarta-based or provincial, print or electronic, media -- is large, as many journalists here have not received proper training in media and journalism. Those working at small newspapers also receive meager salaries, which has made it necessary for them to take second jobs or and tempting to take bribes from news sources in order to make ends meet.

The majority of journalists who make a decent income work with 30 percent of around 500 print and electronic media controlled by giant groups.

However, some media also lack control over their reporters.

In addition, detecting plagiarized stories and fabricated news is no easy task, especially since there is a tendency among reporters to exchange news and information without first checking with the source. Fellow reporters may easily manipulate such a tendency. The problem is further compounded by their motives, which are usually not singular, but vary from competition to revenge and everything in between.

To prevent acts of dishonesty, media companies have no other choice but to regularly review their editorial policies, recruitment practices and career tracking and control mechanisms.

These corrective measures are urgently needed, as Indonesian readers have lately become more critical regarding any media carrying inaccurate reports -- writing letters to the editors, and filing lawsuits against the media. Some even take the law into their own hands, attacking journalists and media offices.

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