Why the demise of specialist reporters is a loss for any democracy
- Glenda Daniels
The newspaper industry in many countries is in the doldrums.Retrenchments have become the norm with experienced beat reporters among the first to go.
An ongoing global journalism survey, , the steady decline of beat journalism. The Conversation Africa鈥檚 Natasha Joseph spoke to Dr Glenda Daniels, who is heading the South 第一吃瓜网 leg of the research, about why beat reporting matters and why it鈥檚 at risk.
What is a 鈥渂eat鈥 journalist, and what鈥檚 their value as reporters?
A beat journalist specialises in a particular field. They have covered a particular 鈥渂eat鈥 or area and know it inside out. Beats include areas like politics, business, environment, education, science, labour, local government, courts and health.
When people read a beat reporter鈥檚 byline (their name on the story) they expect expert and factual news and analysis. It鈥檚 the opposite of generalist reporting.
What鈥檚 the state of beat journalism globally?
Beat journalism worldwide is disappearing. There are several reasons for this, among them the corporate and commercial pressures of going digital and . Media companies first to cut their salary bills 鈥 and beat reporters tend to be among the more senior staff.
I attended on the New Beats project in Australia earlier this year which highlighted a decrease in beat reporting across countries ranging from Finland, Brazil, Indonesia, US, Netherlands, and Canada.
This has consequences. In a discussion paper at the symposium based on his research, Professor Matthew Ricketson from Deakin University showed that without 鈥渂oots on the ground鈥 鈥 beat reporters covering, for example, court or rural issues 鈥 indigenous people鈥檚 issues are disappearing from media coverage.
For the most part in Australia, news about indigenous groups comes from activists鈥 tweets or from research conducted by academics, rather than from the mainstream media.
How does South Africa stack up?
South Africa appears to be following a pattern established in the western, developed world. There have been several . Experienced professional journalism staff are down to a minimum. Certain specialist sections or pages have been cut altogether 鈥 a books page, for instance, is increasingly rare.
And certain beats have been abandoned, for example labour reporters haven鈥檛 been replaced. This beat is covered by politics desks. The lack of magistrate court reporters and local government reporters 鈥 which used to be important beats 鈥 means there鈥檚 a lot going on, on the ground, which the public misses out on.
What do journalists think of this trend?
Some of the South 第一吃瓜网 respondents in the Job Losses/New Beats survey had scathing things to say about what happens when specialisation or 鈥渂eat鈥 reporting is lost.
One said:
Journalism has become increasingly undervalued as a profession. Too many bad writers and too few beat specialists, which means that people in power are getting away with murder.
Another said:
I don鈥檛 read newspapers anymore, but I find some excellent pieces on online publications. Generally, (media is) under-resourced, underfunded and a lot of (the) time lacks specialised writers. 鈥he specialised photographer was made redundant years ago鈥
Another spoke of the tensions between media investors who want commercial success, and journalistic ethics:
The level of under investment, resultant juniorisation and low quality outputs do a disservice not just to investors and those who practice (journalism), but to democracy at large.
Juniorisation refers to the practice of newsrooms hiring inexperienced journalists who have not, usually, gone through traditional training in a cadet school.
I was very struck by this response. Democracy demands that we have access to information, freedom of information, freedom of expression, factual and reliable information. Instead, the current transition to digital media is throwing up a lot of unreliable information that must be waded through before we get to the facts; misinformation and propaganda; hate speech, and bigotry.
It鈥檚 a messy, sometimes bloody transition 鈥 and beat journalism is among the victims.
What does this all mean for audiences?
There鈥檚 been a decline in in-depth news coverage of any particular field and a corresponding rise in superficial array of news on a variety of topics. Infotainment gets passed off as 鈥渘ews鈥. Celeb gossip and sexy pictures sometimes fill pages. Media companies hire young generalists or all-rounders who can do 24/7 reporting, uploading of video, blogging, tweeting and brand or celebrity journalism 鈥 where the reporter is part of the story.
It appears that journalism is chasing technology and social media appears to lead journalism. That鈥檚 especially dangerous in this era where 鈥渇ake news鈥 鈥搘hich includes misinformation and disinformation 鈥 has become a common complaint 鈥 and, , travels fast. Readers are often left asking whether they can trust what they鈥檝e read, or if they鈥檝e been fed misinformation or propaganda.
So what鈥檚 the solution?
The best case scenario or ideal situation for journalism to serve democracy is to restore journalist beats. It鈥檚 crucial for newsrooms to start going back to basics. For instance, training programmes need to be re-instituted; most newsrooms have scrapped these, as my colleagues and I have outlined in several 鈥溾 reports conducted in South Africa in recent years.
Another approach is to cut executives鈥 and managers鈥 salaries, and to pay senior journalists to mentor younger reporters on specialised beats. In this way, good journalism can be saved.
*The full results of the international New Beats survey, including those from South Africa, are due out in 2019.
, Associate Professor in Media Studies, . This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .