Since we’re all talking about the #MurdochRoyalCommission and complaining about media bias ( #ThisIsNotJournalism), I thought it might be a good time to talk about what good journalism looks like, and why we can’t go on the way we are. A thread

In Rudd’s statement urging people to support a Murdoch RC, he said media is no longer a level playing field. Media is supposed to represent a market place of ideas where groups compete fairly to have their perspectives heard. Different sides of politics, different interests etc.

This ideal is the reason Rudd called for a stronger diversity in Australian media outlets. Australia is the most concentrated media industry in the world. This, coupled with Murdoch’s partisan media and his huge share, means our media is anything but a level playing field.

As well as finding Murdoch engages in ‘campaign journalism’ - political campaigning dressed up as news, I also found Murdoch media can set the agenda, or kick off a narrative which the rest of the media repeats and reinforces through group think and confirmation bias.

This means that not only are audiences not seeing a diversity of ideological perspectives, but that it’s not just Murdoch who are biased - if Murdoch sets agenda, we get other outlets such as Fairfax/Nine and even the ABC singing off the same hymn sheet. The narrative gets stuck.

The inflexibility of news narratives explains why we see media stuck on train track narratives such as the relentless month long attacks on Andrews over hotel quarantine in Victoria. While the pack behaves like this, alternative perspectives are blocked. There is no diversity.

This is why the only story we hear is ‘Andrews is entirely responsible Victorian covid crisis’, but why Ruby Princess was given nowhere near the same scrutiny. Nor were federal govt actions such as slow 1st wave border closures or lack of aged care plan. These don’t fit narrative

There are various reasons why journalists follow each other down narrative train tracks - you can eventually read about them in my book. One reason is that journalists believe they are more credible than anyone else so accept each others’ versions of reality without verification.

Another is that journalists believe they have all been trained to be objective and therefore assume they can see the world more clearly than anyone else - hence why they call people who call out one-sided attacks on Andrews ‘Dan Stans’. We are automatically wrong, they are right.

Objectivity is not a state of mind, it does not give journalists magic powers and it doesn’t automatically lead to diverse perspectives. Instead it is a method that must consciously be used - open mindedness, seeking expert analysis, challenging assumptions, avoiding judgement.

Balance is also more difficult than getting a quote from ‘both sides’. Balance is not just about giving space to different voices - it’s about allowing different voices to influence the way a story is told instead of writing the story first and only choosing views that fit.

Journalist also have to accept that they are biased and account for that bias. Every human is biased - we all have values, ideologies, genders, generations, exist in cultures and classes which become the lens through which we interpret the world. Journalists are no different.

As Jay Rosen famously said, there is no such thing as a ‘view from nowhere’. Journalists have to accept bias is inherent in journalism, and correct for it. That means consciously avoiding assumption that someone who doesn’t see the world same way as them is ‘a troll’ or ‘nuts’.

Last thing, journalists also have to accept they have power to shape public discourse. They are not powerless conduits, reflecting the world like a mirror. They have the power to decide what information the public find out about, what is considered important, and the stories told

With power comes responsibility. If journalists could start using this power carefully rather than defensively, perhaps non-Murdoch journos could start holding Murdoch bias to account, in the public interest. None of this is too much to ask. Please sign the petition! End

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