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Address causes of reporting flaws

Former editor-in-chief of The National, Frank Senge Kolma, yesterday touched on an issue I raised two weeks ago in this column.
This is the issue of journalists getting their facts correct, doing so from the right sources and understanding the circumstances and background of people and the settings in which news stories originate from and also realise the possible implications of stories as they are written.
The issue of poor reporting raised by Kolma in his Building Blocks column yesterday regarding the conflicting reports of the alleged rape and torture of a woman in the Western Highlands province and the termination of her unborn child adds further fuel to the negative views held against the news media at present.
These views will not go away unless we in the media and particularly journalists and editors do our jobs diligently.
I agree with Kolma and would like to add that the conflicting news reports of the alleged unsavoury ordeal and the aftermath has raised more questions than that were answered.
Journalism, we must know is an act of recollecting reality or truth and presenting it to the public.
Often, we hear people say that journalists or the media are “eyes” and “ears” of the public. They are out there to record and report what they have seen or have gathered for the benefit of the public.
Journalists gather information mostly through sources to recreate a reality. Sometimes journalists are eyewitnesses to events such as a soccer match and write a first-person account.
But most times journalists have to narrate reality told to them by others – they just cannot be everywhere all the time where events and issues unfold.
Other times they do so from accounts documented in various records, visual and written.
Because journalists are out and about gathering information and reporting, they are also called “reporters”.
It is hoped their reports are exact reflections of reality or truth.
All journalists, irrespective of which medium they work for, are expected to produce their stories that are a factual and true reflection of what has happened or had been said.
But the art of recreating reality or truth and do a perfect job of it, is a daunting task as much as it is a contentious one.
A journalist has to balance his reporting between being a purveyor of the truth and a human being who is a member of a community influenced by various factors.
In addition, the journalist has to perform his role as the purveyor of reality or truth with the quality of education he has received, years of experience in the profession and his employment conditions and the work environment in general.
All in all, the journalist so much as he is a professional, is an embodiment of his surroundings and upbringing.
Broadly, the journalists and more so the media is often accused of presenting a reality packaged through industry-wide or in-house guidelines, interests and expectations and not very reflective of the reality as can be seen by the naked eye or from someone’s involvement.
The television and its cousin the film industry, stand out accused in this regard, because here we are talking about actual images, action and speech.
The editorial decisions that are made to cut out or use certain television footage often triggers the ire of many a television news consumers.
The criticism of the Papua New Guinea media by members of the public from time to time and more so recently by politicians then is a challenge that is at the heart of its ability to reflect and produce reality or truth.
The media in PNG is often accused of misreporting, even things as mundane as getting names of people and locations wrong, as Kolma pointed out in the news issue he critiqued yesterday.
Many members of the public simply do not bother checking with the media organisation concerned to correct the misleading information.
Others who have the time and resources do ask for correction from the offending media organisation.
And correction and expressions of regret and apology for mistakes is a regular feature of the PNG media today.
Sometimes the lawyers of aggrieved parties demand that an apology or correction be published or aired to avoid legal action.
The poor construction of news stories and reflection or recollection of events and comments may be the result of education and employment conditions.
It is better to address the root causes of the reporting problems in the media in PNG by all parties concerned – the media industry, government, training institutions and the sources of information in the public domain.