OPINION

The Daily Beast

Politics and journalism cross paths – and swords – in the heart of democracy. For their success, Western societies depend to a great extent on the accountability which journalism imposes on government and state officials. That is why it was so interesting to hear Tony Blair speaking on the issue last week, as he is in a unique position to understand the workings of the news media and whether or not, as he claims, they have damaged his country. «I do believe this relationship between public life and the media is now damaged in a manner that requires repair,» Blair said in a speech to Reuters agency employees. «The damage saps the country’s confidence and self-belief; it undermines its assessment of itself, its institutions; and, above all, it reduces our capacity to take the right decisions, in the right spirit for our future.» Blair’s conclusions, coming shortly before he leaves the prime minister’s office, are correct. But he does not go far enough in his critique of the situation and the problems facing the Press. Although he speaks about the challenges posed by the technological developments which have created an unceasing and highly competitive news cycle on television and the Internet, he does not touch on the three greatest issues facing the news media today – their ownership regime, their seemingly endless descent into obsessing over the meaningless (such as «celebrity» coverage) and the forecasts relating to their very survival. «As a result of being at the top of the greasy pole for 13 years, 10 of them as prime minister, my life, my work as prime minister, and its interaction with the world of communication has given me pretty deep experience, for better or worse,» Blair notes. He acknowledges the role that he and his party played in recent developments. «We paid inordinate attention in the early days of New Labor to courting, assuaging and persuading the media. In our own defense, after 18 years in opposition and the, at times, ferocious hostility of parts of the media, it was hard to see any alternative,» he says. Blair, in other words, rode the media tiger in full knowledge of the dangers. Now he gets to describe his wounds. Blair notes that more and more media, and types of media, are competing with each other for readers’ or viewers’ attention. «The result is a media that increasingly and to a dangerous degree is driven by ‘impact.’ Impact is what matters. It is all that can distinguish, can rise above the clamor, can get noticed. Impact gives competitive edge. Of course the accuracy of a story counts. But it is secondary to impact,» he declares. «The fear of missing out means today’s media, more than ever before, hunt in a pack. In these modes it is like a feral beast, just tearing people and reputations to bits. But no-one dares miss out.» Press commentary on Blair’s speech made much of the «feral beast» reference, as if this were far worse than the almost endearing «venal hack» that we are accustomed to. In any case, the reference to «beast’ was obviously an allusion to Evelyn Waugh’s 1938 satirical masterpiece Scoop, in which the establishment newspaper, «The Daily Beast,» exists to satisfy the ideas and prejudices of its owner. That indirect reference is as far as Blair goes toward touching on the issue of media ownership. The greatest problem journalism faces today is not its eternal love-hate relationship with all forms of power. The problem is that media which are serious, independent and expensive to produce will have a very difficult time surviving under circumstances that are changing rapidly and which continually lead to the media losing revenues. When the media cannot stand on their own (four) feet, they become the playthings of other interests – either political or business. They begin to experiment, to seek protection, to popularize themselves to a foolish extent. That is when they risk losing their last readers or viewers, those who – even though their numbers are diminishing – are the people who will support the news media that inform them seriously and authoritatively. Blair did not refer to these matters, presenting journalism as if it were solely a political issue and not an economic one. Or perhaps, being the consummate politician that he is, he was pulling his punches, preparing for his next round in public life.

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