Maintaining Editorial Independence in Print and Online

Is it right that advertisers should pressure newspapers in this wayamp160Here is what I wrote about The Daily Mailamp160in a post back in October 2013quotI loathe The Daily Mail I hate what it stands for I hate its attitude towards the gay community towards Muslims towards working mothers I hate its ability to instil a sense of fear and mistrust amongst its readersquotThe Mail39samp160latest stunt has been to call three judges who had in the eyes of The Mail tried to block our exit from the European Union quotEnemies of the PeoplequotThe judges had ruled that in the UK Parliament is sovereign and that it is not in any government39s gift to decide not to consult with them on Brexit or indeed on anything elseIn making its case The Mailamp160decided it was relevant to point out that one of the three judges is quotopenly gayquotOn much the same footingamp160Gina Miller the woman who brought the case in the first place has been described in our tabloid press as a quotforeign born immigrantquot She was indeed born in Guyana but has lived in the UK since she was 10 She39s a successful businesswoman and philanthropistThe Sunamp160is alleged to have gone to the trouble of adjusting Ms Miller39s skin color in its frontpage article to make her appear darker than she really isFollowing her action and the papers39 coverage of it Ms Miller has been advised it is not safe for her to venture outsideShould newspapers be allowed to promote views that stir up fear and hatred without comment and is it up to advertisers to pressure them by withholding fundsMy view is that The Mailamp160should be allowed to write whatever it wants within the law As I say I loathe it but then I increasingly find myself loathing many things apparently adored by others Alsoamp160I don39t think it39s appropriate for advertisers to make public statements designed to pressure any media owner to change its editorial positionamp160It is of course up to advertisers where they advertise If they choose not to advertise to a particular audience defined by whatever criteria or within a particular context then that39s up to themAt least The Mailamp160is edited and thus someone is ultimately responsible for what appearsamp160Facebook and other platforms aren39t edited or at least not in a way any newspaper editor would recognizeamp160So when FB pages are full of the sort of factual inaccuracies that featured so heavily in both our EU Referendum and in the US Presidential election the primary responsibility rests with the millions of people posting themI don39t think you can edit a platform any more than you can stop someone in a publication lying about a potential outcome in order to persuade someone to do somethingMaybe there are levers that could be put in place to ensure that the most obvious untruths are weeded out using technologyIf people want to believe something they39ll believe it whether it39s true or notamp160Advertisers should not play any part in influencing editorial beyond making a judgement on the context within which their ads appearamp160and the nature of the audience they wish to reachClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this article are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggers

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Maintaining Editorial Independence in Print and Online

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Brian Jacobs

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Maintaining Editorial Independence in Print and Online

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