News Councils: a good idea . . . in theory

Journalists have a lot of jobs. They must be watchdogs, gatekeepers and investigators. They also are charged with informing the public of the news in a fair and accurate way. With these jobs comes a good deal of power. Journalists, to a certain extent, determine what is worth paying attention to on any given day. So it makes sense that such a powerful group of people is checked up on periodically.

Journalists work on the assumption that the public is reading and trusting the work they publish, so they should be held responsible should the public call this work into question. A news council can be a method for members of the public to address the media with concerns as well as a method for ensuring more ethical journalistic practices. The potential good a news council can do is great, though problems do exist in how such a group would work in practice.

Many studies today show distrust in newspapers growing as readership declines. Countless efforts are being made to reverse this trend, several focusing on the Internet and other forms of multimedia to engage larger audiences and get people involved in the news. Yet while this may be bringing people to the newspapers, trust and confidence people have in the reporting must be strong in order to maintain the audience.

“ . . . Journalists cannot restore public trust and credibility alone, any more than any other profession could do that. They need help from citizens . . . .”(Hamer and Silha, The Seattle Times).

This help can come in the form of news councils. Members of the media and the public form the few councils that exist in the U.S. today, including those in Minnesota and Washington. Citizens are encouraged to bring their problems before the council in a hearing.

This gets communities involved. It shows the public that journalists are listening and that measures are being taken to hold newspapers and other media outlets accountable.

An example is a case brought before the Minnesota council by a local mayor claiming an editorial run in the Star Tribune inaccurately portrayed his actions. The council decided to uphold what was run in the paper, but at least the issue was discussed and some attention was brought to the concern of this person - even if he was a public figure (Brown, Star Tribune).

News councils can serve as monitors of journalism. Reporters are supposed to be monitors too, informing the public of what they uncover. If reporters can take on this role, then they should be willing to be monitored themselves. It would promote greater transparency and a more trusting public.

Inevitably, problems arise when considering the possibility of news councils. The few that there are today are state organizations. But maybe it would be better to have local councils that are more aware of the media in the area and more knowledgeable of the news being covered there. Or maybe too many councils would be ineffective.

Along with where the councils would be formed is who will make up these councils? It makes sense to include members of the media, but there is an obvious conflict of interest there. Regular citizens need to be part of the process, they are the reason news councils are so necessary. But are these people qualified to be making judgments about the ethics of journalism?

And when a news council does make a decision, and determines that, for example, a newspaper was wrong in its actions, how will that paper be held responsible? For the paper’s sake, it probably should comply and come forward to apologize or print a correction, but legally it does not have to do anything. It can stick by what it did and ignore the council’s decision, seemingly making the council useless.

These problems all come about when considering how a news council could actually work. So maybe it’s slightly ideal to think that many news councils will be created or that those in existence will have much of an impact on the world of journalism. But it’s also ideal of reporters to think that their work matters and that people are paying attention to it. And in the way of achieving that ideal, trying to make news councils work could offer some help.