Boyne
Ian Boyne, Contributor
THERE IS no profession in which integrity is more critical indeed, constitutive than journalism. This recognition has become even more pronounced with the advent of international satellite broadcasting as well as with the increasing concentration of power within a few media conglomerates. When powerful and dominant corporate entities in the United States own big media, then how can one get "objective", impartial reporting on those entities and their interlocking interests?
And yet this notion of "objectivity" and impartiality has been synonymous with journalism. The professional journalist is romanticised as this dispassionate, unbiased, fearless, impartial creature driven by the pursuit of truth - and nothing but the truth. It was the Marxian social scientists who first aroused our suspicions about this representation. They unmasked the objectivity myth by showing that the people who established printing presses were in it as a business and/or to promote their own sectarian interests. They were not as pure as the driven snow. They had class interests.
Even for those who reject what they see as crude Marxist determinism, there is still some lingering suspicion that, really, "he who pays the piper, calls the tune". One of the enduring and still potent articles of Marxism which still stands despite the crumbled Berlin Wall, is the primacy or central role of economics in society. Marx always said it was the economic base which determined the superstructure of morality, social order and even theology. Today, you don't have to be a Marxist to realise that for the vast majority of people, economic interests determine their actual (as opposed to professed) morality and behaviour.
We have a high degree of corruption in Jamaica because moral values don't have the power they once had. Yes, poverty and economic deprivation have an effect on morality and our economic stagnation has set back the cause of morality and religious values.
No one can deny that the large majority of Jamaicans have always been poor, yet there was more integrity and greater individual character decades ago. There are societies which are poorer than us yet they don't have the level of crime and corruption as we do. Consider the fact that in any inner city in Jamaica there are girls who have three and four children for various baby fathers and who in effect prostitute themselves to get the 'bling bling' and look after their children. In the same inner city are some girls who have nothing to eat, who walk in twisted, outgrown shoes, wear shabby clothes and can't send their children to school every day simply because they have vowed that no matter what, there are certain things they are not doing. So they spend their week nights "getting into the spirit" at church rather than using the flesh to 'eat a food'. The difference is not in the material conditions, but in the values held. The difference is integrity.
SEXUAL MATERIALISM
Last Sunday, Cliff Hughes on 'Impact' brought on one purveyor of vulgarity, the owner of the Gemini Go-Go Club (euphemistically called 'exotic'), a senior gentleman who with a straight face of outrage inveighed against the poverty in the society which forces "these girls" whom he employs to 'skin out and bruk out' for lust-filled men (pardon my Victorian morality). He portrayed himself as a "saviour" who was giving these girls the opportunity to raise themselves from poverty, send their children and sometimes themselves to school. It was the ends that justified the means, Mr. Gemini implied. He spoke as though he should get a national honour!
Cliff Hughes also interviewed some of the go-go dancers who told him straight up that they were doing this for economic reasons. To top it off, there was a call girl on the show who justified her prostitution by saying it helped her to live well and send her children to school. "You caan stop these things is just the money, the money," she told Hughes and the social scientist, who were pontificating about the evils of child prostitution and urging lust-filled men to leave the children alone.
We become horrified when some higglers block the Kingston Parish Church. But everybody haffi look 'a food'. We denounce the 'mad' robot taxi drivers on the road. But they are just looking 'a food'. At the more advanced level, the people billing for work they have not done in construction, the politicians giving a 'bligh' to their friends and the public officers acquiescing to the requests of unscrupulous politicians are only manifesting symptoms of the moral decay and lack of integrity. If you don't have integrity in personal life, you can't have it in public life.
STANDARDS OF JOURNALISM
But what's the connection with journalism? The Jamaican journalist is a product of this society. He did not descend from heaven like Jesus. He is formed and socialised by this corrupt society. But the problem is that unlike the prostitutes in and outside the go-go clubs, unlike the owners of the Geminis, unlike the corrupt contractors, the journalist has enormous power. This should be used as a public trust.
If there is one thing the journalist should sound sentimental and even religious about, it is integrity. It is his umbilical cord. A politician also a powerful creature can survive without integrity but the journalist cannot. Working as a journalist in a politically tribalised country like Jamaica presents peculiar problems. Coupled with the fact that as a people we are fractious, divisive and contentious on many issues. Culturally, tolerance, even-handedness and a willingness to find common ground are not our strong points. This past week I had an interesting conversation with talk-show host Wilmot Perkins. It was refreshing, civil, cordial, even warm. He expressed concern that my consultancy work for the public sector might jeopardise my independence as a journalist. Unfortunately, because Governments are known to corrupt institutions and to use them in support of their overriding desire to stay in power, the concern is not unfounded or irrational. And, the temptation to compromise one's integrity to maintain an attractive contract is a real one.
MONEY TALKS?
What would stand between my temptation to prostitute myself and a Government's desire to stay in power? Only integrity. This is why the issue is so critical to us as journalists. But the issue faces not just journalists who might work for Government institutions. It affects the Editor-in-Chief of this newspaper, who would sometimes have to decide whether he allows a reporter to pursue a story which might be negative to the interests of a member of his powerful Gleaner Board. It's an issue that faces the Editor-in Chief of The Observer, who has to decide whether he will bring impartiality and rigour to covering stories of disputes between owner Gordon 'Butch' Stewart and the Jamaica Tourist Board or between Stewart and John Issa or issues involving Air Jamaica and British Airways. Business people have interests to protect just like politicians, and they have power too.
Frequently we put the searchlight on those who are contracted to work for Governments and ignore the challenges to integrity which every day face editors and other journalists who have to answer to a board or shareholders very interested in the bottom line and, therefore, in pleasing advertisers. Does the adage, "He who pays the piper, calls the tune" apply only to those who work for the public sector, or would it not apply to enterprising journalists like Cliff Hughes and Franklyn McKnight who, as outstanding entrepreneurial journalists, must solicit advertising support. Yet these colleagues have maintained their rigour and impartiality though they have to depend on some piping advertisers and sponsors. Even the suits Cliff Hughes wears on his television shows are not his own! 'The Breakfast Club' hosts regularly 'big up' functions and events hosted by the Hilton Hotel, which hosts them. Nobody questions that, but if you have written something for a politician it is assumed that if you say something favourable about his party, it's because you are bought. Is that fair comment?
STANDING FOR PRINCIPLE
Can't we have a cadre of people in this country who are able to serve loyally and professionally whichever Government is constitutionally elected and keep their integrity and independence intact? I give a testimony based on personal experience. In my over 20 years of working with Government Ministers (a total of 12 Ministers of Industry) on both sides, I have found that there is a respect and deference for independent, non-party activists that is unbelievable. Ministers are never in short supply of sycophants and people eager to tell them everything is okay. They really do crave to hear an honest opinion sometimes.
I remember as Press Secretary to Hugh Small giving fulsome praise to a budget speech by Bruce Golding, one of the most gripping I ever heard from any Parliamentarian. It was the year when he used the example of, I think, Miss Mattie and her low-income budget to illustrate the problems in the economy. It was rhetorically and polemically brilliant. I told Small that the speech we had worked on was inferior to that and that his presentation was too bland and that he failed to connect with the people. He disagreed with me and when I backed off thinking it was futile, he insisted, "Go on tell me what is wrong. That is why I have you here." I gave it to him that morning and kept my job.
We have so demonised our politicians that we fail to recognise as journalists how this bias interferes with our pursuit of truth. Our politicians are partly to blame, for their history is a sordid one, admittedly. But generalisation is the enemy of truth. It is true that politicians sometimes want a payback for any facility granted, but I give you another example.
In late 1986 when I was Press Secretary to JLP Minister Douglas Vaz, I conceptualised a television programme that would be motivational. JBC Television was then Government-controlled. I went to the Minister of Information, Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, and told her of my idea and asked her to speak to then general manager, Gloria Lannaman. It was done, and in no time 'Profile' was on the air. Here's the testimony. In over 15 years of this programme, both in and out of Government when she would have needed public support, 'Babsy' Grange has never called me once to suggest any guest or to ask me to do anything for her. She has even refused my request to be a guest (which I hope she will change this year).
We begin to break down the tribalism and corruption in this country by being known for our uncompromising integrity and professionalism. Permanent Secretaries and Government accounting officers must risk being fired in their stand for principle. But, interestingly, my experience has been that if you are known for your stand, certain requests won't even come to you. "Duppy know who fi frighten." If material and career advancement are our primary motivation, we are vulnerable to corruption. But, if we hold certain values as moral absolutes, we would prefer to pack our bags and go home to unemployment rather than violate our conscience. Go on and scoff at this 'moralising'. If we don't have a society with more people thinking like this, we are all doomed and all your talk about tackling corruption and political tribalism is just hogwash.
Ian Boyne is a veteran journalist and a minister of Church of God International.
