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[Lite Beer]

Phuket Opinion: Legacy of accuracy in black and white
Phuket Gazette -

Black and white is still the best way to see what's really out there. Image: Gazette Graphics

PHUKET: With advances in information technology in recent years, much has been said about the “inevitable” demise of print media.

Few among us would deny that we are living in a time of breathtaking change in the way news is delivered, consumed and shared.

Copyright laws are becoming virtually unenforceable in our global world, and the new reality is that we can download just about every form of digital information produced with little more fear of adverse consequences than might arise from running a red light on the streets of Phuket.

As one aging social commentator comically portrayed the new status quo: “I remember a time when water was free and we had to pay for pornography.”

On a more serious note, it is important to remember that all technologies can be double-edged swords.

As the great Daniel Dennett so perfectly phrased it: “We used to think that secrecy was perhaps the greatest enemy of democracy, and as long as there was no suppression or censorship, people could be trusted to make the informed decisions that would preserve our free society, but we have learned in recent years that the techniques of misinformation and misdirection have become so refined that, even in an open society, a cleverly directed flood of misinformation can overwhelm the truth, even though the truth is out there, uncensored, quietly available to anyone who can find it.”

Multimedia organizations such as the Phuket Gazette are faced with numerous risks and challenges, many of which are not always well understood by readers. Producing accurate and informative news stories is difficult and sometimes dangerous work that involves a great deal of effort and expense.

Threats of lawsuits are an ever-present danger in Thailand, where freedom of the press laws are relatively weak. As a result, the expression “when in doubt, cut it out” is the mantra used in most newsrooms.

Some social media enthusiasts are quick to brand the print media as a tree-killing industry headed for extinction. However, the very real need for media companies to maintain accuracy might just turn out to be a saving grace for news providers.

Those who are quick to put trust in social media as their primary information source should consider the case of the “Worst Twerk Ever – Girl Catches Fire” video that recently appeared on YouTube. A few weeks after “going viral”, it was revealed as a hoax.

We have certainly come a long way since the Dark Ages, when dogma, blind faith and intimidation trumped curiosity, skepticism and reason. The downside is that parents these days face a daunting challenge in teaching their children the information literacy skills needed to thrive in this digital revolution.

Whatever those skills may be, the Gazette remains fully committed to serving as the oldest and most trusted source of English-language news and information in the South of Thailand.

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2013/Phuket-Opinion-Legacy-of-accuracy-in-black-and-white-22429.html

-- Phuket Gazette 2013-10-06

[LivinginKata]

"Whatever those skills may be, the Gazette remains fully committed to serving as the oldest and most trusted source of English-language news and information in the South of Thailand."

PG might be the oldest here in Phuket, but I trust none of them to report accurately.

[Guest]

There is no longer print media. We have media companies, which produce news and reports to the public, whether it's printed to paper is irrelevant.

I would divide reporting to five different categories.

- Daily news (accidents, events)

- Press release rewriting (The governor of Phuket stated this and that)

- Reporting (Asking real and hard questions on the interview)

- Investigative journalism (The diamond of journalism. Doing lengthy searches to specific subject to get to the bottom of the issue. Finding the root cause. )

- Entertainment (Sports, culture, twerking)

Now on top of that, there is is plenty of adnews reporting. Writing positive stories about the advertisers. Masking those as 'news'.

I'm personally quite tired of reading the news, all the bad things which are happening on this island. Even if I don't like to read these anymore, I think it's highly important to bring the problems to the public eye. After all the problems has to be acknowledged before there will be solutions.

News could be also about the things which has getting better on the island, not just negative complaints. I often hear when talking to media persons, that people don't want to read about these good news, but I don't believe it. It's time to change the attitude. Show the improvements as it gives hope for the future. This is hugely important in the societies. Write more about the sciences as that is one major source for good news.

What I wish to see more, is good reporting. Reporters asking questions. Not just the few default questions they have when they go to the interviews, but questions which should arise during the interviews. Every now and then I read an article which does not leave me with more questions and my hunger for information is satisfied, but these are rare moments. Push the boundaries and teach your reporters to think two moves in advance.

Entertainment is the soft news. This category is mostly feeling based. Not really needed for the sake knowledge, but it sure feels good. Twerking is fun and can give few laughs. F1 racing and football are soap operas for boys. Art and nice photos can give good feeling for the ones who are interested of the subject. Ah, I almost forgot to mention. There is never too much photo reports of Miranda Kerr and Jessica Alba.

I know quite a few media people and generally like the company of reporters. They are often well informed what is happening locally and globally they also often are able to think analytically to see the cause and effect, which is one way to see in to the future.

One thing in common for the reporters I know is that they always seem to have lack of time to do real investigative journalism. The need for speed of getting the news out unfortunately dampens the news medias. Could this be different? Is it really so important to get the news out couple of minutes or hours before other medias, that it's worth of risking the integrity of the news itself? Does your readers really want to know about the latest mured, before facts has been checked and the 'why, how, why again' questions has been answered?

One of the ideas I have been trying to push to my home country journalists, is to learn from tech companies, which let's their workers to spend 20% of their time to do almost whatever they wish to do. This is normally a very good way to increase motivation of the creative people and it has brought various of new inventions in companies like Google.

Why not to try the same model within the media companies. Let the reporters to do investigative journalism for 20% of their work hours. This would likely produce high quality reports which the reporters could be proud of, which would be worth of reading for us consumers and it would bring good reputation for the media company. Who would not like to write an Pulitzer prize winning articles?

Anyway it's good to see that the local medias are thinking and analyzing what they are doing. That's the way to produce better news. You also need this to be able to compete with the citizen journalism. Quality, not the speed, is the key. As a reader I wish to trust my news providers.

[jocko]

I agree, there just seems now a big rush just to sell newspapers in days gone buy the good newspapers had investigative journalists in house and they where given time for a good story but that doesn't seem to be the case now with many papers, They seem to use freelance journalists for this work.