NEWSPAPER OWNERSHIP AND EDITORIAL INDEPENDENCE A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF TIDE AND GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER

NEWSPAPER OWNERSHIP AND EDITORIAL INDEPENDENCE A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF TIDE AND GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER

CHAPTER ONE

1.0     INTRODUCTION

Editorial  freedom  or  independence  is  the  concept  that editors-in-chief should have full authority over the editorial content  of  their  journal.  Like individual and  national freedom or independence, it is a rhetorical concept whose realisation flows from internal achievement as much as it  depends  on  external  validation.  From  cover  to  cover, editors have the right “to decide what is published, what is not published, when items are published, and what (if any) amendments are made prior to publication,” but they are constrained to “work within social, legal and ethical frameworks that circumscribe their freedom” and make them accountable, “in different but interlocking ways, to their  publishers,  readers  and  contributors  –  and  also  to more abstract overseers: the medical profession, science and society.” This   freedom   entails   roles   and   responsibilities (response-ability;  the  ability  to  respond)  embodied  in specific codes of practice for editors, such as the guidelines espoused  by  the  International  Committee  of  Medical Journal  Editors  (ICMJE)  and  the  World Association  of Medical Editors (WAME). The calling to embody these guidelines  makes  editing,  in  effect,  a  vocation  –  a  term that aptly describes burning both the “midnight oil” and the “candle at both ends” that all too familiarly mark the professional and personal life of any editor worth his or her salt. It also involves burning bridges, as the following lines convey: “journal editors walk a fine line.  They must aspire to impartiality, open-mindedness, and intellectual honesty. They must try to select material for its merit, interest to readers, and originality alone. They also want their journals to have a voice and a personality.  If  they  are  doing  their  jobs  well,  they should  give  no  favours,  and  they  should  have  no friends”. Thus, in its purest sense, true editorial independence demands isolation and distancing, as “editors who make final decisions about manuscripts must have no personal, professional, or financial involvement in any of the issues they might judge.”   This self-imposed separation and solitude involves bracketing one’s biases, prejudgments and preconceptions to enable evaluation of the material at hand. With such detachment (contra attachment) comes real freedom; to the extent that the editor is not beholden to person or power, office or opinion; he or she is free. Such freedom requires a moral fibre and trustworthiness that upholds truth and right, whether in full view of public scrutiny, or in the aloneness of private secrecy. “Because   medical   editors   bear   some   of   the responsibility for the reliability of published research and,  in  turn,  for  the  care  of  patients,  the  health  of the public, allocation of resources, and standards of medical  ethics  and  professional  behavior,  editors must be trustworthy. To preserve this trust, an editor must avoid giving favors, must not be beholden to any special-interest  group, and must be willing to publish articles on controversial subjects, even if they involve the organization that owns and publishes the journal”.

The media play a central role in promoting freedom of thought and expression in every society. They offer opportunities for citizens to access information on relevant political, economic and cultural information. This information in turn becomes critical for the growth, development and prosperity of a nation as an informed citizenry is more apt to contribute to national development. Public service media constitute one of the key agents for providing citizens with information, education and entertainment that is free of commercial, State or political influences and biases.

NEWSPAPER OWNERSHIP AND EDITORIAL INDEPENDENCE A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF TIDE AND GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER