A recent investigation has found that nearly 55% of stories in the mainstream media are driven by public relations, or corporate spin. Spinning the Media was a joint investigation by Crikey.com and the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism, headed by Wendy Bacon, based at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS).
Crikey.com said on March 15: "The Daily Telegraph came out on top of the league ladder with 70% of stories analysed triggered by public relations. The Sydney Morning Herald gets the wooden spoon with (only) 42% PR-driven stories for that week."
Australia's most hard-hitting newspaper editors didn't take this beating lying down. They hit back with sharp and insightful comments. David Fagan from the Courier Mail told Crikey.com the same day: "Just because it came out of PR, it doesn't mean we shouldn't cover it." Take that, Crikey.
Brett McCarthy from the West Australian said: "If it's news it's news — it doesn't matter where it comes from." Yeah you tell 'em, Brett!
Garry Bailey from the Hobart Mercury said, "We have to rely on PR, it's how businesses and organisations communicate". Enough said.
At least Chris Mitchell, editor in chief of theAustralian, had something vaguely interesting to say.
He told UTS student Sasha Pavey: "It's very difficult I think, given the way resources have drifted from journalism to public relations over the past 30 years, to break away as much as you really want to … I guess I'm implying, the number of people who go to communications school and go into PR over the years has increased and the number in journalism has shrunk even more dramatically."
This "drift" is inevitable under a system that puts everything at the disposal of corporate profit instead of social need, including the need for honest, critical and investigative journalism.
Bacon and Pavey wrote on Crikey.com: "Our investigation strongly confirms that journalism in Australia today is heavily influenced by commercial interests selling a product, and constrained and blocked by politicians, police and others who control the media message."
None of this will come as a surprise to Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly readers. But for so many people around Australia, the mainstream media is the only available outlet for "news".
But you can help us reach out to more people. You can help GLW — an independent media outlet notdriven by corporate spin and PR — grow by making a much-needed donation today. GLW, in the words of John Pilger, is "an agent of the people", not profit.
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