Punishing reporters would cause row in U.S.
If the President of the United States tried to punish journalists because he thought they were not reporting fairly it would become a major political issue, says an American professor visiting New Zealand. Professor Peter Grothe was commenting on the Government’s decision to charge rents to the news organisations covering Parliament. He wanted it made clear that he was not telling another country how to run its affairs but was saying what would happen if the equivalent happened in the United States. Professor Grothe was in Christchurch yesterday as part of a tour run by the United States International Communications Agency. He specialises in journalism and is professor of international policy studies at the Monterey Institute of InternationafStudies in California, primarily a post-
graduate institute for students planning to enter international service or international business. “The freedom of the press is something that is very basic in the American mentality and it (punishment over reporting) would be perceived as an infringement of the freedom of the press,” he said. Professor Grothe cited what had happened during the invasion of Grenada, when American journalists were not allowed to land there for two days — the first time since World War II when the press was not allowed to cover battle action. He said that there was a big outcry from the press. “In fact,” Professor Grothe said, “the Administration was probably wrong from its own point of view doing that because the American presence was welcomed by the citizens of Grenada and had the tele-
vision cameras been there to photograph the embraces the local people gave to the American Marines it would have been politically popular for the Administration.” Asked about how the press was regarded in the United States, Professor
Grothe said that Americans tended to suspect politicians and that most American major institutions were held in less respect than used to be the case, including the Government, the churches, and the news media.
According to the polls, people thought that newspapers were less reliable than television. However, if he really wanted to know what was happening he would not watch the television news but read the “New York Times,” the “Washington Post,” or the “Christian Science Monitor.” America’s worst newspapers could be terrible but the best ones were distinguished and held in high esteem.
“Walter Cronkite, the recently retired anchorman, has been called the most trusted man in America, which indicates something of the regard In which television news is held,” Professor Grothe said.
He argued that radio was the alerting medium, television the involving medium, and print was the informing medium. People found out about news first on radio, they became emotionally involved in the event through television, and they read newspapers when they really wanted to know what was happening.
The news media played an especially important role in the American democracy because as the American President was not a member of the legislative body he did not have to answer questions before the loyal opposition, so the only time the President was held accountable, in a systematic way, for his Administration was before the press, which was tough and probing and asked difficult and awkward questions of any President. This was especially true since Watergate.
“They really see themselves as playing the adversary role, which I think is healthy for a democracy,” said Professor Grothe. He said that the news media in the United States performed the same functionary role as a Prime Minister’s question hour in a Parliamentary democracy such as existed in New Zealand. As long aS probing of a politician was done in a respectful manner, tough, hard questioning was respected. “Investigative reporting, especially since Watergate, is a very honoured tradition in America,” said Professor Grothe. Since Woodward and Bernstein (the Watergate reporters) for the “Washington Post”) wrote their book and a film starring Robert Redford as a journalist had been made, journalists had
become heroes in the United States.
“The rolls in journalism schools have trebled and people get ahead by doing good investigative reporting. They are given an open licence whether it takes you one day, or one month, or one year to get the information.
“Because it is an honoured tradition, people think that politicians and people in public life, in business, or labour should be held accountable for their actions. In a way the press has a licence to ask the kind of questions the public would like to ask if they were given the chance. They journalists) are surrogates for the public.” On the question of television cameras following the Minister of Customs, Mr Allen, Professor Grothe said that if the same thing happened in the United States it would be thought to be the
proper role for the press. It would be a legitimate thing to do. It would not be an issue. “If the President took umbrage with the press about it then it would be an issue.” On the question of whether the press ought to be recorders or stenographers, Professor Grothe said that as a political scientist he thought that it was necessary to quote both the Government and the Opposition and in their reportage journalists should be constantly probing and asking difficult questions. “The only countries where you find the press playing the role of stenographers are the totalitarian States’* and the dictatorships, where the press has more a mobilisation function ... in the Soviet Union the press does, have more the stenographer’s role ...”
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Press, 11 April 1984, Page 9
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917Punishing reporters would cause row in U.S. Press, 11 April 1984, Page 9
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