Do Specialist Journalists Benefit From Extra Insight Through Improved Sources Or Do They Lose Their Objectivity?
By Edward Asta 11289267
Legal fights, a contacts book filled with the most powerful names in British Politics and football games with the Westminster Press team. It’s all part of what makes Sky News Political Team one of the most uncompromising and informative specialist teams in the world. The man who handpicked and has run this team over the last 19 years is forty nine year old Adam Boulton, a man who the hosts his own award winning current affairs show on Sunday mornings and was once described by Former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, as ‘insanely clever’.
Boulton is widely considered one of the best political editors in the business and is the only reporter to have ever doorstepped the Queen. But Despite his close marriage to his work which includes a happy one to Blair’s very own spin doctor, Anji Hunter, he has managed to maintain a level of impartiality which has earned himself the love, respect and fear of all those who enter his circle of trust. In the midst of a slow Tuesday news day, I grab a quick coffee with the sharp witted and explosive character in is second home, Millbank studios.
The question on my lips is not do journalists get into bed with politicians to further their careers, individual cases are fraught with intricacies, but how does Boulton see the overall state of Political journalism in Britain and what has kept him the fly on the wall in the corridors of power for so long? overage of proceedings at Westminster is the oldest and most scrutinized specialist area in journalism, but why have Editors always considered politics to need expert knowledge from a trusted source. Adam Boulton explains.
News organisations are afraid of politics and feel they need trustworthy people who abide by the rules of impartiality and balanced reporting to do the job. For many people the idea of spending their time exclusively around Westminster is a drawback. As a result, despite Political editors being one of the most valuable assets to a newsroom it is not always the most competitive field.
The outcome of newsrooms needing people to explain complex political and financial matters, ranging from tax budgets to sex scandals and ideological debates, combined with the lack of reporters willing and capable of dealing with such an array of topics means the turnover of political journalists is slow. As a result reporters in Westminster can get too close to their subject matter. Boulton thinks his intimate knowledge of work has many positives, and doesn’t believe there is a natural progression to partisan coverage.
Being in a closed environment for a long time means you can get to know the politicians from the junior ranks as they rise up the pyramid, which can improve your understanding of a their methods and drive, it also means you get a feel for the seriousness of a particular story, for example if it can force a resignation or a major rebellion or more. The danger is some people get too native, as can happen, but we must remember we are always doing the basic job of telling general reader what you’re covering.
As long as journalists remain outsiders looking in and remain true to the core principles of the profession, which are clear and accurate reporting, specialist journalists can use there experience and cultivated bank of sources to shed light into holes where general reporters would struggle to find an entrance.
Alastair Campbell is the highest profile casualty in Politics to cross the line from being an objective news gatherer to becoming the object of the news. The line is also frequently crossed in the opposite direction. Nick Robinson, the current Political Editor for the BBC, is one journalist who has followed this path. It cannot be denied some journalists who work in Millbank, the epicentre for British Political Journalism, have or had a political stance or background. It is argued by Peter Hitchens, the Mail on Sunday columnist, a reporter with a political affiliation can no longer be trusted to deliver fair accounts. Yet Boulton thinks this comes with the territory and doesn’t affect their objectivity.
People who cover politics are quite often interested in the subject and at some stage it manifested itself in political activism, usually at a young age. Nick Robinson is well know Junior Conservative, and his former boss, Andrew Marr, was called Red Andy at Cambridge. I don’t hold people affiliations against them but it’s not my model. I’m not a political animal.
Despite accepting Political Journalists are capable of objective reporting despite being partisans in the past, Boulton does steer clear of making personal decisions relating to politics as he feels it makes his job harder and could compromise his objectivity.
Since I became a Political Journalist I haven’t voted. Making a personal decision just complicates the job and makes it harder for me to understand where other people are coming from. It’s a system I’m comfortable with and I know Sir David Frost is the same. A lot of us vote, I don’t blame them for that but I’m not fascinated in politics, I took this job because during the mid eighties politics was the biggest gig in town and I was offered a shot at it. What interests me is doing a public deliverance and informing people about what’s going on and allow them to make the decision.
Knowing people within your specialist patch through past experiences is always helpful for a young journalist starting out. In Political journalism this is no different but because the journalists cannot name their sources and the issues dealt with are so significant, viewers can conger romantic images of under cover reporters fighting for the truth or the opposite. Yet the reality is far less misty. Boulton explains more sources are developed through the day to day grind of producing news and dealing with people fairly rather than tip-offs.
Communicating is what politicians do, they want people to know what they’re doing, and therefore they are willing to speak to you. In television, what we do is conveying the information in a digestible form, if I want to do a story on housing I speak to the Housing Minister and they are usually happy to speak to me, it’s not all Watergate. The point is you get to know people doing the agenda stuff then your relationship improves and they start to let you know about gossip and other stories, equally it can be difficult sometimes you speak to people who you know are in trouble, so you need a due detachment.
For general reporters keeping a due detachment is easier, stories and people come and go at the whim of your superiors however specialists do not have this luxury. Having said that Politicians and journalists need to be in several places at once and when it is not possible for them to converse face to face or when the outlines of an interview need to be considered Reporters have to speak politicians Press Relations staff. To some, PR’s manipulate the coverage of an event to suit their employees’ line, thus reducing the objectivity of the primary evidence journalists work with, but PR’s do act as a much needed buffer between the specialist journalist and politicians. Adam Boulton sees truth in both arguments.
In most cases you don’t get a chance to speak to a politician directly but the party usually tries to push stuff to you, it can be a legitimate process. It can be the most efficient way of conducting business. They can be very good source. But it is a generational thing. People of the same age tend to get on better with each other and therefore your personal relationship with them grows. I know politicians of my age, for example Peter Mandelson, so if I need them I’ll ring them directly, but the young guy in our office has to go and play football with the PR’s because it’s important to us.
Maintaining a healthy working relationship with your subjects and giving air time to politicians, so they can explain there actions, is a legitimate process. All journalists rely on sources from previous stories to help further their knowledge on current stories and improve their coverage. This is no different for specialist journalists, but within the realm of politics these relationships can also provide a steady stream of major breaking news. Boulton thinks the contact list him and his team have created give them a competitive advantage.
As a result of these relationships we at Sky News have been able to give the result of the last two Liberal Democrat leadership contests, before they were announced.
For a newsroom exclusive inside knowledge is desperately sought after. But all the schmoozing and back slapping is worthless unless both parties accept they are in it for different reasons. There are certain ways that both parties are expected to act to preserve the flow of information. Boulton sheds some light on the Whitehall protocols.
The most important thing is too treat people fairly. When you tell them what you want to do, do it. People feel like they have been burnt when you ring them up and say you want to talk to them about one thing and then speak to them about another. At the same time you’re interested as a journalist and they are interested as a politician, your aims are not the same. Sometimes you just have to publish. On the other hand, Hilary Clinton was absolutely right to get annoyed with Gary Paige when he changed the terms of the interview without her knowledge.
Keeping your contacts informed about what you are doing with their information is essential for journalists to maintain trust with them. The danger comes when a specialist journalist is so well informed others can read too much into their words and start legal action. Boulton has not been in this situation himself, but realises the dangers associated with live broadcasting and Westminster’s rumour mill.
The type of journalism I do is mostly unscripted, so you have to be instinctively sure footed. You need to know what you can and can’t say and how to protect yourself. If you don’t know you can get into all sort of trouble fairly quickly. But it’s also its very very difficult to spot where legal troubles may arise.
Legal issues are a constant threat to all journalists but the nature of Politics throws a couple more curve balls at the Millbank elite. Members of Parliament fight tooth and nail to maintain their credibility, which means even the most obscure issue can cause a scandal. Boulton explains.
The two legal problems I have faced both came from unlikely situations. In one situation, I interviewed a Conservative who said a Labour MP was a liar. I reported this to the Labour MP, who then tried to sue both me and the Conservative MP! I won this case as it was deemed fair and accurate reporting. The other time I was sued for defamation because I used a cut away of the audience applauding Arthur Scargill and a left wing Trade Unionist woman in the audience didn’t want seen to be clapping him. The odd thing about legal issues is they tend not to result from the most difficult and most sensitive stuff.
So the specialists who have to broadcast do not face more unique legal issues compared to general reporters. Yet, there inside knowledge when dealing with squabbles and rumours can draw them into conversations a general reporter may miss.
To conclude, if we are to believe the BBC’s political correspondent Andrew Marr assertion ‘Journalism is the industrialisation of gossip’ we must accept that all journalists are expected to cultivate sources and to improve there and the publics understanding of a story. As a result of there constant exposure to there topic specialist journalists can gather better quality gossip, and some may loose their objectivity. However as long as journalists do not short change their viewers with the information they possess and try to adhere to the basic principles of fair and accurate reporting there is no natural progression for a journalist to partisan coverage.
Within the system there is room for political affiliations, being politically active in the past and knowing people within parties as a result does not necessarily lead to better stories.
When a journalist is so close to a subject for such a long time it can bring with it a lot of assumed knowledge, for instance people can read too much into your actions and reports. This can bring with it the threat of legal action. It does also work the other way around. If you are know as a straight talking person to your sources they will trust you not to talk in innuendos. Those who write about specialist and political journalism in such scandalous tones can be accused of the same tricks of all journalists are blamed of, which is over selling the story.
It’s Not All Watergate.
