By SAS
In late-March, an article suggesting half of the UK’s population had already been infected with coronavirus was published in the Financial Times. The article cited an Oxford University scholar from the Evolutionary Ecology of Infectious Disease group. Public speculation on this topic is understandably rife, with countries such as the UK, the US and Australia still sorely lacking in Covid-19 testing resources and clear containment strategies. This naturally leads to the assumption that many cases are multiplying undetected. However, not only did this Times article bolster the infamous and now abandoned ‘herd immunity’ government line, but it subsequently emerged that the study was not peer-reviewed, and that it was sent to the media by a public relations company with government links. When this came to light the damage had already been done.
In Australia meanwhile, the announcement of the Australian Associated Press’ closure last month was quickly overshadowed by the all-consuming Covid-19 pandemic. Though a less recognised name than its ex-corporate backers Nine and News Corp, AAP is responsible for a good percentage of the copy and photos seen in mainstream publications. Thus the hit to Australian journalism is bigger than we might think. With Coronavirus misinformation currently being spread unchecked by media outlets, particularly by outlets susceptible to those (e.g. Clive Palmer) who will pay for its dissemination, it’s now as important as ever to have fact-based and scrutinised coverage. This misinformation is particularly alarming given that companies are capitalising on the heightened public anxiety as well as changes to daily life brought on by social distancing, by reminding us what we can watch, subscribe to, and get delivered to us through this lockdown. In turn, the media are naturally giving air to things that we will click on i.e. all things corona: accuracy is a secondary concern to profit.
The loss of 500 or so job with some staff being picked up by News Corp and Nine – is not the only reason we should be worried about this latest media dissolution. The concentration of media nation-wide into two main competitors results in a loss of accountability that can come from alternative news sources, and if those competitors are not invested in high quality work, will lead to less reliable information. For instance, news clients previously using the copy and photos will have to do the work previously done by AAP; work that consists of time-consuming background journalism (boring but important work). Whether this work will continue to get done is uncertain. Many of these outlets have already demonstrated that they won’t dedicate enough resources to fact-check their journalism.
The two investors behind AAP unashamedly admitted that they didn’t want to continue their funding of a company which benefited their competition, namely smaller media organisations such as the Guardian. As intended, many organisations that rely on AAP to fill their content won’t be able to survive. Perhaps Nine and NewsCorp think they can find a balance between filing in what they got from AAP and cutting content, but it is inevitable that the expenses involved in sending journalists to do time-consuming coverage will induce them to cut corners. This is the business model of our economic climate.
The photography side of journalism will be equally affected. A staff member at AAP told the Meddler that they predict more photos will be scraped off social media or supplied by public relation firms working on behalf of political parties and corporations alike, rather than from photojournalists. “Photos will be less professional, more biased, and a lot of things won’t be covered” he said. This is important because images are what people look at first and they are what stick in our minds after the words have faded. When analysed, they can reveal as much bias as an article, but are impervious to allegations of falsehood.
AAP’s collapse means less impartiality and less objective photojournalism in Australia. Media diversity has reached an all-time low, just when we need it the most. It will be interesting to see whether the AAP workers will maintain their standards despite the new media environment they find themselves in, and whether smaller news outlets will be able to survive. Hopefully balanced journalism isn’t buried along with the AAP.
The Coburg Meddler 