Future of Investigative Journalism: Communications Committee Report

Lord St John of Bletso Excerpts

Wednesday 25th July 2012 Grand Committee

[Lord St John of Bletso]

My Lords, I join in thanking the noble Lord, Lord Inglewood, for his able chairmanship of this fascinating and timely inquiry. Clearly, as all noble Lords have mentioned, there are not just major financial challenges facing the future of investigative journalism, but the challenge of expensive litigation. Therefore it is appropriate that this report is being considered ahead of the Defamation Bill, which will come to the House later in this Parliament. I am firmly of the belief that every effort has to be made to promote a sustainable future for this vital aspect of democratic governance and accountability in the United Kingdom.

While the National Union of Journalists believes that investigative journalism is still flourishing, there is no doubt that it is under threat against the backdrop of a decline in newspaper sales and advertising revenues. I cannot add any more to the strong and compelling arguments put forward by the noble Lord, Lord Stoneham, about the need to address the business model of the print media.

There are rays of hope for the future of investigative journalism with the rise of journalism bureaux, the active involvement of the campaign sector and a new generation of networked web-savvy journalists promoting the field. However, I find it particularly alarming that local and regional newspapers are closing down with up to 40% job losses in many local newspapers.

Our report recommends that a fund should be set up that would be used to promote both investigative journalism and the training of investigative journalists. While I agree that this is an excellent idea, I query the logistics and the viability of the implementation of such a fund. However, a lot more needs to be done to promote financial investment to support this form of journalism.

Clearly, some journalists and senior newspaper executives have behaved extremely badly and let the industry down. I do not need to elaborate on that. Reporters are under increasing pressure to come up with exclusive stories and news scoops. This has led many to believe that the balance of power has shifted too much from reporters to executives, who are dictating the news agenda. Even though regulations prevent excesses and codes of good practice, I am firmly opposed to more statutory regulation of newspapers. It is generally accepted that the present system of voluntary self-regulation, as administered by the Press Complaints Commission, is in need of reform and various suggested models have been put forward. I firmly support the recommendation of the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, who cannot speak today, for the establishment of a new regulatory body that would have real powers to investigate serious breaches by the press and set firm boundaries.

The noble Lord, Lord Inglewood, pointed out that investigative journalism is suffering from inconsistencies and a lack of clarity in the law. I shall not elaborate on the sensitive issues surrounding the definition of public interest, which has been fully covered. Some have suggested that newspaper editors should be subject to regular public hearings, which would provide greater transparency and accountability. I somehow doubt that this will happen. However, one of the key recommendations of our report was that media organisations should take responsibility for their actions when deciding how to investigate and whether to publish a story. We recommended implementing the two-stage internal management process. I firmly support these recommendations. Should journalists and editors do this in a regular and structured manner, this would certainly leave an audit trail for future external scrutiny.

Every effort must be made to promote responsible, high-quality investigative journalism. We need a good seed bed of high-quality questioning. However, we also need popular programmes where a broad profession of good journalism can be nurtured. Most of the speeches today have covered the printed media and the internet. “Panorama” programmes, which I will come to later, have not been covered so much. My noble friend Lady O’Neill made a strong case for investigative journalism to hide its sources. While I agree with much of what she said, investigative journalists should be offered some form of protection for their sources, particularly the whistleblowers.

As every speaker has mentioned today, there must be incentives to provide more journalism training. The demise of the local paper industry has meant that new recruits to the national newspapers are not doing apprenticeships in local papers. Universities play a very important role in training investigative journalists. In the report, we recommend that the Government should support these educational facilities in providing useful and practical training opportunities. It is certainly encouraging that charities and trusts are now taking the lead in funding many investigative inquiries. There was a call for more clarity with the Charities Commission. It is hoped that this model can be replicated more widely.

The new scrutiny of the media and possible regulation should not just apply to the press. The public relations industry should also be more tightly controlled and held to account, particularly if they publish something that is wrong or deliberately misleading. The big question in the future is whether people will turn to other forms of media that are not regulated. One example is Twitter, which has been taking the lead, particularly among younger people who simply do not buy newspapers. It is therefore essential that we do not regulate our free press out of business.

The noble Lord, Lord Macdonald, spoke of the digital revolution and the power of search engines. Given that by its nature investigative journalism is a public interest matter and covers subjects of passion and concern to those affected, these stories are now getting out on the web through the efforts of myriad semi-professionals and people in the know, and are becoming accessible in a way that could not have been imagined 10 or 15 years ago. However, while the use of social media has greatly assisted journalists in accessing content and information expeditiously and cost-effectively, it is important that the Press Complaints Commission tightens its guidance on ensuring that materials on the net are validated and their sources verified.

I was hoping to elaborate on the future of “Panorama”, but I shall just refer to paragraph 275 of the report, which deals with penalties for breaches. In considering sanctions that could be imposed on broadcasters, I notice that Ofcom’s response to our report states that it will consider imposing a sanction only against a broadcaster that,

“has seriously, deliberately, repeatedly, or recklessly breached a relevant requirement”.

I sincerely hope that more incentives can be given for more use of the media, particularly the broadcast media, in bringing investigative journalistic issues to the fore.

In conclusion, while hacking has put journalism under the spotlight and the business model of printed media has certainly come under increasing strain, investigative journalism is in the public interest and absolutely invaluable to our society, and every effort should be made to promote it.