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THE WATCHDOG ROLE OF NEWSPAPERS: ANALYSING PRINT WALKLEY WINNERS 1956-2011.
Andrea Carson
University of Melbourne
ABSTRACT
This paper examines the Australian print media’s award winning contributions to investigative journalism over seven decades. The paper uses qualitative analysis of newspaper stories from selected categories of the peer-reviewed Walkley awards for journalism to determine major trends of print investigative journalism since the award’s inception in 1956. In performing the analysis firstly an operational definition of investigative journalism was derived that takes into account both the academic literature and views some of Australia’s prominent media practitioners. This paper specifically looks at the ‘targets’ of investigative stories and their relationship to the public interest, and whether these have changed over time. It maps newspapers’ placement and promotion of their award-winning stories, use of sources, possible collaborations, and longer-term public outcomes of investigative reports. Finally, in the digital media era where print newspaper revenues and circulations have fallen in Australia, this study, part of a wider PhD thesis, draws conclusions about the effect the changed economic and technological landscape has had on print investigative journalism. This includes implications for the dynamic relationship between investigative journalism, the public interest and democratic accountability.
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
In June 2012 Australia's two largest media groups, Fairfax Media and New Limited, which between them own 90 per cent of Australia's newspapers (Tiffen 2010, 87) announced almost 2000 jobs to be lost from their vast newspaper operations (Carson 2012). The announcement was not a surprise; what was surprising was the scale of the cutbacks, Kate McClymont, from The Sydney Morning Herald, said there was “numbness pervading the SMH newsroom” following the announcement (Norrie 2012).
In essence, Fairfax announced it would abandon the broadsheet tradition of the 180-year SMH, Australia's oldest continuously published newspaper. Likewise its 160-year-old sister paper in Melbourne, The Age, would also end its broadsheet origins. These daily metropolitan newspapers would become tabloid-sized print newspapers by March 2013. The media group would also erect paywalls for readers to pay for access to online editions and apps of the papers by January 2013. In addition, Fairfax would close its 'state-of-the-art' printing press on the outskirts of Melbourne, built nine years prior to this announcement for a cost of $230 million. Instead, the tabloid version of the paper would be printed in northern Victoria and freighted back on the equivalent of a three-hour journey by road to the capital city centre to be distributed through the usual networks of trucks and newsagents to arrive on readers' doorsteps by sunrise each day. In the process of these changes 1900 jobs are to be shed, with an estimated 400 jobs cut from the editorial floors of Sydney and Melbourne.
Similarly, at News Limited, the job loss numbers, although not stated explicitly, were estimated by the industry to be in the hundreds (Hall 2012), from the editorial function of the nationwide news group.
Both News Limited and Fairfax announced they would be increasing the amount of content that they share within their respective media companies and centralise some editorial decision-making. For some, this was interpreted as reducing local content, and replacing it with centralised content decided from Sydney (Rourke 2012).
The decision to restructure the newspaper operations of both companies was consistent with the international context of newspaper businesses in the developed world.
In Australia, as in many Western liberal democracies such as the United States of America and Britain, newspaper revenues and circulations are declining (Schudson 2003, p 175). The reverse is true in some less developed nations such as India and the Middle East. But, in Australia and the West the decline has been attributed to technological, cultural, economic and political changes (Franklin 2008a, 630).
Technological development is the most commonly cited reason for the fall in hardcopy circulations because technology has engendered other media: radio, television and more recently the Internet, which compete with newspapers for advertising revenues and audience share.
The rise in 'new media' technologies is strongly linked to falls in newspaper advertising, which is the major income source for mastheads, particularly in Australia (Samuel 2010). Newspapers also get income from hardcopy sales, but these sales barely cover distribution costs (Samuel 2010).
The decline of newspaper circulations is not an overnight phenomenon. They have been losing paying readers since the late 1980s as media audiences have fragmented. In Australia, the peak of circulation for tabloids was the late 1970s and for broadsheets it was the early 1980s (Hills 2010). But, the steepest fall in newspaper sales occurred between 1990 and 2000 (Simons 2007, 29).
The advertising market has also fragmented. No longer is advertising coupled to media. Non-media entities including: dedicated classified advertising websites, search engines and billboards have taken a significant proportion of advertising share. Thus, the Internet has not only increased competition for classified advertising, it has driven down the price of classified advertising, both online and in hardcopy (Young 2010).
Cultural factors also contribute to circulation falls, such as faster-paced lifestyles that eschew the leisurely read of a daily newspaper (Franklin 2008a, 634). In Australia, urban sprawl contributed to many evening newspaper readers abandoning their daily commute home on the train, and with it the newspaper habit consigned for reading at this time (Franklin 2008a, 635).
Concurrent with these changes, newspaper ownership structures have altered over the last century for economic, political and legal reasons. This has led to unprecedented concentration of ownership of newspapers in Australia (Simons 2007, 30; Jones 2009, 147). Consequently, editorial concerns have arisen over newspaper journalism standards, such as: the potential lack of plurality of opinion, diversity of stories, and news selection. (House of Representatives 1992).
The reduction of mastheads saw irreversible falls in newspaper penetration. For example, the late 1980s saw all daily evening newspapers close. Official figures show newspaper penetration fell irrevocably by 50 per cent in this period (Tiffen 2009, 181).
Falling newspaper revenues have triggered general cost cutting, including reducing the number of full-time editorial staff, with the most recent round of cuts mentioned above. The June 2012 announcement was the sixth cut for Fairfax in less than a decade (MEAA 2008, 4). To contain costs, some newspapers have limited expensive forms of journalism. This has included cutting back resources for foreign bureaus, and investigative journalism and downsizing political bureaus (Kelley 2009). To bolster sales, the general news trend has drifted from ‘hard’ news to ‘soft’ news stories to capture the biggest, broadest readership. This has variously been described as commercialisation, 'dumbing down', newszak, and tabloidisation of news (Franklin 2008b, 16).
This paper is concerned specifically with the effects of the declining newspaper market on investigative journalism. Investigative journalism takes time and is expensive. It produces fewer stories than other genres of reporting because of the research and verification work involved. Investigative journalism is expensive because it often requires journalists to travel; it takes journalists away from the daily news cycle; and it runs a higher risk of attracting litigation due to its scrutiny of powerful figures who may seek to stop the investigations through legal means.
Leaving Australia's signature television programs such as the ABC's Four Corners to one side, generally this type of reporting has been the domain of newspapers, especially broadsheet newspapers (Jones 2009, 6-8). Broadsheets traditionally attract a discerning, educated audience concerned about public accountability and transparency (McNair 2000, 16).
It is contended that in the past broadsheets had time and staff (and money) to pursue lengthy, difficult investigations. Tabloid newspapers can also produce valuable investigative stories, but generally have different news values, and are less concerned with lengthy investigative pieces; their stories are targeted toward a readership whose interests are predominantly daily news, entertainment and sport.
Similarly, broadcast and online media are better adept at delivering breaking news. Their strength is speed, not depth. They employ fewer journalists compared to newspapers (Baker 2009, 1). The paradigmatic shift from hard news to soft news poses a broader problem for the traditional role that journalism has played safeguarding democracy.
Investigative journalism is hard news. By definition, it investigates those with power in society, and whether that power is exercised appropriately and responsibly. It makes hard-to-come-by information available to the public, who can judge it and, in some cases, use it to inform their voting intention. Investigative journalism can be the dedicated watchdog that, when performed well, will safeguard democracy through public disclosure.
However, in Australia, print investigative journalism is under threat because of the aforementioned technological, social, economic and political changes affecting newspapers' economic model. These changes have resulted in fewer mastheads and smaller revenues for surviving newspapers, and by next year will result in fewer broadsheets. After March 2013, Australia will have just two daily metropolitan broadsheets: The Australian (News Limited) and the Canberra Times (Fairfax).
Therefore, investigative journalism is the focus here for several key reasons. First, a quantifiable study of it in the Australian print media has not been done. Second, investigative journalism is an established strength of broadsheets. Third, two prime Australian broadsheets (The Age and SMH) will convert to tabloid publications shortly. It sets a benchmark for analysis of the contribution to investigative journalism and the public sphere from print or other media in the future.
METHOD
The aim was to examine the role broadsheet newspapers haveplayed supporting democratic accountability in Australiathrough contributing investigative journalism to the public sphere.
The content analysis of investigative journalism undertaken will make possible comparisons between the contribution of tabloids and broadsheets, and also newer media forms such as online, radio and television. The sample size was 187 awards (stories) from nine broad entry categories. The list of award winners and their respective categories is contained in Appendix A.
The research outlined here is a small component of a larger PhD thesis. Here, the study focuses on the results of one of the four research methods used, which applied content analysis to a relevance sample of Walkley award winning journalism over seventy years since 1956—when the awards began.
The Walkley Awards provide a unique sample of peer-reviewed journalism, and have recognised prestige within the Australian media community. As media academic Penny O'Donnell, stated: ‘The Walkley Awards are widely regarded as the leading media industry prizes in Australia’ (2009, 26).Industry support for the awards can be gauged by the l300 entries it attracts each year (O'Donnell 2009, 27).
The nine categories for analysis were a range of 'print' and 'all media' categories that would include examples of investigative journalism. Choosing which categories to include was not a simple task as the Walkley award categories have been amended and reformed over the years. The categories, 'best news report' and 'newspaper and magazine feature writing' are the only original entry categories since 1956. There are currently 33 categories available. Many have undergone name changes and have been broadened to include other media. Further, there is no single repository containing the award winning stories, therefore finding each winner was a time-consuming exercise taking approximately an hour for each story; a total of 187 hours.
The first major change to the awards since beginning was in 1978 when extra categories were included to encompass radio and television journalism. The awards were significantly added to again in 1991, and the specific 'investigative journalism' entry was offered. This is not to say that other categories do not contain examples of investigative journalism. They do.
The most recent reform was in 2009. According to Dempster this was to acknowledge the changing delivery platforms of journalism, and to address some concerns of bias (2009, 25). Presently, the awards are open to all journalists— although non-union members pay higher entry fees. Before 1996, it was mandatory for journalists to be union members to enter (O'Donnell 2010).
In 2011seven of the nine studied categories are open to all forms of media. These are useful for showing what medium wins when media compete directly with one another. Of the two media-specific categories, 'best print news story' is an original print category and is a useful measure of hownewspapers' investigative journalism compared when peer-reviewed. The other media-specific category, 'best online journalism' was included in the sample to assess 'new media's' contributions to award-winning investigative journalism. The 'Gold Walkley'category is the only award that is not self-nominated.
To analyse the award-winning stories, the first step was to locate them. This was a difficult task. The Walkley Foundation has a list of winners with publication and year, but little other detail. In some cases the Foundation had no record of a story's headline or date of publication. Some of its records were missing, inaccurate or incomplete.
Through access to hardcopy newspapers, microfilm, microfiche, and online databases Lexis Nexis and Factiva, and through emailing and telephoning award winning journalists, and reading about award winning stories in several Australian media books (Hurst 1988; Hutton & Tanner 1979), all but five winning stories were located.[1]
A computer database using Macintosh’s Bento software enabled the author to create individual recording sheets with more than 50 fields of data for each story. The data gathered ranged from categorical to numerical information such as date, publication, page number, word length, style of writing, journalist's name, story title, and so forth. A blank data sheet is provided in Appendix B. The social outcomes of award-winning investigative stories were documented wherever possible. This was achieved by cross-referencing the stories with media databases, sometimes years ahead to determinepublic interest consequences, such as: judicial inquiries, altered legislation, criminal charges and so on.
Defining investigative journalism
A robust debate exists about whether investigative reporting is a distinct genre of journalism. Some journalists such as Truth and National Times reporter, and multi-Walkley winner Evan Whitton (2012) and Channel Seven's Ross Coulthard (2012), as well as The Australian's Hedley Thomas (2012) believe all reporting should be called investigative reporting. There is merit in this argument. But it is not the view taken here. Investigative journalism is different to other types of reporting because of its function – what it aims to do – and its methods, which involve greater time and effort than daily reporting (Tiffen 1999).
In essence, an analysis of definitions of investigative journalism by a range of international and Australian media theorists— including Hugo de Burgh (2000), Theodore Glasser and James Ettema (1984; 1988), Rodney Tiffen (1989; 1999; 2009; 2010), David McKnight (1999) and Marni Cordell (2009) —identify some common defining qualities about investigative journalism. For example, stories defined as investigative journalism were often stories about a 'truth'—hidden or unknown or not thought of in such a way before. The information may not be strictly new, but it is revelatory. The 'truth' serves the public interest, meaning the story is not simply scandalous or voyeuristic. A moral standard is often implied. It may be in seeking a 'truth' about past events but using new information, or it might be a revision of an accepted version of 'truth', which is revisited when the factual basis of the original account is questioned. Investigative journalism also challenges veracity in a way that daily reporting does not (Rusbridger in de Burgh 2000). It is persistent. One phone call is not enough. Investigative journalism can be an inquiry of those with power on behalf of the powerless. It can take on an advocacy role to give a voice to those without means.
To explicitly define features of investigative journalism for this study, a list of 10 investigative story elements was drafted from a conflation of definitions from the literature. Space considerations do not allow for elaboration other than to say it followed an exhaustive literature review. Essentially, these defining elements could be reduced to nine separate questions:
- Does the article set the public agenda/ is it somehow exclusive?
- Is the story an example of active journalism?
- Is there evidence of time and research?
- Does the story investigate?
- Is the story of political relevance or of some import to the public sphere?
- Does it identify victims or villains?
- Does it investigative a breach of public trust?
- Pursues a suppressed truth (that is in the public interest)
- Is a moral standard implied?
As this research is about Australian journalism, a tenth category was added: provinciality. International stories 'passed' as investigative pieces only if they were shown to be about Australians or Australian issues pertinent to the public sphere rather than merely of interest to Australian readers.
Rules were developed (see below) and 10 checkpoints used to determine whether a newspaper article was investigative journalism for the purpose of the content analysis. Each element attracted one point. A maximum of 10 points could be achieved.
It was recognised that some investigative stories would not contain every story element, and nor should they be required to. For example, some investigative stories were not about victims or villains, but were still appropriately called investigative stories. But, in order to differentiate between investigative stories and other news reports, six of the above fields were designated as mandatory fields. These six fields must be satisfied before the story was considered investigative journalism.