Media Coverage of Asia Pacific Conference: A Comparative Study of The Kathmandu Post, The Himalayan Times and My Republica

The Asia-Pacific Summit 2018 was held on a grand scale from November 30 to December 03, 2018with world leaders presenting their keynote addresses and various other attendees and delegates present a wide range of topics such as terrorism, climate change, government-government cooperation, social security, regional development, among others.

The Summit began with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s inaugural address, where he called on for increased participation and collaboration of governments, the private sector and social groups for regional development. Former Indian Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda addressed the gathering on the issues pertaining to terrorism and climate change, terming them as the world’s biggest challenges in the present scenario. Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi called on for collaborative work with regard to fighting terrorism, migration and displacement, injustice and, hunger and poverty.

The Summit created a huge hype among the media and the general public of Kathmandu valley. The news coverage from various media showed vast indifference throughout the event. The Kathmandu Post, The Himalayan Times, My Republica – all three leading newspaper dailies have highly highlighted the events, data, background, and evidence of the Summit. However, these three newspapers had different tones and angles to present the news. The coverage analysis of the three newspapers are discussed as follows:

1.   The Kathmandu Post

As one of the most read newspaper daily especially in Kathmandu, The Kathmandu Post had nicely covered the event of Asia Pacific Summit, 2018. However, the tone to present the news is seen to be negative.  Within the news, the newspaper has splurged a few lines about the past controversies or any negativity within the event or the delegates present. For example: inside the headline: “International delegates arrive in Kathmandu for Asia Pacific Summit” the statements of people being affected through odd-even vehicle system was mentioned. With the news of the arrival of the delegates, the past controversial activities of the delegates were also mentioned such as Suu Kyi’s controversial history. Similarly, the headlines such as “People bear the brunt of odd-even vehicle rule”, “Ruling party leaders say hosting Asia Pacific Summit was a mistake”, “Summit all down”, “Former prime ministers ditch Asia Pacific Summit”, etc. showing the unlikely agreeable summit hosted in Kathmandu. The Kathmandu Post also covered the event through editorial with the title “Draw the line” where public bearing the difficulties through the odd-even system was mentioned.

2.   The Himalayan Times

The Himalayan Times showed neutral angle while covering the event of Asia Pacific Summit, 2018. This daily didn’t seem to show much bias throughout the event in the highlighted news. The Himalayan Times published the news such as: “Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen arrives in Kathmandu”, “Suu Kyi, Hun Sen arriving tomorrow”, “Govt not sponsor, but supporter: UPF”, etc. Even the statements of negativity were supported by the source. There are some negative highlights regarding the issue where all the general public were disturbed with the decision of odd-even vehicle system such as: “NC slams govt for co-sponsoring Asia Pacific Summit 2018 with INGO”, “Asia Pacific Summit: Security beefed up in Kathmandu Valley”, “NC leader Gagan Thapa calls for civil-disobedience of Odd-Even rule”, “Controversial Asia Pacific Summit begins today”. The Himalayan Times showed balance with both positive and negative coverage of the event.

3.   My Republica

My Republica published positive news throughout the Asian Pacific Summit, 2018. With the headlines such as: “Asia-Pacific Summit 2018: A Glance at Latest Updates”, “Two-day Asia Pacific Summit 2018 kicks off today”, “Asia Pacific Summit 2018 begins in capital”, “Leaders stress ending poverty for global peace (photo feature)”, “Security beefed up in Kathmandu Valley in view of Asia Pacific Summit”, etc. Even when the accusations were reported regarding the summit being a plan of the government to make the nation into a Christian nation, My Republica positively denied such accusation with the news headline: “Asia Pacific Summit not meant to promote any religion”. My Republica was seen to report instant updates regarding the event with careful data and evidence highlights. 

Journalist Code of Ethics in India: Significant Unique Features

The fundamental objective of journalism is to serve the people with news, views, comments, and information on the matter of public interest in a fair, accurate, unbiased, sober and decent manner. Toward this end, the Press is expected to conduct itself in keeping with certain norms of professionalism universally recognized. The norms enunciated below and other specific guidelines appended thereafter when applied with due discernment and adaptation to the varying circumstance of each case will help the journalist to self regulate his or her conduct.

The detailed version of all the Journalist Code of Conduct India according to Press Council India as Norms of Journalistic Conduct (edition 2010) is presented in the following link.

http://presscouncil.nic.in/OldWebsite/NORMS-2010.pdf

Among these Code of Conducts, accuracy, fairness, verification, editorial independence, anti-defamation, right to privacy, letters to editor, anti-obscenity and vulgarity, communal harmony, professional conducts, source confidence, diplomacy etc. are the common code of conducts which are usually included in most of the country’s journalist code of conducts. However, in India, there is some significantly unique code of conducts that are applicable mostly only in India. Some of them are mentioned as follows:  

1.    Criticism of Public Figures/Music Reviews

An actor or singer who appears on a public stage submits his performance to the judgment of public and as such the critics’ comments having proximate nexus with the merits of artists performance cannot be held to be defamatory. However, the critics should refrain from writing anything, which could be construed as remotely casting a cloud on the artist’s personal credibility.

2.    Glorification/encouragement of social evils to be eschewed

Newspapers shall not allow their columns to be misused for writings which have a tendency to encourage or glorify social evils like Sati Pratha or ostentatious celebrations.

3.    Headings not to be sensational/provocative and must justify the matter printed under them

a.     In general, and particularly in the context of communal disputes or clashes

                                                                                   i.      Provocative and sensational headlines are to be avoided;

                                                                              ii.      Headings must reflect and justify the matter printed under them;

                                                                               iii.      Headings containing allegations made in statements should either identify the body or the source making it or at least carry quotation marks.

4.    Paramount national interest

a.     Newspapers shall, as a matter of self-regulation, exercise due restraint and caution in presenting any news, comment or information which is likely to jeopardize, endanger or harm the paramount interests of the State and society, or the rights of individuals with respect to which reasonable restrictions may be imposed by law on the right to freedom of speech and expression under clause (2) of Article 19 of the Constitution of India.

b.    Publication of wrong/incorrect map is a very serious offense. It adversely affects the territorial integrity of the country and warrants prompt and prominent retraction with regrets.

5.    Illegal reproduction

The Press shall not reproduce in any form offending portions or excerpts from a proscribed book

6.    Astrological prediction

 The promotion of astrological prediction and superstitious practices are likely to produce an unsettling effect on the minds of the readers and is thus undesirable. The editors of general interest dailies and periodicals who believe in promoting a scientific temper and in combating superstition and fatalism should avoid publication of astrological predictions. Readers who are interested in the subject of astrology can turn to specialized publications on the subject.

7.    HIV/AIDS and the Media – DO’S and DON’TS

(Since several parts of India is still unaware about HIV/AIDS, journalists are supposed to follow the Dos and Don’ts under this article of Journalist Code of Conduct.)

8.    Covering communal disputes/clashes

News, views or comments relating to communal or religious disputes/clashes shall be published after proper verification of facts and presented with due caution and restraint in a manner which is conducive to the creation of an atmosphere congenial to communal harmony, amity, and peace. Sensational, provocative and alarming headlines are to be avoided. Acts of communal violence or vandalism shall be reported in a manner as may not undermine the people's confidence in the law and order machinery of the State. Giving community-wise figures of the victims of communal riot, or writing about the incident in a style which is likely to inflame passions, aggravate the tension, or accentuate the strained relations between the communities/religious groups concerned, or which has a potential to exacerbate the trouble, shall be avoided.

Apart from these codes of conducts set by Press Council of India, there are additional code of Ethics as per the Code of Ethics of the All-India Newspaper Editors’ Conference. After taking into consideration the various draft codes prepared by the All-India Newspaper Editors’ Conference (A.I.N.E.C.) and the Indian Federation of Working Journalists, as also the code formulated by the United Nations Sub-committee on Freedom of Information and of the Press, the Press Commission of India in its report of 1954 presented the following code of journalistic ethics:

1. As the press is a primary instrument in the creation of public opinion, journalists should regard their calling as a trust and be eager to serve and guard their public interests.

2. In the discharge of their duties, journalists should attach due value to fundamental, human and social rights and shall hold good faith and fair play in news reports and comments as essential professional obligations.

3. Journalists should observe special restraints in reports and comments dealing with tensions, likely to lead, or leading to civil disorder.

a) Journalists shall particularly observe maximum restraint in publishing reports and comments relating to communal tension, incidents, riots, incipient situations likely to lead to communal disturbances. The identification of communities which may lead to chain reactions should be avoided.

b)   Journalists should endeavor at an rimes to promote the unity of the country and nation, pride in the country, its people, its achievements and its strengths in diversity. Journalists should be most circumspect in dealing with movements and ideas which promote regionalism at the cost of national unity.

c)    Any reportage on ideas of fresh partition and secessionism must be treated with great caution. Any comment likely to give comfort to the proponent of such ideas and further their interests should be avoided. The integrity of the country and of Indian people must be considered sacrosanct and beyond question.

4. Journalist should endeavor to ensure that information disseminated is factually accurate. No fact shall be distorted or the essential facts deliberately omitted. No information known to be false shall be published.

5. Responsibility shall be assumed for all information and comments published. If responsibility is disclaimed, this will be explicitly stated.

6. Confidences shall always be respected. Professional secrecy must be preserved.

7.  Any report found to be inaccurate and any comment on inaccurate reports shall be voluntarily rectified. It shall be obligatory to give fair publicity to a correlation of contradiction when a report published is shown to be false or inaccurate in material particulars.

8.    Journalists shall not exploit their status for non-journalistic purposes.

9. Journalists shall not allow personal interest to influence professional conduct.

10. There is nothing so unworthy as the acceptance or demand of a bribe or inducement for the exercise by a journalist of his power to give or deny publicity to news or comments.

11.  Freedom in the honest collection and publication of news and facts and the rights of their comments and criticisms and principles which every journalist should always defend.

12. Journalists shall be very conscious of their obligations to their fellows in the profession and shall not seek to deprive fellow journalists of their livelihood by unfair means.

13. The carrying on of personal controversies in the press in which no public interest is involved shall be regarded as derogatory to the dignity of the profession.

14. It is unprofessional to give currency to rumors or loose talk affecting the private lives of individuals. Even verifiable news affecting the private lives of individuals shall not be published unless the public interest as distinguished from public curiosity demands its publication.

15. The Press shall refrain from publishing matters likely to encourage vice and crimes.

Conclusion

These are undoubtedly guidelines which can safely be borne in mind by journalists before embarking on their reporting expeditions. Newspapers and news channels taking sides in an approaching case either for or against a party are sure to embarrass the trial or land the trial in jeopardy and exert undue pressure on the Courts.  A journalist has to be circumspect as to what he says or writes in respect of a case before, during and after the trial.  Apart from tending to bias or poison the public mind about the merits of the case, the journalistic adventurism may even tend to prevent litigants or the accused from obtaining a fair verdict. Prevention is always better than curative measures if any, taken after the damage has been done.  There is no meaning in having an in-house regulatory mechanism if the same is ineffective as a preventive measure.

Potter’s Box Model for Ethical Decision Making

Ralph Potter Jr., a professor of social ethics at Harvard Divinity School, created the Potter Box to provide guidelines in helping people with ethical decision making. It focuses on four dimensions of ethical reasoning that include facts, values, principles, and loyalties.  In that order, the tool offers simple steps to reason through ethical dilemmas and make a justified decision. By subjecting the dilemma for analysis, a person can more clearly see all sides prior to making the decision.

Using this method, different people can (and will) come to different decisions, based on their values, the principle to which they adhere, or their loyalties.      It is a process, not a solution.  It is not going to lead all individuals to the same solution. As journalists or media professionals, we should always remember that our code of ethics is based on two fundamental ideas:

1.     that those who have a special measure of freedom have an obligation to use it responsibly; and

2.     that society’s welfare is paramount, even above an individual’s

Definition

·        In this box, we need to give a summary of the situation. This should include all known facts. Unverified rumors or suspicions should not be included. Just the facts!

·        Just as in any kind of a decision that we have to make, the first step is to gather all available information that sheds light on how the situation developed and what it looks like now, so that we can truly pinpoint the problem.

·        We need to list the facts of the situation we are in, so that we can better understand it. This will help us understand exactly what ethical dilemma we are trying to solve.

·        After completing other steps, we may find that we have to return to this step and modify our definition of the situation. The definition stage of the Potter Box concerns the facts of the issue at hand. Here is where the analyst should set out all facts without making judgments or hiding any facts.

·        Doing this in the form of a bulleted list is easier.

Values

·        Values are those aspects of life we consider to be important to us and that guides our decisions about what is right and what is wrong.

·        At this stage, the analyst should state and compare the merits of different values to acknowledge the influences on decision-making.

·        By referring to the specific concerns of the individuals involved, it allows the analyst to identify differences in perspectives.

·        We have to state the values involved for us as a media profession and for others involved in the situation.

o Professional values (e.g. truth-seeking, public’s right to know, transparency in government, person’s right to privacy)

o   Moral Values (e.g. Truth-telling, Humanness, Justice/fairness, Freedom, Independence, Stewardship, Honesty, Non-violence, Commitment, Self-control)

o     Aesthetic values (e.g. Harmonious, Pleasing, Imaginative)

o     Logical values (e.g. Consistent, Competent, Knowledgeable)

o Socio-cultural values (e.g. Caution, Hard work, Energy, Control, Heterosexuality)

o  Legal values (e.g. law supersedes emotion, all persons deserve equal treatment under the law)

o Patriotic values (e.g. love thy country, respect the flag, uphold constitutional rights)

o     Religious values (e.g. do unto others, thou shalt not kill)

o   Freedom-based values (e.g. freedom of speech, right to a trial by jury, right to not incriminate oneself)

Principles

·        Principles are ethical philosophies or modes of ethical reasoning that may be applicable to the situation. By considering the values stated above from several ethical philosophies, the decision-maker is better equipped to understand the situation. The following are some of the ethical philosophies that may be utilized under this segment of Potter’s box model:

o   Aristotle’s Golden Mean –

§  “Moral virtue is a middle state determined by practical wisdom.” Virtuous people will arrive at a fair and reasonable agreement for the legitimate claims of both sides in the middle of two extreme claims. It is virtues that lie at the middle between extremes of excess and deficiency such as the mean of cowardice and silliness is courage. It involves the correct quantity, correct timing, correct manner, etc.

o   Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative –

§  “Act on that maxim which will become a universal law.” It implies what is right for one is right for all, which establishes a precedent, universality of an underlying principle.

o   John Stuart Mill’s Principle of Utility –

§  “Seek the greatest happiness for the greatest number.” Consider the consequences, produce the greatest possible balance of good over evil, and distribute this as widely as possible. Act with the greater good in mind.

o   John Rawl’s Veil of Ignorance –

§  “Justice emerges when negotiating without social differentiation.” Step away from real circumstances into an “original position” behind a barrier where roles and social differences are eliminated. Place yourself in the position of those your decisions may influence.

o   Agape’s Judeo-Christian or Persons as Ends principle –

§  “Love thy neighbor as yourself.” Persons as Ends' principle, emphasizes love for our fellow humans and the golden rule. He stresses that when we love our neighbors, we shall seek to do good to them, therefore, we should love fellow humans the same way we love ourselves. Unselfish, cooperative.

Loyalties

·        Loyalties concern who the decision-maker has allegiances or loyalties to. For example, in journalism, the first allegiance is always to the public. Other allegiances a journalist might have would be to their employer, industry organizations or co-workers.

·        This is to determine to whom we must be loyal in this situation. We should determine to whom our primary loyalty belongs in this situation. It should begin by listing out all of our loyalties and then prioritizing them.

·        It involves evaluation of how each of those loyalties comes into play in this decision. For this, we should consider:

o   Duty to self

o   Duty to the audience

o   Duty to organization

o   Duty to the profession

o   Duty to promise holders

o   Duty to society

·        Ethical decision-making must be marked by a sincere sense of social responsibility and a genuine concern for the citizens.

·        In the Potter Box, the loyalty component necessitates the acknowledgment of the implications of a decision for institutions and social groups before an ethical decision is made.

Dilemma Example

·   Would you use information for a news story that you got from messages posted by discussion groups (special interest email lists) without contacting the people who posted the message?

·      So, you are writing a story and check a discussion group that is open to the public from the women’s center at the school. You find messages posted by three women who claim to have been sexually molested by a professor.

·        You tried unsuccessfully to contact them by email and phone.

·        The professor refuses to respond to you by email, by phone or in person.

·        Would you use quotes from the discussion group in your story?

·        Would you name the professor? The women?

·        You are on deadline and this is a competitive story…what do you do?

Using the Potter’s Box Model, we can analyze the given dilemma as follows:

·        The definition: Should we run the comments?

·        The values: accuracy, truth, fairness, privacy

·        Ethical principle: Principle of Utility/ Veil of Ignorance /Categorical Imperative

·        Loyalties: allegiance to public, employer, organizations, co-workers, society

·        Decision:

o   Journalists should test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise to avoid unintentional error. Journalists should diligently seek out subjects of news stories to give them an opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing.

While our first question is always, “Can we do that?” our second question must be, “Should we do that?” The Potter Box focuses on moral issues as opposed to pragmatic or legal ones, such as how to avoid getting sued or fired. With regard to ethics, however, it can be used to reflect on any situation that requires moral decision-making. Its four steps, at least initially, should be followed in order. The Potter Box does not offer a single, clear-cut solution to ethical dilemmas. Indeed, two different people analyzing the same issue with the Potter Box could arrive at two very different conclusions. Moreover, the same person analyzing the same issue could come to different decisions when using the Box at two different times. Nevertheless, the Potter Box can help us think through what to do. It offers a process to help us weigh our options in a methodical manner. In addition, the name "Potter Box" may indicate that this process is very rigid, but in fact, it is fluid, and we may have to go back and forth among the steps before we can reach a conclusion that satisfies us. This process also becomes easier and quicker with practice.