| MEDIA MAVERICK
Poor pay translates
into poor journalism
By Kodi
Barth
Not many journalists dream of
driving a Mercedes Benz. Only sales personnel, top
editors and a select pool of broadcast programme anchors
get to wear the "executive" tag in the news business. As
for East African reporters and news analysts, for all
the work they do, they can barely afford to live in
decent neighbourhoods. And this hurts
journalism.
Only last week, a section
head in a Nairobi-based newspaper confessed to this
column that her team was too demoralised to perform. The
average monthly pay-check there, she said, was Sh15,000
— before tax! The ongoing poaching of journalists
between media houses is further testimony to the pay
problem. One month a reporter would be signing his
by-line in the East African Standard, and the
next month he would be at the Daily Nation. One
month a programme anchor will be sending Citizen Radio
on a roll with incisive and authoritative stewardship;
the next month people will hear her voice at Kiss FM.
Even familiar TV news anchors now keep switching between
stations.
unstable
"The market is too unstable,"
an editorial director complained last year. "People go
to whoever will pay more."
It is poetic injustice when
reporters tell stories of a disgruntled labour force,
when they in the news industry are also disgruntled and
have no avenue for redress. Since journalists are the
storytellers, there is no one to tell their story when
they hurt.
The real danger, however, is
that when reporters hurt because of poor pay, a lot more
is at stake. Poor pay is a recipe for catastrophe in
journalism. A poorly paid reporter is more likely to
fall prey to handouts from money wielders who think
nothing of buying or silencing stories. And the sacred
ethic of objectivity and fairness will mortally
suffer.
Media owners know this. So
why don’t they pay news reporters competitive salaries?
Why is it that only talk show and entertainment anchors,
most of whom never bothered with or qualified in
journalism, smile all the way to the bank? They may not
have learnt the first principle in journalism, but the
CEO needs their voice or charm to attract audiences. And
the unfortunate fact is: it is sales and advertising —
not the news — that makes money.
According to Trevor Ncube,
CEO of the South African-based daily, Mail &
Guardian, journalists simply don’t get it. Ncube
recently told an ethics seminar for South African
editors that the bottom line in the news organisation is
business. And journalists simply need to wake up to this
fact. That it is all about business. And business is
about cutting costs – read as bargaining for cheap
labour – and maximising profits.
Profits. This is the bottom
line. Reporters who toil in the field covering famine
and wars in god-forsaken places may not know it, but for
this reason journalists are gradually getting pushed out
of newsrooms. It’s no longer the newsroom boys who call
the shots, but the MBA guys on the 3rd floor. And, until
recently, media companies hired CEOs not for their news
flair but their knack for making the money.
It is from this MBA team that
orders would come to tread carefully on business stories
and investigative journalism. Reporters will get the
warning that any story that carries negative publicity
about certain companies may offend advertisers who are
likely to threaten to pull out at whim if the story is
run.
"The Fourth Estate is under
attack once more; this time not from the state but from
the Estate itself and the business interests of
advertisers," Anne Muriungi, a Kenyan student at the
Johannesburg-based University of the Witwatersrand wrote
last week.
The bottom line is that for
journalists to be paid well, the media must make money.
In fact, Ncube will argue, media independence and
freedom of expression can only be safeguarded when the
bottom line — money — has been met.
Irony
But there is a flip side to
this theory. Spinning money from advertisers throws news
at the mercy of advertisers. Yes, reporters will be
happy with enough money going round. But, ironically,
news ethics will still suffer.
To get out of this vicious
cycle, perhaps it is crucial to appreciate the fact that
journalism is not your typical career. People do not
come here to get rich. Authentic journalists are
propelled on this path to answer a call. That is why a
CNN award or a Pulitzer Prize brings more radiance to a
journalist’s face than a "golden handshake". When you
dangle a bribe in their face, poorly paid reporters may
take it – and live with the guilt for life. But when you
recognise and honour his work, the journalist is
immortalised. For the authentic journalist, the naÔve
faith in providing citizens with the information they
need to be free and self-governing still counts. And
there are many around who still doggedly adhere to this
calling. And these men and women who risk so much to
inform the world deserve a decent living, even if they
don’t get to drive a Mercedes Benz.
Kodi
Barth teaches journalism at United States International
University-Nairobi.
If you have seen questionable
content in the press, write to kodi@kodibarth.com
Website: www.kodibarth.com/
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