University of Montana School of Journalism

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FREE PRESS MUST ALSO PLAY FAIR Poynter prof talks with UM students about war on terrorism, fairness to public Robert Haiman predicts the nation’s war on terrorism will spark a major confrontation between the government and the press in the near future. Haiman, president emeritus of the Poynter Institute and former editor of the St. Petersburg Times, made his prediction to students at a November meeting of the University of Montana’s School of Journalism senior seminar. The confrontation will result from several factors, he said. First, America has one of the most secretive presidential administrations in decades, Haiman said. The battle against terrorism, which began after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, is also largely concealed from the public and press. Haiman predicts that while the press will want to know more about the war, it will be told even less. “The issue is going to be: what in the hell is going on in this war?” he said. “The public will get antsy and begin to take sides. If the patriotic fervor remains as it is now, they’re going to side with the government. Reporters may be accused of being on the payroll of the enemy.” Such issues of fairness between the public and the press were the topic of Haiman’s seminar. It’s also an interest he’s spent much time researching. His research is documented in a book he recently published in cooperation with the Freedom Forum’s Free Press/Fair Press project. “Best Practices for Newspaper Journalists” is a product of a Freedom Forum project to determine the public’s views of fairness in the media. In 1998, Haiman and other Freedom Forum executives met with groups of community leaders, citizens, and journalists across the country and listened to their concerns about fairness in the press. Haiman’s findings are published in his book, of which 90,000 copies have been printed and distributed to journalists for reference. Newspaper readers cited factual errors as the most unfair mistake that newspapers make, he said. “Although many journalists may think that spelling and grammar errors, wrong names, wrong titles … and other similar mistakes have relatively little to do with the press’s credibility, the public sees it otherwise,” Haiman wrote in “Best Practices for Newspaper Journalists.” Some students who attended his seminar questioned whether some mistakes occurred because newspaper staffs were overworked. Haiman, however, didn’t find that to be a good excuse. “I’m not very sympathetic to a journalist who says he’s not paid enough to get it right, or he has too many stories to write a day to get it right,” Haiman said. “I’m not buying that.” Readers that Haiman interviewed also found it unfair when newspapers don’t admit their mistakes. They look down upon newspapers that print only a few, very short corrections. Although some journalists fear that including many corrections will diminish the public’s faith in their newspaper, Haiman found that the public actually respects a newspaper more when it corrects all of its errors. News articles that appear to be biased were another complaint from readers. When students at the seminar questioned whether the public doesn’t fully understand journalism, Haiman offered his opinion. “A lot of people who complain that they want a fair report actually don’t,” he said. “They want a report that cheers for their side of the issue.” He suggested that newspapers should try to explain to readers why they print what they do. He applauded newspapers that include an editor’s column explaining the reasoning behind decisions to print controversial articles or photographs. “Readers deserve to understand why you do or don’t print something,” Haiman said. “We need to work to enlarge conversation between the press and readers.” Return to School of Journalism Home Page and December-January news