Opening Session

Deborah Kirkman reports on the welcomes and Keynote Address at the Brisbane conference.

Tuesday, 22 June 1999. A sunny, mild, winter's day of 18 degrees - as cold as it gets in Brisbane according to Premier Beattie. In opening the Conference, the Premier noted the important function of the Australian Press Council, and welcomed the role that press councils have in contributing to the debate on matters such as freedom of speech and expression. He said that this freedom implies responsibility to the public interest, and the need to be fair and balanced. Mr Beattie also expressed his concern with privacy issues, particularly with the Internet, observing that no government in the world controlled its input.

On a personal level, the Premier queried the work ethic of the media, noting that, "I've been at state conferences or premiers' conferences, and when I've seen the reporting I've thought the journalists must have been somewhere else." He looks to the media for explanations about who we are, and where we are headed. However, he doesn't "see this as a burden for the media", rather, "it's a matter of vision and leadership".

In extending this line of thought, Justice PB Sawant, in his welcoming address, commented on the object of the Conference, "to promote free press and thereby to empower the people sufficiently to run their respective democratic regimes." He also noted that meeting at an international level encourages understanding of the problems of the media in each other's country; it enables an opportunity to offer suggestions; to exchange views; and to assist in popularising the concept of press self-regulation. He looked forward to a constructive debate and discussion.

Prof Dennis Pearce, Chairman of the APC; and Prof David Flint, Chairman of the WAPC Executive Council, added their welcomes to the delegates of the Conference.

Prof John Henningham from the University of Queensland gave the keynote address of the opening proceedings. He identified two aspects of the news media for consideration: presentation of information; and news value. Or, the set of priorities, and the propensity to report 'bad' or 'negative' news. "Bad news sells." Making out his case, Prof Henningham pointed out that we are more likely to read a story about a plane that crashes than about a plane that lands safely. "Ordinary, everyday events are not normally in themselves newsworthy." The desire for bad news could even be a genetic throw-back to the fight or flight of our ancestors. The media, he contends, should not "ignore failings or problems in the wider society ... indeed, it may be that the proportion of negative news in the press is an index of the freedom of the press in that country".

There is a problem, however - the overall decline of newspaper circulation. During the 1980s and 1990s, the sale of Australian metropolitan and national dailies dropped almost forty percent. This decline started prior to the development of the Internet, but once established, the younger generation embraced the Internet, and discarded newspapers in droves. It has been argued that the older generation will hold on to their newspapers as they are "easy to read, so portable, so permanent, so cheap". But, Prof Henningham queries whether the same applies for the young, "How can we possibly assume the same commitment to the print medium from a Generation X and a Generation Y whose love affair with the newspaper was never kindled?" We can't.

"We all realise that journalism of the new century will increasingly be expressed through the Web (where) traditional news organisations are increasingly involved." So, what's the problem? The printed word will not be able to compete as it "must share the territory with multi-dimensional sound and brilliantly coloured graphics and moving images ... the multimedia news show will have it all - all the glittering pictures and sounds of our own personalised newsreel, with perhaps smells and feelies thrown in". This is of concern to Prof Henningham. He points out that "the printed word is the most effective means of communicating information and ideas. Studies on news recall have repeatedly shown that newspaper content is better recalled than information via television or other media." And he had some suggestions on fostering an appreciation of the written word.

He urged the press to foster in young people a love of reading and writing. "The press could look at the long neglected field of children's newspapers, and of supporting the establishment of school newspapers." On a broader level, the "general image of the press must be improved." The management at newspapers should not "tolerate ethical breaches in their own publications or in other newspapers." Journalists and the media industry must change their mind-set where they "tend to express amusement rather than anger at sections of the media which let the side down". The press "should take a greater interest in journalism schools ... the industry should put aside the time to examine what is being taught by journalism schools, by whom, and based upon what set of values". And, finally, Prof Henningham suggested that the "press foster the establishment of new newspapers at community level, and support the press as an institution in less developed parts of the world. A culture of support can spread like ripples through the international media community, with newspapers at whatever level and in whatever country, aiming to foster journalism and the growth of newspapers in poorer and less advantaged regions".

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