I firmly and wholeheartedly believe that an independent, free and powerful press and other news media are both essential and fundamental for any democracy.
The reason for this is my belief that the press and news media are needed to monitor, investigate, analyze and report to the citizens how the powers-that-be are using, misusing or even abusing the powers that have been granted to them.
The press and news media are the Third Estate in Sweden - in English speaking countries the Fourth Estate, and are - as they should be - the most powerful of the three (or four as the case may be).
Sweden has one of the oldest and strongest freedom of press acts, and later acts to grant the same freedom for other news media.
We also have laws stating that any document, including memos etc, in all local or national authorities is public and should be handed without questions to anyone who wants it for whatever use they may have of it. The only exception from this rule is if the specific document has been declared classified in accordance with the rules that are set for doing so. These rules are strict and are not to be used other than to protect the rights of an individual or national safety.
Sweden also has laws prohibiting all local or national authorities from searching - or even trying to search - for the source that may have leaked a story to the press or other news media.
With all this power comes a great responsibility for the press and other news medias to fulfill their obligation toward the citizens. These obligations are not set in any law but is rather a code of ethics that has evolved by the press and news medias themselves. There are no sanctions - nor should there be - if the journalists do not perform according to their part of the deal.
We - the citizens of every democratic nation on earth - have bestowed to the press and news media this tremendous power in our societies to set the agenda, to investigate, to analyze and to report freely anything and everything they wish with the sole reason to safeguard us from crimes and misdemeanors by the two (or three) other Estates and in fact everyone or everything else that may occur.
Auberon Waugh (17 November 1939 – 16 January 2001) was a British author and journalist.who once said
"Generally speaking, the best people nowadays go into journalism, the second best into business, the rubbish into politics and the shits into law.”
Although I am a lawyer myself - and even if Waugh´s statement is a gross generalization - I do believe what he said holds some truth.
So here we have this "institution" in our midst that we have granted total liberty to supervise itself and set it´s own rules of conduct and we also send them our best and brightest people.
The question I have asked myself - and joked about in a comment on a Swedish SecondLife blog yesterday - is do the journalists deliver on their deal? Do the press and the other news media fulfill their obligations to us to the full extent of their powers?
My answer is unequivocally: Hell no, they are not even close!
In my not so humble opinion the contemporary press - at least in Sweden - and other news media
mostly are squandering and misusing their powers with sensationalism and gossip.
The contemporary journalists hunts of "offenders" have become a public entertainment, much like the pillories of shame or the public executions once were. These hunts are rarely motivated by the offenders position or failings but rather for the sole purpose to sell more copies.
The statement I got yesterday from a journalist (and resident of SecondLife) that "The newspapers only write ... and readers only read." is an expression of exactly what I think is the fundamental problem with today's journalism and journalists.
I willingly admit that this is also a gross exaggeration but nonetheless it is as true as Waugh´s statement that I mentioned earlier.
It's always difficult for non-journalists to criticize journalists, as difficult as it is to criticize the police force. Both professions have a sick "esprit de corps" which essentially leads to the following position among both corps, "Whatever you do or say to one of us or about our work in general is an attack on the entire profession so we all have to huddle together in self-defense".
There is so much crap and abuse of power to investigate even in our little paradise that exposing the crap and making sure that those in power stay on the narrow road should and could be full-time work for our brilliant journalists - if only they wanted to do what they owe us.
I am now thinking "Too long, Bock, this post is too damn long."
