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27 Feb 2010
Wise words from 51 years in the media: Kaizo hosts John Humphrys’ address
This month Kaizo hosted An audience with John Humphrys. The tenacious yet highly respected journalist and presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme was called upon to reflect back on his long career in the media spotlight and address the changing media landscape.
John was full of anecdotes and witticisms as he recalled being the BBC’s Foreign Correspondent at a time when everything was shot on film and loaded onto an aeroplane in the hope that the news got back into Britain the next day! Other insightful commentaries included how he
broke the news of Nixon’s impending resignation via the first ever BBC satellite feed from the Whitehouse.
Amongst the usual candidates responsible for the changes in media (24 hour news, the internet, social media), John mentioned the death of deference. He argued that this has had a profound effect on the way journalism is approached.
John made some interesting points about the effect of 24 hour news on the media. Although it used to take a while to get the news, this gave reporters a chance to think about what they would write. Nowadays there are vast numbers of people covering every single story that breaks, with the audience expecting that they will know about it immediately. With the advent of interactive media, more and more people can keep abreast of news events as and when they happen and talk and share opinions about that news.
Although John remains concerned at the prospect of completely unmediated news, I think it’s the result of the fast paced and driven world in which we now live. Technology has changed the goal posts and so we must adapt too. Even though content is pouring into places like the BBC, we should have enough confidence in the ability of those employed there to review it as rigorously as they can in the time they have. Even if the news is slightly vague, at least we’re now privy to the story as it happens. Often this can prove advantageous, for example, if we hadn’t immediately found out about events like the earthquake in Haiti, far more people would have perished. Treated with caution and (albeit a slightly lower standard of due process) rolling news is a step forward in the right direction.
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