Article written by John Schalch for PANPA magazine, Australia
(Pacific Area Newspaper Publishers Association)

AUSTRALIAN journalists have got it so easy, we should feel guilty at the end of every working day. That's not an opening for across-the-board editorial budget cuts by an accountant holding the whip hand. But if travel and education are lauded as key elements to broadening one's mind, then five informative and eye-opening days with more than 50 editors from 39 Commonwealth countries in a country celebrating just one year of peace was positively enlightening.

Disappointingly the representation in Sri Lanka from Australian and New Zealand publishers was minimal - just the trio of Warren Beeby (News Ltd), Jack Herman (Australia Press Council) and myself (APN News and Media) represented the papers from Downunder and our Tasman neighbours.

If more Anzac publishers had attended, they would have been impressed with not only the constructive and ongoing work of the Commonwealth Press Union to foster freedom of the press and upskill the editors of developing nations, but also those editors' skills, passion and resilience in the face of what would seem (in Australian terms, at least) nearly insurmountable problems.

Government control, censorship, imprisonment, exile, beatings, harassment, sabotage, arson and even murders were among the daily and weekly hurdles many of these editors have to overcome, not forgetting a distinct lack of human and technical resources, excessively expensive email and phone charges, difficulty securing affordable newsprint, and struggling economies which would barely pay the bills at many Australian free weeklies.

Yet they tolerated it, because they had to. It's become, for many, an unfortunate way of life; for others a challenge to which they rise daily with renewed passion in their quest for freedom of speech and democracy.

In amongst the raw power harnessed by such a forum as the CPU's biennial workshops there emerged learnings for us all; and with it a realisation that (major crimes aside) editors throughout the world share a common bond to report the truth in the best possible way for their readers, to sell more newspapers, and to create an environment for more advertising revenue. We are all aiming to achieve publishing prosperity through collation, presentation and delivery of better news than our competitors.

The host nation Sri Lanka was a shining example of the fruits of years of toil and discipline. On the first day of the conference it celebrated one year of peace after nearly three decades of war, and also the creation of its new self-regulatory Press Complaints Commission.

So what were some of the key issues to be aired, debated and, in some cases, resolved? There was a term oft phrased during the forum - "the barbarians are at the door". It referred to those who sought to control the press either by money, censorship or through manipulation. The latter issue was well illustrated by Peter Preston of The Guardian, UK, in his address "The Curse of the Spin". His British examples were uncannily akin to those experienced by editors throughout the Commonwealth _ the daily challenge editors and journalists face in distilling the plethora of paraphernalia and emails from PR machines, government departments and community groups, all trying to put their own spin on the news. They realise the powerful reach of our medium, and (it may sometimes be unintentional) they try to distort its primary reason for being for their own gain.

Sometimes the journalist falls prey, particularly if the resources are low, the skill levels not up to scratch, and the deadline pressures tight.

Forum editors quickly realised, and agreed, that most of those who practised spin doctoring best were, unfortunately, well-trained journalists lured to "the dark side" by more money. PANPA editors could volunteer a list of their own ex's who have returned to haunt them.

Delegates got the inside oil on this issue from journalist-turned-diplomat, Joel Kibazo. Mr Kibazo is director of Communications, Commonwealth Secretariat, London, and offered insights into workings inside the Commonwealth and relations with the media in many countries. While confessing to possibly having putting a spin on a story, he vowed he had never had to lie to a journalist ... yet.

Relative to this same issue Bill Saidi, managing editor, Daily News, Zimbabwe, attempted to clarify the role of media in this regard, and posed the question "Who do we protect - the state or the people?" In his address he raised an issue of importance to all journalists - that of compromising ourselves, our profession and our business to serve the wrong master. His main thrust was the corrosion by government intervention, but he also danced with the devil on issues of gifts to journalists, favours to friends and, the bane of all regional newspaper journalists, commercial pressures from advertisers. Which "master" should we serve then?

Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon, the keynote closing speaker and sole Kiwi still smarting from a de-masting incident in the America's Cup sail-off, made it quite clear the role of a free press was "to empower its citizens" through independence and truth. "By keeping the public informed, it enables them to monitor the performance of government policies and thus to enhance accountability." "There is not a politician in this world who hasn't wished to control the media for just one day," he lamented, almost pleadingly. But that, of course, would not be in the public's interest, he reminded his laughing audience.

He also moved to remind journalists of the serious power they often wield ("they can force policy u-turns, weaken a leader and bring down a government") and the burden of responsibility that carries. That power, he said, can and should be used to attack and defeat many of the world's enemies - global poverty, environmental degradation, AIDS and the abuse of human rights. "The media can play a vital role in facing these challenges."

The press, he said, can be a powerful contributor to the development of good governance, practices, which can improve a country's chances of attracting foreign investment with positive outcomes trickling down the economy. Countries with a free press do not experience famines, he said.

We were chillingly reminded of the importance of that statement in the CPU's Biennial Conference in an address by Egyptian-born Middle East specialist Bari Abdal Atwan, editor-in-chief of Al-Quds Pan-Arab newspaper, London. As a man who has interviewed Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein on several occasions, he gave delegates a tangible insight into links between the strength of the press, poverty and what the western world now terms "terrorism". "No one is born a terrorist," he said. "It takes years of poverty, frustration and humiliation to produce a terrorist." Poverty, he reminded us, removed choices for people and provided a casting net of reluctant, but desperate, potential recruits for rebel militant groups. Like Adolf Hitler had done pre-World War 2, he said, bin Laden has repeated by luring those with no means and no direction with the promise of prosperity and purpose.

One of the starkest and most deadly examples of this type of regime in the Commonwealth is Zimbabwe whose oppressive regime under Robert Mugabe offers no immediate hope of a free press, curtailed rights for its citizens, widespread poverty and suffering, little foreign investment, spiralling unemployment, a negative economic growth chart, and millions of hungry, desperate people ripe for the picking by an egotistical dictator with an agenda to drive.

In a show of solidarity, Forum delegates unanimously passed a motion condemning oppression of the press. This was later endorsed by the full conference.

Several UK delegates injected new-age technology into the forum and conference, illustrating the need for newspapers to keep with the times technologically as well as creatively. Among them was Nick Guthrie, producer Dateline for the BBC, London, who outlined the electronic revolution and future implications for the Commonwealth newspaper industry. If you're not online then you can't be a serious journalist, he began. "Each innovation in the communications game has changed the way we human beings have been informed, educated and governed," he said.

But with the emerging technology have also come a bevy of inaccurate, doomsday, predictions about how the new way to communicate would replace whatever had come before. Yet, as radio did not kill the print media, the evolution of the internet has not caused any of the established forms of media to cease production. On the contrary, argued Mr Guthrie, the arrival of the internet, the web and online delivery systems is providing the informers and the educators (and in some cases the spinners) of fact and fiction with a new and potentially deadly tool."

"any self-respecting journalist who does not have an online address, and is not prepared to spend some time dealing with his or hers email inquiries as to what has been published, is not worth their byline."

But with the good (new readers, markets and plenty of near-instant feedback from readers) and the bad (plagiarism around the world, unsourced material) there are challenges. "Everywhere journalists have to work harder to get at the truth because information is being controlled in more subtle and sophisticated ways," he warned.

One of those challengers is the danger of what Mr Guthrie termed "a new breed of journalists emerging in the newsrooms today, and I can only describe them as genetically-modified beings". "They sit at their computers, they read and regurgitate, they hardly ever make a call, check a fact, or actually go out and talk to somebody."

His advice? "Every self-respecting editor of any newspaper anywhere in the world needs to wander round their newsrooms and keep saying to the journalists toiling away over their PC and laptop: Been out today? Talked to anyone interesting? If not, why not?"

And so ends today's lesson.