The value of journalism

Holding the powerful to account. Shining light on injustices. Telling people’s stories. All hold true for journalism in New Zealand and around the globe.

But how does one really put a value on what hundreds of journalists get out of bed to do each and every day?

That value comes in both the difference they make, and the democracy deficit that creeps in in their absence. Those differences and deficits aren’t only prevalent in the big national stories that lead newspapers, news sites and nightly bulletins. They have a very real impact at grassroots levels too.

Today we are launching a new campaign to talk to New Zealanders about the valuable role our quality local journalism plays in society.

Take, as an example, 11-year-old Briar Hales. Briar laced up rugby boots each weekend like thousands of other Kiwi kids. But it was from politically correct and overly officious adults that she faced opposition to representing her school’s First XV because, well, she was a girl . . .

The outcry that followed from politicians, sports stars and the public at large led to organisers conceding they would revisit the rules before the next tournament. In the meantime, her team agreed to forfeit points to get her on the pitch and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern even penned a pep talk to her team amid the furore:

‘‘I’ve read about your story in the paper and your actions really impressed me,’’ Ardern wrote. ‘‘Briar, I know what it’s like to be told you can’t do something . . . and unfortunately that’s a message girls in particular get told too often. I prefer to think that girls can do anything.’’

Briar’s ordeal was reported on by Hawke’s Bay journalist Marty Sharpe, who exposed the unjustness and made a demonstrable difference to the seemingly unwinnable situation facing her and her team.

But the impact and value of journalism can also hit harder. If Newsroom hadn’t broken the insidious story of sexual assault and harassment within a major law firm’s summer intern programme, would that law firm have been driven to make sweeping changes to its culture?

Would Teina Pora still be behind bars for a horrendous crime he didn’t commit if our own investigative journalism team hadn’t helped by doggedly working for so many years to right the wrongs in that case of injustice?

And the value of journalism doesn’t manifest itself only in the wrongs which are righted, but also in its impact on our culture, our environment and our everyday lives. A determined push to have NZ history taught in schools involved a concerted campaign by the Waikato Times. Among those listening to the Times’ journalists’ lobbying was the Government, which heard the call to action and announced a change to the curriculum.

‘‘I of course heard the calls from those who embed themselves in the teaching of our history. But to have it being promoted by the paper that serves this area was actually very powerful I thought. It stood out to me,’’ the prime minister said at the time of her announcement earlier this year. ‘‘It prompted me to have a conversation again with the Minister of Education to point out to him that this was becoming equally a grassroots movement.’’

Her last words to the journalist who led the campaign, Aaron Leaman, were: ‘‘Well done for the campaign, it must be nice to have some conclusion.’’ Nice? Of course. Valuable? Definitely.

– Mark Stevens, Editorial Director

That value comes in the difference journalists make, and the democracy deficit that creeps in in their absence.