Parliamentary
reporting should not be limited to straight news writing in this age and time
of freedom of the press, freedom of expression and the right of the people to
have access to information. The media is the fourth (4th) estate of the realm
and if it has to do effectively by policing the other estates, then
parliamentary reporting should not be limited to straight news writing. It has
to go beyond just reporting straight news on parliament. Journalism, which is
the activity of gathering information, packaging, processing and turning it
into news, goes beyond straight news writing. It sometimes involves
investigations and coming out with findings in a feature form. Journalism which
includes reporting is an institution that has been established by the society
to play a specific role. As much as the society the society needs news or
information, society also expects the media or journalists to go beyond mere
reporting of the facts and give them something more if they (the media) have to
perform its watch dog function. Parliamentary reporting should go beyond
straight news reporting but one may ask how are they going to do that? This
paper spells it out in the subsequent pages.
According
to the Cambridge International Dictionary of English, news is “information or
reports about recent events…”. News is also a material that people must have
because it is important. It is any new information that interests and affects
people. News can also be seen as something that has just occurred or about to
happen as well as something that the public has the right to know, need to know
and an interest to know. News is very important to the society and society
needs news to survive. Straight news therefore “is a plain account of news
facts written in standard style, and structure (www.jsprinting.com/glossary...).
It is also seen as “a straight forward account of factual news with little or
no comment or analysis (www.thenewsmanual.net/Resources/glossary.html).
Straight news is news that consists of facts given straight without
embellishment. Its main aim is to inform. It uses the summary lead and is
written using the inverted pyramid structure. A straight news story is a timely
report on an event, usually written within 24hours after the event has taken
place. It deals with the facts alone and the writer does not have to add his or
her opinion. One just has to write what happened without adding what he or she
thinks but feature writing gives that flexibility.
Oxford
English Dictionary simply sees parliament as “an assembly that makes a
country’s law. Parliament is a group of elected politicians or other people who
make the laws for their country. It is a legislative body. It is an assembly of
representatives, usually of an entire nation, that makes laws”. (www.answers.com/topic/parliament.1xzz2Ab6Vidhc).
Parliament is a legislature whose power and function are similar to those
dictated by the Westminster system of the United Kingdom. More generally,
parliament may simply refer to a democratic government’s legislature. The term
came from the French parlement, the
action of parler(to speak); a
parliament is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which such a
discussion took place. It acquired its modern meaning as it came to be used for
the body of people (in an institutional sense) who would meet to discuss
matters of state. Generally, a parliament has three (3) functions:
representation, legislation and parliamentary control (that is hearings,
inquiries). Reporting, on the other hand is giving a description of (something)
or information about it to someone. Reporting is also giving a vivid account of
an event or happenings. A report is a textual work (usually of writing, speech,
television, or film) made with a specific intention of relaying information or
recounting certain events in a wider presentable form. According to Derrick
Schneider, ‘Reporting is just a genre of writing, alongside essays and stories,
and bloggers most certainly fall into that genre.’ Parliamentary reporting should go beyond just
straight forward news writing in this time of right to information because
there is a lot that can be got from parliament than just a straight news.
Parliament, the law making body of liberal democracies is about debate and
arguments in which political parties, usually of opposing views, seek points of
convergence or attempt to convince others about the soundness and benefits to
be derived from their motion for the general good. The mass media play a very
important role in parliamentary life as they are a factor and sometimes key
determinants in the formation of opinion and matters of public interest.
The
1992 Constitution of the Republic of Ghana spells out freedom of the press and
of expression. This has given power to the media to report on all aspects of
social and political life including parliament. This freedom of the media helps
the media in exposing weaknesses and lapses of the democratic system, creating
opportunities for correction. There by performing their watch dog role as the
police of the society. According to the World Bank Institute, freedom of the
press should not be regarded simply as the freedom of journalists, editors or
proprietors alone to report and comment but should be regarded as the
embodiment of the public’s right to know and to participate in the free flow of
information. This is to say that the public has the right to know about the
happenings in parliament because they (the public) selected the
parliamentarians by voting for them to go to parliament and go to make laws and
policies for them. These laws and public policies will affect the people so
they have to know what is going on in parliament and it is the media that can
keep the people informed. From the idea that, there are debates in parliament
based on the needs and grievances of the people that are made known by the
media and that need of media to tell the people what goes on in parliament
tells us that, they (parliament and media) need each other. This reciprocity in
the functions of the two institutions only explains to what degree the relationship
between parliament and media ought to be one of understanding, mutual respect
and tolerance. Ideally, this is what should happen but in practice, though a
serious business of state, sometimes turn up great moments of drama for one
reason or another.
Parliamentary
reporting is the most boring aspect of reporting. It is about the same thing
that goes on there. The parliamentary reporter more often than not is always
reporting on parliamentary proceeding; the debates and counter debates that go
on there; the laws they come out with, to mention a just few. What is more
frustrating and boring are the restrictions as to what you can report and what
you can not report. For example, you can report on the House as a whole but not
on select committees. But I think parliamentary reporting should go beyond just
the straight news if really, the media is the fourth estate of the realm and it
has to let the public have information. Information to the public on parliament
should not be limited. On on the contrary, doing Parliamentary reporting, there
are a lot of restrictions as to what not to do. For example, criticising Parliament
is not done or you would have committed contempt of Parliament. In doing the
watch man’s job, being critical of the legislature is part of the media’s
responsibility while maintaining a healthy relationship with parliament and
this cannot be done in straight news which will only give you the room to
report on the facts or proceedings in Parliament. For instance, if Parliament
does something which goes contrary to what they stand for, I think the reporter
should be in a position to criticize it by checking it to let it know that what
it is doing is not good. This can be done beyond straight news writing.
Parliamentary
reporting should not be limited to straight news writing other than that, the
media would not be able to do its work effectively. The public has the right to
know about parliament, what goes on there, and how the people they (the public)
elected into parliament to go make laws are behaving and faring. If Parliament
passes a law and it is supposed to cover all of us but some members are not
abiding by it, I think the media must be able to report on it. This definitely
can not come in a form of straight news.
According
to a report, Parliament and the Media: Securing
an Effective Relationship, the media or journalists has to develop more
imaginative and attractive ways to enhance parliamentary coverage so that the
people are encouraged to take greater interest in their society’s principal
democratic form. If this is to be realized, then parliamentary reporting will
have to go beyond straight news writing. Straight news writing is the same way
of writing and presenting the facts or reporting on the facts but if coverage
should be made imaginative and attractive then we are definitely looking beyond
that. Straight news writing can be boring since it is always the same way of
writing to present the facts all the time and does not give room to opinions.
This is another reason why I will say that Parliamentary reporting should not
be limited to straight news writing.
Some
may argue that because Parliament deals with Parliamentarians and their
arguments and counter arguments, one should avoid the inclusion of personal
views and opinions in the story as they can interfere with the audience’s
interpretation and understanding of a debate, particularly one that a political
controversy. But there is more that a reporter can get to the public than just
reporting on the proceedings. For instances if there was a debate and the
minority does not agree with the majority, the reporter can go beyond just
straight news reporting and do research and investigations to find out why one
group does not agree. The answers that you gather can be used to write more
stories to inform the public than just reporting on the Parliamentary
proceedings.
Members
of Parliament are elected to the house by the public. They are sent there to
make laws and bring decisions that will help govern the people in the society.
If for instance, a member is abusing his or her office as a Member of
Parliament, the media should be in the position to let the people know that the
one you elected into office is not behaving well in office. The reporter can
conduct investigations and get evidence to support his story and then he will
come out with the story and the evidence. This exercise can not be done through
mere straight news reporting. One has to go beyond the straight news reporting
of Parliamentary proceedings and write features which can allow the reporter
that flexibility of expressing his opinion by may be stating what a Member of
Parliament should do and also state the way he or she is behaving now. This can
even give the public the opportunity to look at the situation and be informed
on whether to keep him or her there or to change that person in the next
voting.
The
media being the fourth estate of the realm should have the power of crticising
to check on the society which also includes politics and Parliament. Parliament
has the power to impose order within the House through such means as contempt
of Parliament. Due to this, the media has to abide by all the rules of the
House and know the relevant terminologies and right titles of Members. However,
an arbitrary use of this power of Parliament could have serious consequences on
Parliamentary reporting, especially when legislators use it to prevent
criticism or bad press from reporters and their media houses. If care is not
taken some the Members will hide behind this and do things that they are not
expected to do due to their office. The media should be allowed to criticize
the bad or negative things that the Members will do to drag the name of the
House into disrepute. If this can be done and done so well by the media, the parliamentary
reporting should be allowed to go beyond straight news writing. This is because
straight news writing will not give you that luxury to go behind the news and
fish for more to be given to the public.
The
public has the right to information and they also have the right to know what
is going on. The media is the institution that can let the public know and even
let the Parliamentarians know what the public is saying so it can help them do
their debate. They should be given the opportunity to go beyond straight news
reporting on proceedings but keeping in mid the restrictions that is there. The
reporter should be able to go beyond straight news writing and do research and
investigations to write further. Due to these and many other more reasons, I
still say that Parliamentary reporting should not be limited to straight news
reporting.
Desmond Lamptey
Student Journalist
studying MA in Journalism
At The Ghana
Institute of Journalism
And
On air person at
Radio XYZ, 93.1fm
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