H&K joins Flat Earth News debate
Is a culture of 'churnalism' destroying real journalism? as Guardian writer Nick Davies' book, Flat Earth News, controversially asserted earlier in 2008. He claims that reduced staffing levels and increased output levels mean journalists have less time available to research, write and fact-check their stories, so are more vulnerable to input from commercial and government sources through PR, leading to falsehood, distortion and propaganda.
Sally Costerton, H&K's UK CEO, participated in a debate on the subject at an event hosted by the Press Gazette. The issues raised in the book were hotly debated by the panel and 150-strong audience of journalists and PR people. Sally was joined on the panel by Nick himself, along with others including Francis Ingham (the new Director General of the PRCA), Peter Preston (ex-Guardian) and Andrew Gilligan (Evening Standard).
While Nick's arguments about the resourcing in the media make sense, we don't believe this leads to PR having a disproportionate influence or to consumers of news and information being misled. In our opinion, where a journalist's job is to report the news and reflect society, PR's role is to enable and facilitate information. As an industry, PR today has to be transparent and it’s something we strongly believe in at H&K. We don't make up stories. It’s not in our interest, it’s not in our clients’ interests and it’s not in journalists' interests.
We think a related issue that isn't fully explored in the book is the impact of digital communications. With almost two thirds of UK consumers reading online reviews before they make a purchase, they are no longer reliant on a single editorial view and are far more aware of the credibility of information.