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Opposition Leader's Address to COB Journalism Class
Mar 27, 2015 - 3:44:36 PM

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Nassau, Bahamas - Remarks by Hon. Dr Hubert Minnis, M.P. Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition Political Communications Class The College of The Bahamas on March 19, 2015:

First of all, I thank you students, faculty and The College of The Bahamas for inviting me to speak to you today. I am happy to do so, because what our country needs urgently is more bright young minds and good writers. Now, more than ever, we need people of integrity and courage to join the ranks of our better journalists. It is a challenging role, but some of you will surely fill it and perform it with grace.

Secondly, I congratulate you for choosing a profession that is essential, but will make you a target of attacks. At times, you will discover or see things that will take you out of your comfort zone. In some respects choosing to be a journalist worthy of the name, you will make you an outsider. In fact, you risk becoming just like a politician in opposition who dares to question the policies of those in power.

But there is another face of journalism and the mass media. I’m sure you have heard about the power structure of the Middle Ages—the clergy, the nobility and the commoners, who represented, in order of power and prominence, the First, Second and Third Estates of the Realm. With the invention of movable type first in China and then in Europe came mass media. With its ability to spread information not just to those who dominated society, but to commoners, this phenomenon came to be called the Fourth Estate. And your professional field is powerful indeed. It has launched revolutions and set and taken down governments. Above all, it has held the reins of democracy. This is what I want to focus on today.

With all their inherent power, journalism and the media have not always lived up to the glories of their potential. You can tell by the way that journalism has bad-mouthed by some of the brightest writers and some of the top members of the profession over the past century and a half.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers.”

“History is just journalism and you know how reliable that is.” ― Joseph Campbell .

And what does it say about the quality of journalism and the reading public, if Hillary Clinton can say, “If I want to knock a story off the front page, I just change my hairstyle.”

Journalist, activist and author Hunter S. Thompson say even worse: “With the possible exception of things like box scores, race results, and stock market tabulations, there is no such thing as Objective Journalism. The phrase itself is a pompous contradiction in terms.”

And famed American author Norman Mailer completely condemns the profession: “If a person is not talented enough to be a novelist, not smart enough to be a lawyer, and his hands are too shaky to perform operations, he becomes a journalist.”

We have to ask what caused this profession to acquire such a bad rap. It has much to do with ethics or a lack of it. It has a lot to do with one of two choices journalists make.

1. Some choose to become faceless hacks who tread water or hide away, not willing to attract notice to themselves. Such people never want to raise any waves. They want to be liked by everyone and never have to deal with the question of ethics.

2. Others choose out and out corruption and are unworthy of the profession.

The actions of a corrupt journalist are like those of a frog in heat. Corrupt journalist do a lot of jumping— jumping the gun, jumping to conclusions and certainly jumping on a bandwagon and choosing partisanship. They will spend a lot of time redacting and expurgating. That is, they do their best to remove information that might offend people, especially people to whom they owe favours. They spend a lot of time directing their copy to please a side, appeal to popular trends or to appease some powerful individual or faction to keep on their good side.

If you choose this road, you’ll find yourself on some bandwagon, running from truth and the facts like a bad dream or going with the flow because it’s too hard to fight the current. You can count on being a very bad journalist, if you go so far as to plagiarize or deny, twist or delete provable facts to make yourself look good or win awards. There has just been too much of that lately. We have seen too many high-profile, internationally recognized journalists who have been caught cooking facts. Worse still, you could be one of those who tie truth to the size of the payroll.

Unfortunately, there is payback somewhere along the line. It may not have 7.5 percent VAT attached, but it will still cost more than you will be willing to give up.

That brings me to choice number 3, which is in complete opposition to the first two: You can choose to be a good journalist. To describe this fine professional, I am relying on the four principles of ethical journalist as promoted by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ):

1. Seek Truth and Report It

2. Minimize Harm

3. Act Independently

4. Be Accountable and Transparent

The SPJ has described some of the behaviours on which these four pillars rest. I have chosen just a few of them and summarized in some cases. These are values and behaviours that should not be compromised or neglected, if you wish to bring honour to your profession and yourself:

Journalists should:

– Take responsibility for the accuracy of their work. Verify information before releasing it. Use original sources whenever possible.

– Take special care not to misrepresent or oversimplify.

– Gather, update and correct information throughout the life of a news story. This means keep digging.

– Don’t make promises you can’t or have no intention of keeping.

– Identify sources clearly. The public is entitled to as much information as possible to judge the reliability and motivations of sources.

– Reserve anonymity for sources who may face danger, retribution or other harm, and have information that cannot be obtained elsewhere.

– Diligently seek subjects of news coverage to allow them to respond to criticism or allegations of wrongdoing.

– Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable. Give voice to the voiceless.

– Support the open and civil exchange of views.

– Recognize a special obligation to serve as watchdogs over public affairs and government. Seek to ensure that the public’s business is conducted in the open, and that public records are open to all.

– Avoid stereotyping.

– Never deliberately distort facts or context

– Never plagiarize. Always attribute.


To minimize harm, you should:

– Balance the public’s need for information against potential harm or discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance or undue intrusiveness.

– Show compassion for those who may be affected by news coverage. Use heightened sensitivity when dealing with juveniles, victims of sex crimes, and sources or subjects who are inexperienced or unable to give consent. Consider cultural differences in approach and treatment.

– Weigh the consequences of publishing or broadcasting personal information.

– Balance a suspect’s right to a fair trial with the public’s right to know. Consider the implications of identifying criminal suspects before they face legal charges.

To act independently, you should:

– Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived. Disclose unavoidable conflicts.

– Refuse gifts, favours, fees, free travel and special treatment, and avoid political and other outside activities that may compromise integrity or impartiality, or may damage credibility.

– Be wary of sources offering information for favours or money; do not pay for access to news.

– Deny favoured treatment to advertisers, donors or any other special interests, and resist internal and external pressure to influence coverage.

To be accountable and transparent, you should:

– Respond quickly to questions about accuracy, clarity and fairness.

– Acknowledge mistakes and correct them promptly and prominently. Explain corrections and clarifications carefully and clearly.

That brings me to choice number 4. You can choose to be a professional Bahamian journalist, who understands that our homeland is a developing country and your obligation to contribute to its honourable and rewarding development. Recognize that there really is power in the pen. When used by the corrupt, that power can tear down and destroy. When wielded by men and women of integrity, the pen can build a new world. With a pen dedicated to truth, you can help to build a Bahamas where governance is transparent. You can build a democracy that is strong and enduring, a democracy that is truly for the people by the people. You can help to build a world where human rights are upheld. How do you achieve this position of strength? I suggest you build on the foundation of the ethical principles and behaviours I just shared.

Now the question is—how can you contribute to building a better Bahamian society and economy? You can help to hold government’s feet to the fire to deliver on promises made to the people or, at least, admit that the promises they made were empty. Start with memorizing and holding dear all the ethical behaviour promoted by the SPJ. Every journalist dedicated to building this country or any other country has that obligation. Every Bahamian should consider building our country and rebuilding community ethics as articles of faith.

I propose that you never be afraid to ask the hard questions. We all need to ask the hard questions—Ask about Bank of The Bahamas, which has been the victim either of poor management at best or corruption at worst. If we believe that The Bahamas needs to do more about ensuring food security, journalists need to ask the hard questions about BAMSI. Ask until the contradictory stories give way to the truth about that important facility. Ask so that BAMSI is organized and supported properly to accomplish real advances. I assure you that, in many cases, getting to the truth is often harder than climbing Mount Everest. The truth is often buried under personal agendas, red herrings and lies. Ask the hard questions about the citizenship referendum and about BEC that is consuming so much of our money as taxpayers without any advances to show for it. It is the right and obligation of every citizen of this country to challenge the wanton treading on our rights and future. This is true democracy.

As journalists, you have the potential to ransom and revive truth by committing the best of your talents as currency. You can and must encourage others to buy-in by your demonstration of honesty, depth of research and careful reporting. I warn that it will not be easy. In fact, at times getting to that point will be like crossing the Tongue of the Ocean from Nassau to Andros. You will be swimming in deep, predator-filled water without a safety boat following. Nevertheless, fight on. You have a country to build. Together, we and all Bahamians of goodwill can create a better place to live in, a place where we no longer live in constant fear of becoming victims of out-of-control crime and endless paying without getting value for money. This is a matter of survival for us. Pledge never to sell out your birthright to this land. By your education and training you have the power to effect change, but you need the catalyst of will.

In the final analysis, you will have the potential to wield incredible power as a journalist. Someone called John Grogan says it so well: “In the English language, it all comes down to this: Twenty-six letters, when combined correctly, can create magic. Twenty -six letters form the foundation of a free, informed society.”


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