The Channel | 2003 | September

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I seem to say it every year, but this really has
been an extraordinary time for the news
business. Never has a major conflict been so
heavily trailed; never has a major conflict been
so closely monitored.
The combination of a new approach to the
media from the military, a eager willingness
on the part of the broadcasters to break new
ground and the arrival of technology to make
that happen led to the Iraq War being covered
in a way that was, for once, genuinely
groundbreaking. You could regard this as the
first “fly on the wall” conflict and this
development led to the creation of a raft of
new issues and problems for both the
authorities and the media itself.
News World is in its ninth year, and it is the
first working with our new partners from the
Banff Television Foundation, organisers of the
internationally acclaimed Banff Television
Festival. This new relationship gives News
World a new and wider vision, and never has
there been a greater need for the news industry
to get together to share its experiences and
lessons, some of themnecessarily hard learned.
It will be a sad NewsWorld. An unprecedented
number of journalists have died as a direct result
of the conflict, throwing into ugly focus the
reality that pushing the boundaries of coverage
can come with a terrible price. I’ll bet that every
single participant at NewsWorld 2003will have
lost a friend, colleague or acquaintance.
This year then, News World is unashamedly
focussed on the Iraq War for its discussions,
but where to start? And what to do in what,
(at least to the NewsWorld programme team),
looks like three very short days!
The opening day is devoted to The News
World Inquiry. Chaired by the former
Secretary of State for Defence in the UK,
Michael Portillo, whose experience of
Government and now with a growing career
in the media will be invaluable. He will head
a panel which will include legal and media
expertise but which will also call on various
other contributors as the subject changes
through the day. The inquiry opens by
investigating the embedding reporters with the
services. Journalists and crews were actively
encouraged to get “Up Close and Personal”
with the members of their assigned units. This
undoubtedly produced some absorbing
broadcasting with viewers getting live
coverage closer to the action than ever before.
But was this really a good thing? Did it throw
any real light on what was happening and why
or did it just produce more dramatic pictures
that did nothing for the context of the action?
There were also criticisms that reporters got
too close to the soldiers in their assigned unit
and began to regard them as colleagues. Did
this colour the reporting?
The Inquiry then moves on to look at the
Coalition’s news centre and the distribution
of information that it managed. In contrast to
some of the criticisms of embedding, did this
generate an unnecessary degree of suspicion?
After lunch, The Inquiry turns its attention to
theuseofthetorrentofmaterialthatwasgenerated
by those in the field. Just how did newsrooms
cope and did the new breed of electronic
newsroom make life easier? While it’s true that
the 24 news channels thrived in the immediacy
and the volume of material, were most of the
viewers who were going about their daily lives
as normal, tempted back to the old fashioned
nightly news bulletin for their briefings?
The Inquiry also looks at the way in which
pooling worked. Embedding led directly to a
greater degree of pooled material being shown
across all outlets. One reporter has resigned
having filed a report containing false claims
so while broadcast executives may be happy
to take responsibility for their own staff, how
do they manage when it’s a rival’s
correspondent they have to trust?
Day Two moves away from Iraq for a while and
in the session “Brand it likeBeckham” examines
the growing trend for celebrity and show
business news in mainstream news bulletins.
Another fashionable subject for broadcast
news is Health. The Sars story may have been
short-lived but it created a huge reaction
worldwide. No one is still quite sure whether
this was justified or not and the media has
some questions to answer about how
responsibly it deals with complicated and
emotional issues like health and medicine.
After lunch on Day Two it’s back to Iraq
business with “Forget the Tanks, Did the Kit
Work?”, an investigation of the technology
that made the coverage so intimate and
immediate. Everything from cameras, sound
equipment, personal communications and
transmission will be examined with the users
and manufacturers going head-to-head.
The final day traditionally broadens the
agenda and this year NewsWorld looks at two
constantly contentious issues that have
relevance well beyond Iraq. The first session
calls into question the need for impartiality in
broadcast news. With at least one senior news
executive openly questioning the traditional
understanding of journalistic impartiality,
we’ll be hearing the defence of the old way,
and some thoughts of a new path to tread.
We’ll hear from some who think that the
explosion in news sources means that, just like
newspapers, broadcasters should now be
allowed to take polarised positions on major
issues – even political - because consumers
now have enough choice to find a broadcaster
supporting the alternative point of view.
Continuing the spirit of questioning the
unquestioned, News World also re-examines
one of journalism’s basic tenets….The Right
to Know. Will journalists and the politicians
ever agree on keeping secrets?
The final session is the traditional News World
Debate . This year it takes as its theme the
relationship (if there is one) between Islam and
the West and the way in which both are
represented in the other’s Media. What many
perceive as the growing divide between both
culturesseemsincreasinglytogenerateissuesthat,
while the facts may appear the same, are entirely
opposed when reported in the East and theWest.
NewsWorld 2003will have all its regular events.
The Mo Amin Award is once again supported
by Reuters and the programme for younger
journalists and students, The Next Generation,
will again produce Masterclasses and debates.
Finally, News World 2003 is delighted to play
host to one of the living legends of TV News,
Walter Cronkite, who will receive the News
World Lifetime Achievement Award at a
special ceremony in Dublin.
Cronkite will also take the stage for a question
and answer session as his contribution to the
conference debate. As one of the most
experienced broadcasters around, his
observations on the Iraq War, the coverage,
subsequent political controversies and the
current state of journalismwill be compelling.
News World 2003 is also accompanied by its
traditional exhibition with a wide range of
hardware manufacturers and other service
companies showing their wares.
In 2002, more than 450 broadcasters,
journalists and politicians gathered in Dublin
for some of the most stimulating debate of
the year. 2003 promises to be even better.
Mervyn Hall is Event Director for NewsWorld 2003.The
event opens atThe Burlington Hotel, Dublin on October
21 and continues until October 23. Full information is
online at www.newsworld.org.The AIB is attending.
Didn’t we say that before…
Mervyn Hall looks at the state of broadcast news and how the annual News
World conference will tackle the issues facing the industry
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