Despite substantial challenges, there is hope for the cause of ethics in journalism in Russia and the United States, Christopher Wren '57 said yesterday in his speech "The Illusion of Journalistic Ethics in the U.S. and Russia."
"I would define ethics as doing the right thing when no one is watching," Wren said. "In journalism the credibility and survival of the news media depends on a bond of trust between journalists and readers."
The problem with ethics in journalism in Russia, Wren explained, comes from a lack of a tradition for a prior free or independent press. Financial problems have forced many newspapers to seek sponsors or individual patrons who are willing to pay to have their views printed. This can cause problems for readers, as the articles are published as news, with no distinction between solicited and unsolicited reporting.
Unethical reporting breaches this bond, according to Wren. He went on to describe the question of ethics in journalism as "illusory," joking that the phrase is almost an oxymoron.
"What you and I take as expected can be a luxury in other parts of the world," Wren said.
Wren cited many challenges facing the Russian press. Expensive lawsuits and nosy tax police have forced weaker papers to avoid controversy, and new laws prohibit news organizations from publishing campaign information about a candidates past political performance or personal life. Prices on newspapers in some parts of Russia have also risen so much that a daily newspaper can cost as much as a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread.Newspapers solve these problems by accepting ordered stories from voices willing to pay to be heard and publishing them as news. Material is routinely picked off the internet.
The problem is not unique to Russian reporting, either. Wren, who wrote for the New York Times for 28 years before serving as consultant to newspapers throughout Russia, cited many problems in American journalism.
Some breaches of journalistic ethics, like those of Jason Blair and Janet Cooke, are easy to spot, Wren said, while others are less conspicuous. Problems in American journalistic ethics include reporters accepting gifts, journalists embedded in troop units and journalists citing unnamed sources. These problems are smaller versions of those facing the Russian press.
"What happened at the Times and the Post were all the more traumatic because they were exceptions to the rule and not the standard," Wren said. "American journalists should know better."
Wren does have hope, though, for improvements in Russia's press. Problems arise, he said, because the Russian people don't know what good reporting is.
"There is a generational hope. The younger reporters, like the younger Russians, are not buying into the system," Wren said. "The fact is that there are some very good reporters trying to do the right thing."
Wren, who graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth in 1957, recently returned from working as a consultant for newspapers throughout Russia for the past two months.
