We pose the question each and every day, here on FT Alphaville. Obviously. But now Damian Tambini, a lecturer at the London School of Economics, has gone and done a paper on the matter.
And he’s given it a sub-title: Ethics and responsibility in a time of crisis and change.
Summary:
This paper introduces a model of the rights and duties of financial and business journalists. It shows how journalistic privileges have been granted in recognition of the social function of ethical, responsible journalism, and examines the impact of current market and technological changes on the nature of those ethics and responsibilities.
The rights of financial journalists include access, financial resources and also a legal and ethical framework of protection of sources, certain immunities and public interest defenses in relation to defamation and invasion of privacy. Duties of financial journalists, and definitions of ethical journalism are more disputed. Interviews with journalists reveal that they define responsible journalism in a variety of ways: some see their responsibility in terms of providing information for investors, and others refer to a wider ‘public interest’ remit encompassing the holding of corporations to account. Because newspapers and broadcasters tend to rely on a few specialist financial journalists, these self-definitions of role are crucial: If journalists see themselves mainly or merely as serving the market or investors, they may be less effective in their watchdog role.
Codes of conduct for financial journalists tend to focus on the micro aspect of conflicts of interest relating to single companies, and neglect broader issues such as the role of business reporting in relation to market sentiment in general. Research is inconclusive on the precise relationship between news and markets, and it is unlikely that any clarity will be achieved on this issue in the near future. It is clear however that financial news reporting could reinforce dysfunctional patterns of market behavior such as herding and momentum.
Financial journalism faces a number of challenges currently; including pressure of speed due to 24hour news cycle; increasing complexity; PR strategies; sustainability; and the challenges of globalisation. Journalists have begun to respond, but the profession lacks a clear sense of purpose.
In this context financial journalists and other stakeholders should urgently seek to reassess their roles and responsibilities and seek a new regulatory settlement. Those that seek a more responsible financial journalism should open a dialogue about how best to support that, through promoting access to key financial information for journalists, clarifying source protection standards and defamation risk. Given the business constraints financial journalists face, they will not be able to develop a new role in the global corporate governance structure without a re-assessment of the privileges society affords them.
Related link:
Full Polis paper - LSE
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