Lord Barber gave a speech back in April at Yale University, I missed it at the time, but it has helpfully been reprinted in full in the Press Gazette this week.

The speech was a defence of Main Stream Journalism headlined ‘Why Journalism Matters’. In a lengthy wail worthy of the Sheffield wick-trimmers society when the self trimming wick appeared on the scene, he says:

“the internet is challenging our conceptions about the practice of journalism itself. To some, the digital revolution represents freedom: a decisive break away from the old media oligopoly into a world which is more democratic, more innovative, and invites more civic participation. To others, this revolution will fundamentally change the way that people relate to the news. It threatens to undermine the role of mainstream media as a trusted intermediary or gatekeeper between the public and the authorities which has long been part of our democratic society”.

He then went on to describes the five key attributes of ‘real’ journalists, and their indispensability to a free and democratic society. Hmmn.

“First”, Barber says, “there is the function of informing the citizenry. This is primarily educational, enabling the public to make political choices and participate in self-government”.

– perhaps he means enabling the citizenry to make political choices based on the allegiances of your Editor….absolutely no difference from your average Joe Blogger then. Our vote doesn’t come courtesy of any newspaper, so we are quite capable of participating in self-government without them.

“The second function of journalism in a democracy is that of watchdog. Investigative – as opposed to informative – journalism is by its nature confrontational. Its goal is to prevent abuses of power, to expose immoral, unethical or illegal behaviour by agencies or individuals.”

The ultimate ‘own goal’……..journalists weren’t prepared to expose any of this government’s immoral, unethical or illegal behaviour until a blogger – to wit, Guido Fawkes – kindly rid them of stuff of their nightmares, one Damian McBride, by exposing his immoral behaviour.He even has the sheer brass neck to single out “the most recent example of successful investigative journalism” as beeing “the Daily Telegraph’s exposure of systematic abuse in parliamentary expense claims. Here I tip my hat to the Telegraph and its editor Will Lewis, a former FT colleague, for their courageous and diligent pursuit of a groundbreaking story.”……….first the Telegraph tried to stiffle Guido’s exposure of Damian McBride, then when it was successfull despite their best endevours, they took advantage of the freedom it gave them to publish the contents of a CD that ‘dropped into their lap’ – hardly courageous and diligent persuit!

“The third function of journalism is to provide analysis, to explain a complicated event or process in a comprehensible narrative.”

There are many bloggers more than capable of providing analysis of ‘complicated events’, ranging from Dizzy and DK’s ‘fisking’ to Old Holborn’s variety of ridicule. Generally resulting in a far more ‘comprehensible narrative’ than the politically correct main stream media achieve.

The fourth function of journalism in a democracy is what Schudson defines as social empathy. Good journalism, whether in print, on TV or on the radio, can imbue the citizen with a deeper sense of community.

Blogging is nothing if not evidence of the bloggers ability to create a sense of community. Without advertising, without the exposure of a million newspaper sellers, or corner newsagent, every blogger lives or dies by his ‘community’ – Blogging is a community.

The fifth function of journalism in a democratic society is to serve as a public forum. The most basic form in the mainstream press is the space for letters to the editor. A more recent innovation, starting in the US in the 1970s, was the creation of an “op-ed” page. This page – which usually sits opposite the letters page and the leaders or editorials – is a forum for staff writers but also guest columnists and experts to provide a variety of views on current issues.

Newspapers as a democratic forum? Give me strength! They only publish the comments they are sure they cannot get sued for, or that won’t upset their leader writers too much. Old Holborn is a democratic forum, Lord Barber, he publishes conversations regardless of their content.

Finally, he says the “function of journalism is to mobilise public opinion, either for non-partisan or partisan reasons. Great press campaigns can change history and shape new laws. The Times under Thomas Barnes campaigned relentlessly for the introduction of the Reform Act which set the country on the road to universal suffrage. The Sunday Times’ campaign to bring the perpetrators of the Omagh bombing to justice is a more recent testimony to courage and persistence by editors and reporters alike. Recent tabloid campaigns to ban plastic bags, stop the introduction of ID cards or impose accountability on Haringey social services in the Baby P case have all had a direct influence on British government policy.”

Campaigns such as those mounted by bloggers to see Jacqui Smith in court have been impressively effective too!

So there you have it, the great justification for journalism by the Editor of the Financial Times, a second generation journalist himself. Then comes the health warning…….we need the wick trimmers, these new fangled self trimming candles could be dangerous…….

But we also know that the new journalism is not without its weaknesses. We are also aware of the risks of blurring the distinction between what might be described as “crafted” and “raw” journalism. By crafted, I mean news gathering which is properly sourced and which has passed through a revise function for the purpose of accuracy, good taste, and legality. {…} most bloggers do not operate according to the same standards as those who aspire to and practise crafted journalism. They are often happy to report rumour as fact, arguing that readers or fellow networkers can step in to correct those “facts” if they turn out to be wrong. They are rarely engaged in the pursuit of original news: their bread and butter is opinion and comment. Their web-driven culture of immediacy means they are more often consumed by the need to be first than right.

Newspapers, as we all know, are never wrong, never obsessed with a deadline, never happy to report rumour as fact, especially if it comes from a celebrity’s PR man, never tap phones or employ expensive private detectives to burrow into dustbins…….

Bloggers manage to keep their audience happy without a raft of lawyers to insulate them from the threat of libel, without the kudos of expensive lunches to lure a story, without the multi-million pound research facilities and cutting’s library, without the backing of lobby passes to schmoose with the politicians, and most of them hold down a day job as well.

If that is Lord Barber’s best effort at a plea to maintain the main stream press, I’d say he’s lost not just the battle, but the entire war.

Without new revenue streams, quality journalism will wither. We should be under no illusions about the price we would pay as a result. It would not be measured in terms of jobs alone, but something more enduring and valuable. Journalism forms part of the lifeblood of free societies. Journalism is not perfect, nor was it ever meant to be. By its nature, it is often uncomfortable, especially for those in positions of power. But it matters – and I will defend it to the last.

Society managed very well without the wick trimmers, indeed, we went on to invent electricity, so even the self-trimming candle became virtually extinct.

We will manage without the main stream press too, we now have Lord Barber’s word that it can do nothing that blogger’s can’t do better.

Tagged as: Financial Times, Lord Barber