Reconfiguración de los sentidos sobre la educación en España a partir de la nueva ley de educación (LOMCE)
5. Reflexiones finales
T
his book illustrates how journalism that poses ques-tions and delivers quality is enriched by the solidarity of journalists and helps to improve the lives of people and to strengthen democracy. But will this form of jour-nalism play a leading role in the future?A global economy in decline, old rivalries and new conflicts, and a transformed media landscape have radically altered the ways journalists work and the ways people connect with one another. Journalists and their unions are thinking hard about the future and asking searching questions about how to defend the social and professional rights of their members.
The capacity to mobilise people to exert politi-cal pressure is a vital benchmark of democracy. That requires more media freedom and a more vigorous, pro-fessional and confident community of journalists. Unions of journalists at national level have grown strong and credible on the basis of their defence of press freedom and the social rights of their members. They have already shown a capacity for international campaigning and they know the value of cross-border solidarity.
Journalists at work still need protection — perhaps more so than ever. The period since the ending of the cold war has seen a fundamental recasting of the condi-tions in which journalists and their unions operate. On the plus side, journalists’ unions can now operate in countries where for decades freedom of association was prohibited, and many have joined the ranks of the inter-national movement. But at the same time the political impulses that underpin censorship and media interfer-ence have remained in place.
Globalisation has placed much of the core media busi-ness firmly into the international arena — but we have yet to develop international structures or methods to handle it in a way which commands support and confidence.
National journalists’ unions continue to play the significant role. Journalists continue to find their way to their associations and unions in increasing numbers.
Often they do so, not just with the expectation that unions will fight for employment and working conditions
but that they will also speak out in defence of their pro-fessional needs.
There is anxiety among some journalists about the best form of defence of their interests. Most are attached to collective organisation, which remains at the heart of vigorous union work, but many of them also seek tar-geted support. Unions need to respond to this organising challenge. The evidence is that if their union can deliver the services they need, such as training, or solutions to their welfare and insurance problems, or protection of their professional identity, people will join.
The isolation of journalists from the workplace, the dis-location caused by changing employment trends, and the intolerable pressure to satisfy the voracious appetite of new media markets combine to weaken professional solidarity and reduce the capacity for humane, sensitive journalism.
This is made worse by the fact that many journalists are prohibited, prevented, intimidated or discouraged from joining a union.
Structural changes in employment have taken a toll.
In many areas unions have not been able to follow the migration of work to new locations and unionise them.
The new media economy poses real difficulties — small work units, precarious employment, high labour turnover, absence of union traditions and employer hostility.
In this age of profound uncertainty workplace organi-sation and the defence of jobs that provide quality jour-nalism is a key to delivering change.
The crisis of global recession, uneven media devel-opment policies, attacks on press freedom, and the need to raise standards provide a national and international agenda crowded with big issues.
Journalists’ unions are by far the largest organi-sations representing journalists and should lead this debate. It does not always work like that. Sometimes, the loudest voices in the debate with government come from non-governmental civil society groups active on media freedom issues.
Journalists’ unions do not need to compete with these bodies, and have a lot to gain from cooperation
with those which share our values and objectives on a clear understanding of our respective responsibilities.
As the wheel of history turns unions of journalists remain key players in defining the future. They have no reason to renege on their past history and achieve-ments or principles and values. But it is a common sense conclusion of the transformation of the world of journal-istic work in the last 20 years or so that if we value the strength, vitality and creativity that delivers humanity in our journalism we shall have to reinvigorate our role.
The fact is that the way we did things yesterday won’t necessarily work tomorrow. Standing still while everything around us is changing at unprecedented speed is an unlikely recipe for success.
That is why the leaders of the IFJ, meeting in Paris in November 2008, decided to focus work in the coming years on how to develop global labour strategies and — perhaps more importantly — to equip unions at national and regional level with the means of carrying them out.
There are two essential challenges: first, to put in place the type of regulation and policies we (and soci-ety at large) regard as essential for media democracy at the national level and, secondly, to strengthen the way unions work to ensure so they are capable of represent-ing journalists effectively in that settrepresent-ing.
Many of the IFJ’s affiliates have thriving sections for freelance and self employed journalists; they provide legal protection, insurance, professional training, and services that suit the needs of a rapidly-changing media jobs mar-ket. We may complain, with good reason, about fixed term contracts and casualisation of employment, but in the end these workers also need unions to represent them.
It’s increasingly obvious that existing structures of media regulation and forms of engagement with the pub-lic and the state are not “fit for purpose.” There needs to be more social partnership, more dialogue with citizens and more respect for journalists’ rights to speak for them-selves and to be heard. This will only work when there is more respect for collective representation.
Good journalism is what makes society more decent, government more honest and life more tolerable.
The life-saving instances of journalists at work reported in this book are not isolated cases. Reporters in the field and editors at their desks intervene routinely to put respect for people and their communities at the heart of their work. Journalism is full of dilemmas, but it is not
spontaneous or extraordinary to find generosity of spirit in the work that journalists do — for most of them it is merely putting into practice the values and commitment that led them to do the job in the first place.
This is why journalists’ unions campaign for a global media system underpinned by national attachment to val-ues and subject to effective, equitable, governance. The triumphant forces of neo-liberalism have had their day, in media too, and it is very clear to see what has gone wrong in media society and what needs to be done to repair the damage.
The state needs to shake off the overweening power of media conglomeration. It needs to be given some backbone and sent back to the fight with a commitment to guarantee citizens’ rights to quality media and informa-tion pluralism. If the media economy requires regulainforma-tion, it must be in such a way that produces socially accept-able and democratic outcomes.
Governments must take their responsibilities to defend the integrity of public service values in media, building upon the core support for public service broad-casting, but looking forward to provide support for plural-ism and democratic exchange wherever the market is unable to provide it.
Journalists and their unions need to engage in ener-getic and important discussions about their work with civil society. These relations must never be too close lest they compromise the independence of journalism, but dialogue is at the heart of democratic process and, for the most part, those who discount its vital importance have never had to experience its absence.
The right way forward for the union movement in journalism is as a committed actor in the triangular dynamics of unionism, progressive politics and civil soci-ety activism.
Quality journalism remains a key to eliminating the sense of powerlessness, resignation and disillusion in societies where unregulated capitalism and centralised political power has done fearful damage.
The journalists’ movement and the radical reporters who formed it have over the years exposed injustice and helped to bring about social progress and a deeper sense of civilisation and humanity. Today’s journalists are surely no less brave or committed than those who have gone before — the unions that represent them also have to be up to the challenge.
Appendices
© 2008 JUPITERIMAGES CORPORA