HERE'S TO THE DOUBTING THOMAS ON THE NEWSDESK - 🗞️📰

Report by Duncan Williams 

As journalists, the pursuit of truth is at the heart of our work. We strive to uncover the facts, to report them honestly and accurately, and to hold those in power accountable for their actions. In this pursuit, doubt can be a useful and even necessary trait.

I say this as someone who has had a rollercoaster ride of a journalistic career and has worked on everything from local newspapers to national splash tabloids to Christian good news magazines. Having doubt is no bad thing.

First and foremost, doubt helps us to avoid confirming our own biases. We all have preconceived notions and beliefs that can colour our perceptions and lead us astray. By maintaining a healthy dose of skepticism, we can challenge our assumptions and ensure that we are not simply reporting what we want to hear.

Furthermore, doubt can help us to be more thorough in our reporting. When we encounter a piece of information that seems too good to be true, our instinct may be to run with it and publish it immediately. But by questioning the veracity of that information and digging deeper to confirm its accuracy, we can avoid spreading misinformation and damaging our credibility.

Doubt also allows us to be more open-minded in our reporting. As journalists, we often encounter complex issues with no easy answers. By maintaining a sense of doubt and uncertainty, we can approach these issues with a willingness to listen to multiple perspectives and to consider all the available evidence before drawing conclusions.

Paradoxically, doubt can also serve as a powerful motivator for our work. By acknowledging that we don't know everything and that there is always more to learn, we can stay curious and driven to uncover new information and tell stories that matter.

Of course, there is a danger in allowing doubt to overshadow our work. Too much skepticism can lead to paralysis, preventing us from making decisions and taking action. But when doubt is used in the right way, as a tool to challenge our assumptions and push us to be more thorough and open-minded in our reporting, it can be an invaluable asset for any journalist.

So in my experience in news reporting, skepticism and doubt are not weaknesses for a journalist, but a necessary part of the pursuit of truth. By staying curious, open-minded, and willing to question our own assumptions, we can ensure that our reporting is accurate, thorough, and serves the public interest.

News Team Wins Regional Media Innovator Award 2020

Congratulations to Pulman's Weekly News digital team named "Best Local News Publication 2020 - West Country" by Corporate Vision Magazine in their Media Innovator Awards.

PULMAN'S WEEKLY NEWS & ADVERTISER SERIES was founded in 1857 by West Country publisher George Philip Rigney Pulman. For generations his papers have been highly regarded by communities as a reliable source of news and for their local advertising services. Today this honourable tradition continues. New and growing readership demands have required a gradual transition from print to digital.

This long-term technology investment has already resulted in the company being presented with the West Country 'Media Innovator Award' for 2020 by Corporate Vision Magazine.

Says Devon born Managing Editor, Duncan Williams: "This validation for our digital outreach, particularly during these Covid-19 aware times, has been been most welcome. We are seeing more readers and businesses needing to read, promote and connect to our local news services than ever before."

Newsquest faces criticism from Christian media

Sometimes the vibrant cut and thrust of the corporate media world, particularly regarding revenue focus, can seem cold and callous.

People often take second place to profits.

For many Christians working in the media, the daily search for profits can seem at odds with a need for a calm and reflective search for God.

Newsquest Plc has been in the trade press a great deal over the past 12 months, as it tries hard to streamline its regional publishing operations to combat competition from fellow giant Trinity Mirror. The latter recently absorbed Local World and this dominance could well threaten Newsquest's market growth in regional news.

Newsquest's business strategy seems to be one of making savage cuts of staff. Last year several longtime employees were shown the door, photographers were axed and journalists issued with camera phones and told to multi-task. News reporters were issued with strict quotas and ordered to deliver a targeted number of scoops per week. Not easy.

Even paperboys/girls were not immune from this profit streamlining, as their tiny wages were made monthly rather than weekly so as to cut payroll accounting costs.

While it may seem unfair to single out Newsquest as an example of corporate pruning (there are others wielding axes) the double standards of the current local press agenda does deserve highlighting.

On the one hard regional media makes great play of saying they are all about helping support, promote and enrich the locations their newsbrands cover. Yet at the same time they exploit and disregard their own staff, who are usually themselves local people.

The big decisions, of course, are often made far away, safely in boardrooms in other larger towns and cities.

In Newsquest's case, in other countries, as this UK regional publisher is, in fact, American owned, part of the US giant, Gannett Incorporated.

Boardrooms, or at least, good conscience exist for all of us. In one way or another, we are all answerable to boards or to other people. Good Orderly Direction (GOD consciousness) is a necessary fact of life.

Even a traditional church service is something like a shareholders meeting - no, vicar, I don't mean it's boring, although this sometimes could be the case!

A good sermon sets the agenda and we listen, evaluate and choose weather to invest, or not. We search ourselves and search for God, and His will for us.

As Christians working in media, it is this key Sunday meeting that can set the pace for the working week.

True streamlining is made by finding, then actually following a path God has mapped out. The result of a successful God-quest.

Regional media (and as far as a Goliath organisations such as the Gannett Corporation/Newsquest are concerned, the UK is just another of their many regions) offers lucrative rewards. Corporations know this well. Communities welcome their investment. But they won't if profits are ruthlessly placed before people.

The good news is that the vicar's weekly sermon repeatedly assures us that God is not lost.

Sadly, corporate media responsibility often is.

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Duncan Williams has a background in faith publishing and is a researcher and part-time lecturer church and media communications.