Guilty of being an old white man
Former NZ Herald Editor-in-chief Gavin Ellis writes:
I have been accused of being a “bullying, old, white man”. I emphatically deny the first but plead guilty to the remaining three charges as the truth stares back at me from the mirror.
The charges were laid when I called for less rigid interpretation of the rules I had helped to write for a social media page. No, you didn’t misread that: I called for a relaxation of moderation, not a tightening.
The accusation of bullying therefore left me confused but then a light went on in my head.
Of course! Bullying is when you say something with which someone else disagrees.
Exactly. And by saying something, another person disagrees with, you are not just bullying, but causing harm. They may even feel unsafe.
What worried me was the willingness to bring down a shutter on discussion that interfered with a particular world view.
That isn’t a generational phenomenon limited to millennials and Gen Zers. It is a current affliction that spans all demographics and many socio-political beliefs. In her book Fascism: A warning, former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright spoke of an unwillingness to listen to what others say and, in some cases, to even allow them to speak. Rather than thinking critically, she said, we seek out people who share our opinions and who encourage us to ridicule the ideas of those whose convictions and perspectives clash with our own.
Journalists should have no part of that sort of thinking. Yet I fear this generation of journalists is complicit in some of it.
Matters dealing with race, gender (old men excepted), image and identity are handled with kid gloves. Debate on some subjects – such as the mātauranga Māori letter to the Listener signed by seven scientists – has become one-sided. ‘Old-fashioned’ views have no validity. We can only guess at what subjects get no exposure at all.
The media haven’t covered a bill that ends equality of suffrage in NZ, because presumably it is an old fashioned view. Likewise how often do they cover the huge educational gap between boys and girls in education system? Around 1% as much as the pay gap between men and women.
Journalists should not use perceived majority views as some sort of selection yardstick. To do so risks falling into what German political scientist Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann called a “spiral of silence” that stifles alternative opinion. The centrifugal force which accelerates the spiral of silence is fear of isolation and I wonder whether the prospect of falling victim to ‘cancel culture’ leads journalists – perhaps unconsciously – to become party to it.
We will be in trouble if journalists or media organisations start to condition their approach to the news by avoiding those things that might isolate them. It is a form of self-censorship that is little better than imposed constraints. And it, too, is a downward spiral.
It is a downward spiral, and we are on it.