13 October 2005
"AUSTRALIANS SWITCHED OFF ABOUT ETHICS"
The Australian public has grown to accept a lowering of ethical standards in public life according to veteran broadcaster and journalist John Highfield in an interview published in the latest edition of Good Business produced by the Edmund Rice Centre in Croydon NSW.
Highfield spoke mainly from the perspective of the media where he highlighted the relative lack of outrage about the 'cash for comments' issue whereby popular radio presenters had been paid to present the activities of various corporations in a favourable light, and the threat to the search for truth posed by the prosecution of two Melbourne journalists for failure to disclose their sources of information.
He also drew attention to the army of media consultants employed by governments and other organizations to create spin and manipulate the flow of information. This coupled with the failure of political journalists to adequately question the information put out by governments can mean that the public is not adequately informed and that this therefore represents a threat to "true democracy and openness"
He attributed this decline to the fact that "people have turned inwards on themselves and therefore become disengaged from the political process, partly because of the pressure of their own personal problems like the mortgage, investments and their superannuation."
The solution he suggested lay first with us, the public, demanding higher standards in public life, but also could be addressed through developing professional associations with a strong moral sense and the power to enforce standards within their own industries. He also believed there was a need to strengthen protections for whistle-blowers.
Highfield spoke mainly from the perspective of the media where he highlighted the relative lack of outrage about the 'cash for comments' issue whereby popular radio presenters had been paid to present the activities of various corporations in a favourable light, and the threat to the search for truth posed by the prosecution of two Melbourne journalists for failure to disclose their sources of information.
He also drew attention to the army of media consultants employed by governments and other organizations to create spin and manipulate the flow of information. This coupled with the failure of political journalists to adequately question the information put out by governments can mean that the public is not adequately informed and that this therefore represents a threat to "true democracy and openness"
He attributed this decline to the fact that "people have turned inwards on themselves and therefore become disengaged from the political process, partly because of the pressure of their own personal problems like the mortgage, investments and their superannuation."
The solution he suggested lay first with us, the public, demanding higher standards in public life, but also could be addressed through developing professional associations with a strong moral sense and the power to enforce standards within their own industries. He also believed there was a need to strengthen protections for whistle-blowers.
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