Journalism has seen end of an era in quality – Former BBC journalist

Former BBC Journalist Max Bankole Jarrett says the media and journalism have seen the end of an era in which trustworthy news gathering and broadcasting was the norm.

Mr Bankole Jarrett was host of Network Africa and Focus on Africa for more than a decade at the BBC World Service.

In a wide-ranging interview with Phillip Nyakpo in Perth Australia, he said there is a significant weakness between the media and its audience brought on by the combination of the 24 hour opinion-driven TV news cycle and the easy influence of misguided use of social media.

“The level of engagement I was able to have as a young broadcaster at the BBC was the end of an era of media influence which we won’t get back again… it was a time when people will really listen.”

“Simple things like… before you put something on air, making sure that it has been checked, and checked and checked again” for acuracy, balance and fairness. “Across the media, those values have slipped a bit.”

The broadcaster who started work with the BBC 30 years ago said “now I don’t watch television news, I still listen to BBC Radio, but I don’t have it in me to be part of a viewership of a 24 hour television news cycle – there is so much noise out there, so much opinion. We did not deal in opinion… it was about facts, facts, facts.”

Watch the entire interview in the video below:

Source: AfricanPod