THE ABSENCE of a professional body and self-respect by the media have cause journalists to devalue their importance in society.

That statement came from former journalist Carl Moore who was part of a discussion about the Media In A Changing Society on Voice of Barbados (VOB) Sunday's edition of Down To Brass Tacks.

"Lawyers, doctors and the Black Belly sheep farmers have a professional body but we journalists have been floundering for decades because we don't see the importance of coming together as a body and demanding respect," he charged.

Media importance

Moore continued: "I think journalists are devaluing their importance and one of the contributing factors to that devaluation is the absence of a professional organisation to set standards for members to arrange for the proper training . . . to ensure satisfactory working conditions and adequate pay so as to attract competent people into the business and to protect journalists whose integrity brings them into difficulties with the establishment," he said.

Moore noted that introducing citizen journalism, the Internet and bloggers "which I call snipers of cyberspace" that assassinate people's character and "dish out victual and gossip as though it was chocolate mousse", were prime examples of this devaluation.

News shift

As a result, the former news editor, said this would affect the business of newspapers.

However, Associate Managing Editor of Nation Publishing, Eric Smith, argued that because news was shifting from being a product to a service citizen journalism would be useful in assisting the trained journalists with a story to further pursue.

Meanwhile, Moore blamed broadcast for using its prime time for call-in programmes instead of hiring staff for production, analysis and evaluation, "and now we are broadcasting to the world - so somebody in Australia or Nigeria is hearing our radio stations inviting people to sing a lot of foolishness".

"You have to be able to attract people who have some sense of mission about their profession," he added.

But regional journalist Rickey Singh said that for journalists to survive economically, while serving the public, they also had to deal with the profit market.

Manager news and public affairs and the programme moderator David Ellis admitted that there were serious issues in the profession, including the management of resources.

"We, who manage the resources, have to pay more attention to getting value for money out of what we bring into the newsroom and into the organisation.

"We have to put new approaches in place to achieve that but it calls for a united approach," he stated. (TM)