ENTERTAINMENT and media consultant Clive McKenzie has suggested that the survival of traditional media houses may rest in their adherence to traditional journalistic values of balance, accuracy, decency and fairness as he cited the growing prevalence of new media technology and its effects on news content.

“Technological shifts have not only changed how we make, present and consume news,” said McKenzie. “It has radically changed what is the subject of our newscast and how it is treated.”

At the same time, he said that the new developments have massive implications on fair play because traditional media, which acted as the gatekeeper to protect public morals and individual reputation, are now under threat from digitally enabled entrants which are not too focused on maintaining those values.

One significant effect, McKenzie pointed out, was the lack of access to alternative points of view, which he says can have serious consequences for the country’s political culture.

“Whatever we want to say about traditional media, they have played a vital role in providing context for the interpretation of information we call news and have exposed us to a broad range of views,” he said.

Added McKenzie, “Without the provision of this context and range, our deliberations would be free of the appropriate reference points and alternatives which are necessary for proper decision- making.”

He also cited other features of the modern media such as instantaneity, speed, treatment of news as entertainment, which in different instances have resulted in a “general lowering in the standards” and “the privilege of hype over substance”.

“Yet what about the issue of balance and accuracy? Is the securing of a countervailing point of view often a casualty of the need for space, or the end desire to give only one side of the argument?” he questioned.

“Are some of these emerging media outlets even concerned about accuracy and balance?” McKenzie further asked.

But despite the changes, he said that traditional media have a decided advantage in the areas of balance and fairness.

“Established media houses for the most part are expected to provide accurate and balanced information, though there are some notable international exceptions,” he said.

McKenzie was the guest speaker at the 15th staging of the annual Jamaica Broilers Fair Play Awards Tuesday at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in Kingston where TVJ’s Nadine McLeod walked away with the first-place trophy and $500,000 for her feature, Business on Back Road.

Second place went to The Gleaner’s Tameka Gordon, who won a trophy and $300,000 for her piece, NHT Acquires OUTAMENI, while Nationwide and 18 degrees North tied for third place with their respective pieces, Krauck & Anchor chronicle. They both received trophies and $100,000 each.

An elated McLeod said she was very surprised, but was grateful as she and her team had put a lot of work into the feature.

The competition attracted 30 entries, four from radio, seven from television and 19 from print. Each entrant was required to submit a three-part media report, which was stipulated to encourage media practitioners to complete more substantial reportage and engage in more meaningful follow-up.

In his report, chief judge Professor Hopeton Dunn said that many of the submissions were strong and competitive, but there were others that could be described as “unexceptional”. He pointed to the need for more investigative work and journalistic enterprise along with improved use of language and better quality in sound and visual image.

He also encouraged more entries from radio and independent and small media outlets as well as on economics, science, arts and culture, sports.