The Continuation of the Practice

Figure 14.How to bring the practice to an end?

Answers by TV journalists to the question: “If you think that such practice is not acceptable, how, in your opinion, can it best be brought to an end?”

The interviews with TV journalists in Latvia showed that issues of stricter controlling mechanisms and system changes at television companies are the most important in bringing the system to an end.

“The practice will continue if it is not controlled in a stricter manner,” said a TV journalist from LNTin Latvia.

“The National Radio and Television Council could, on a regular basis, push the alarm button at each signal and present this issue with a big bang. I think that then people would be a little bit more afraid of these things.

I have not heard that the council has been doing this recently. Maybe they quietly call those people and make them feel a little bit ashamed, tell them, how dare you, issue a reprimand, and that’s it. I think it should be a little bit more public, and then colleagues would discuss among themselves the idea that you see who is sitting over at that desk, that is the one who took the money. That would be a much more effective way, I think.”“In many cases it would be enough for the journalist to be chastised publicly, in other cases there could be legal sanctions and fees”, said a TV journalist from a media company which produces TV programmes for Latvian public TV.

“The practice will just continue, and journalism will cease to exist”, stated another TV journalist atLatvian public TV.

“The continuation will depend upon the situation that exists in television. I don’t know in what way the restructuring of television, the programmes, the activities will be if the broadcasting schedule is shortened. It is hard to say what our top management think,” said a Latvian public TVjournalist.

Stricter control from top management The practice is acceptable N/A Other answer

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Answers from Lithuanian TV journalists, % Answers from Norwegian TV journalists, % Answers from Latvian TV journalists, % A functioning journalists'

organisation to deal with media ethics Changes in journalistic education

Stricter legislation

“There are financial shortages”, said a TV3journalist in Latvia.

“State television should commission and pay for programmes from the independent producers on a competitive basis,” said a TV journalist from a media company which produces a TV programme for Latvian public TV.

“I agree thatLatvian public TVwith the policy of not paying independent producers for their programmes promotes this practice and, by extension, corruption, as well. The next question is why don’t they pay?”, said a journalist atLatvian public TV.

The opinions of the TV journalists in Norway were slightly different.

A TVNorgejournalist said that the obvious answer to what might hinder the continuation of the practice is attitude.

Additionally, the job must be made more post-controllable, the journalist must avoid working in a vacuum where he relates only to himself and a peripheral boss.

Another TVNorgejournalist thought that a critical attitude toward PR offices might partly help to get rid of hidden advertising.

A TV2journalist in Norway said that one way of avoiding hidden advertising would be to diminish the pressure to have celebrities on the programmes, to move away from the pressure to have very well-known people. She said that all record and film companies have control over their artists, and they don’t participate in a TV programme if it is not to increase sales. Consequently, it is promotion of the artists that takes place each and every time they appear on television.

A Norwegian TV journalist from NRKbelieves that stronger reactions, including prison sentences, can stop the development of the practice.

“If you were put in prison for doing it [accepting hidden advertising], then I think that even the professional and academic journals and those who lay in the grey zone would pull themselves together”, he said.

He stressed that there is no control over his staff of journalists, but added that as soon as someone is discovered, that person loses the job. Moreover, he said that there is an awareness among his staff that one can easily end up working in the interests of the source:

“You have developed a close contact, or you feel a human responsibility, they (the sources) have done much good for you, made it possible for you to do what you do, and you pay back by not having to overload (them) with shit.”

Just like the questionnaire answers, the interviews also indicated that more attention should be paid to education.

“Very many journalists ask, but why can’t you do this? I think that a person who has studied in a normal way (worked and done an internship), who works for a journalistic publication that is normal in a democratic state would not ask such a question. It must not be so that young journalists come out of the universities and don’t know why you cannot simply produce a programme in return for money. Here I am speaking precisely about the young journalists. The difference between those who have studied only at the University of Latvia and those who have studied a little bit abroad, even if it has been only a month or two, is major. When it comes to the criteria according to which journalists work in general, to their tasks in society, all of this is much clearer to them (those, that have studied abroad). They have a different spark in their eyes, they know why they can’t, why they have to look after state and local governmental institutions, why they are not supposed to get a piece of land from a private company and then make a programme or write a story about the private company”, said a TV journalist from TV3in Latvia.

A TV2journalist in Norway also touched upon the education aspect. She said that many of those who work at the channel don’t have a journalistic background, and they don’t know what the “Vær Varsom” (Be Careful) – poster¹⁰means. Moreover, she believes that a strong leader can help solve the problem.

A TV journalist from NRKin Norway believes that the only way to get rid of hidden advertising is to have a thorough discussion about it. She thinks the problem is institutionalised in Norway.

“We are so dependent on people sitting and scratching each other’s back”, she said. She has heard “that there are some journalists atDagbladetand VG¹¹who every day call TV3and ask if they have something for them.” She gave an example. “Synnøve Svabø had the premieer of a new programme, Synnøves Duell. The same day as the programme was to be aired for the first time, it was [written] on the front page of VG that somebody had masturbated on her at Buckingham Palace. I called TV2, and they said that they were so sorry that this had been presented on the front page of VG. I called and talked to the former information advisers, who said that they had made the calculation that the front page of VG, in terms of advertising costs, in practice, is the same as 37 000 TV viewers. A front page in VG or Dagbladet corresponds to several thousand crowns in market value. It is the best marketing for whatever is on that page. This is a story which TV2planted atVG, and of course they deny it.”

A majority of the Lithuanian TV journalists interviewed said that it is not possible to stop the practice.

“The market dictates the need for hidden advertising, so it is not possible to stop,” said a TV journalist in Lithuania.

Other TV journalists supported the view:

“It’s impossible [to bring the practice to an end], because of market economics.”

“No laws can stop it, so there are no chances to stop it.”

Even though the majority of TV journalists in Lithuania didn’t believe the practice could be stopped, some mentioned legislation, control and education.

“There are no chances to stop it. Maybe by making laws stricter,” said a TV journalist in Lithuania.

“It would be possible to stop it with censorship or dictatorship”, added another Lithuanian TV journalist.

“Maybe it could be stopped by laws or strict observation,” thought another TV journalist in Lithuania.

“Laws or the education of journalists should be changed,” was the answer given by another TV journalist in Lithuania to the question of what factors might lead to the ending of this practice.

A Lithuanian TV journalist noted that there has been no court trial in Lithuania over the issue of hidden advertising, so nobody is afraid of placing hidden advertising on TV.

Another Lithuanian TV journalist suggested that the practice should become legalised.

“We have to change the legislative basis and legalise it [the practice of hidden advertising], then it would be clear how to work with the advertising market”.

10 Guidelines for Norwegian journalists on how to behave in tricky ethical or journalistic situations, developed by the Norwegian Press Association 11Dagbladetand VGare the names of two of the largest Norwegian national newspapers.

The positive attitude of private companies and politicians towards the practice was mentioned, as well.

“Private companies and politicians will do everything to get to the audience through TV, so this preserves hidden advertising.”