David Puttnam: What happens when the media's priority is profit?

Translator: Klavdija Cernilogar Reviewer: Nika Kotnik

I'd like to start, if I may,

Če smem, bi začel

with the story of the Paisley snail.

z zgodbo o polžu iz Paisleya.

On the evening of the 26th of August, 1928,

26. avgusta 1928 zvečer

May Donoghue took a train from Glasgow

se je May Donoghue z vlakom odpeljala iz Glasgowa

to the town of Paisley, seven miles east of the city,

v Paisley, sedem milj vzhodno od mesta.

and there at the Wellmeadow Café,

Tam je v kavarni Wellmeadow

she had a Scots ice cream float,

naročila škotski sladoledov napitek

a mix of ice cream and ginger beer

mešanico sladoleda in ingverjevega piva,

bought for her by a friend.

ki ji ga je plačal prijatelj.

The ginger beer came in a brown, opaque bottle

Ingverjevo pivo je bilo v temno rjavi steklenici

labeled "D. Stevenson, Glen Lane, Paisley."

z oznako "D. Stevenson, Glen Lane, Paisley."

She drank some of the ice cream float,

Popila je nekaj napitka,

but as the remaining ginger beer was poured

a ko so ji v kozarec

into her tumbler,

dolili preostalo pivo,

a decomposed snail

je na površje splaval

floated to the surface of her glass.

razpadajoč polž.

Three days later, she was admitted

Čez tri dni so jo sprejeli

to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary

v bolnišnico v Glasgowu

and diagnosed with severe gastroenteritis

in ugotovili, da ima resen gastroenteritis

and shock.

ter da je v šoku.

The case of Donoghue vs. Stevenson that followed

Primer Donoghue proti Stevensonu, ki je sledil,

set a very important legal precedent:

je postavil pomemben pravni precedens:

Stevenson, the manufacturer of the ginger beer,

Proizvajalec ingverjevega piva Stevenson

was held to have a clear duty of care

je imel jasno dolžnost skrbnega ravnanja

towards May Donoghue,

do May Donoghue,

even though there was no contract between them,

čeprav med njima ni bilo pogodbe

and, indeed, she hadn't even bought the drink.

in čeprav ni sama niti kupila pijače.

One of the judges, Lord Atkin, described it like this:

Lord Atkin, eden od sodnikov, je zadevo opisal tako:

You must take care to avoid acts or omissions

Izogibati se morate dejanjem ali njihovi opustitvi,

which you can reasonably foresee

če lahko razumno predvidevate,

would be likely to injure your neighbor.

da bi to lahko poškodovalo drugega.

Indeed, one wonders that without a duty of care,

Če bi ta dolžnost ne obstajala, se sprašujem,

how many people would have had to suffer

koliko bi jih še zbolelo,

from gastroenteritis before Stevenson eventually went out of business.

preden bi Stevenson izgubil posel.

Now please hang on to that Paisley snail story,

Ohranite zgodbo o polžu v mislih,

because it's an important principle.

saj vsebuje pomembno načelo.

Last year, the Hansard Society, a nonpartisan charity

Lani je dobrodelna organizacija, Hansard Society,

which seeks to strengthen parliamentary democracy

ki si prizadeva za boljšo parlamentarno demokracijo

and encourage greater public involvement in politics

ter spodbuja vključevanje javnosti v politiko,

published, alongside their annual audit

poleg letnega poročila

of political engagement, an additional section

objavila tudi posebno poglavje

devoted entirely to politics and the media.

o politiki in medijih.

Here are a couple of rather depressing observations

Tule je nekaj depresivnih izsledkov

from that survey.

te raziskave.

Tabloid newspapers do not appear

Tabloidi ne pomagajo

to advance the political citizenship of their readers,

graditi političnega državljanstva med bralci,

relative even to those

pravzaprav je še slabše

who read no newspapers whatsoever.

kot med tistimi, ki sploh ne berejo časopisov.

Tabloid-only readers are twice as likely to agree

Bralci izključno tabloidov bodo dvakrat bolj verjetno

with a negative view of politics

imeli negativno mnenje o politiki,

than readers of no newspapers.

kot ne-bralci časopisov.

They're not just less politically engaged.

Ne samo, da so manj politično angažirani.

They are consuming media that reinforces

Berejo medije, ki krepijo njihov

their negative evaluation of politics,

negativen pogled na politiko,

thereby contributing to a fatalistic and cynical

s čimer spodbujajo fatalističen in ciničen

attitude to democracy and their own role within it.

odnos do demokracije in njihove vloge v njej.

Little wonder that the report concluded that

Nič čudnega, da je poročilo ugotovilo,

in this respect, the press, particularly the tabloids,

da v tem smislu tisk, posebej tabloidi,

appear not to be living up to the importance

ne upravičujejo svoje vloge glede

of their role in our democracy.

njihovega pomena za demokracijo.

Now I doubt if anyone in this room would seriously

Dvomim, da bo kdo med vami

challenge that view.

resno izzval to mnenje.

But if Hansard are right, and they usually are,

A če ima Hansard prav, in ponavadi ima,

then we've got a very serious problem on our hands,

potem je to velik problem,

and it's one that I'd like to spend the next 10 minutes

na katerega se bom osredotočil

focusing upon.

v naslednjih desetih minutah.

Since the Paisley snail,

Od časa polža iz Paisleya

and especially over the past decade or so,

ter posebej v zadnjem desetletju

a great deal of thinking has been developed

se je razmišljanje o dolžnosti skrbnega ravnanja

around the notion of a duty of care

precej razvilo,

as it relates to a number of aspects of civil society.

saj je povezano s številnimi vidiki civilne družbe.

Generally a duty of care arises when one individual

V splošnem dolžnost skrbnega ravnanja nastane, ko posameznik

or a group of individuals undertakes an activity

ali skupina izvaja določen akt,

which has the potential to cause harm to another,

ki bi lahko drugim naredil škodo,

either physically, mentally or economically.

fizično, duševno ali gospodarsko.

This is principally focused on obvious areas,

To se nanaša predvsem na očitne zadeve,

such as our empathetic response to children and young people,

denimo empatičen odnos do otrok in mladine,

to our service personnel, and to the elderly and infirm.

do uslužbencev, starejših in nemočnih.

It is seldom, if ever, extended to equally important arguments

Redko, če sploh, se razširi na prav tako pomembne razprave

around the fragility of our present system of government,

o ranljivosti trenutnega sistema vladanja,

to the notion that honesty, accuracy and impartiality

v smislu, da so poštenje, točnost in nepristranskost

are fundamental to the process of building

ključne za gradnjo

and embedding an informed,

in utrditev jasne

participatory democracy.

participatorne demokracije.

And the more you think about it,

Bolj ko razmišljate o tem,

the stranger that is.

bolj čudno postaja.

A couple of years ago, I had the pleasure

Pred nekaj leti sem imel čast

of opening a brand new school

otvoriti čisto novo šolo

in the northeast of England.

na severovzhodu Anglije.

It had been renamed by its pupils as Academy 360.

Učenci so jo preimenovali v Akademijo 360.

As I walked through their impressive,

Ko sem šel skozi občudovanja vreden

glass-covered atrium,

stekleni atrij,

in front of me, emblazoned on the wall

sem pred seboj v zidu videl,

in letters of fire

z ognjenimi črkami, vgraviran znan

was Marcus Aurelius's famous injunction:

opomin Marka Avrelija:

If it's not true, don't say it;

Če ni res, tega ne govori,

if it's not right, don't do it.

če ni prav, tega ne stori.

The head teacher saw me staring at it,

Ravnatelj je videl, da gledam tja,

and he said, "Oh, that's our school motto."

in dejal je: "Oh, to je moto naše šole."

On the train back to London,

Na vlaku nazaj proti Londonu

I couldn't get it out of my mind.

mi to ni dalo miru.

I kept thinking, can it really have taken us

Smo res potrebovali

over 2,000 years to come to terms

več kot 2000 let, da smo sprejeli,

with that simple notion

da je to enostavno načelo tisto najmanj,

as being our minimum expectation of each other?

kar pričakujemo drug od drugega?

Isn't it time that we develop this concept

Mar ni čas, da razvijemo koncept

of a duty of care

dolžnosti skrbnega ravnanja

and extended it to include a care

ter ga razširimo na skrb

for our shared but increasingly endangered democratic values?

za skupne, a vse bolj ogrožene demokratične vrednote?

After all, the absence of a duty of care

Odsotnost dolžnosti skrbnega ravnanja

within many professions

v mnogih poklicih

can all too easily amount to accusations of negligence,

prehitro pripelje do obtožb zanemarjanja,

and that being the case, can we be really comfortable with the thought

v tem primeru - ali res lahko kar sprejmemo misel,

that we're in effect being negligent

da v bistvu zanemarjamo

in respect of the health of our own societies

zdravje lastne družbe

and the values that necessarily underpin them?

ter vrednot, na katerih temelji?

Could anyone honestly suggest, on the evidence,

Lahko kdo pošteno potrdi, z dokazi,

that the same media which Hansard so roundly condemned

da se isti mediji, ki jih je Hansard tako odkrito obsodil,

have taken sufficient care to avoid behaving

dovolj skrbno izogibajo

in ways which they could reasonably have foreseen

obnašanju, za katerega lahko predvidijo,

would be likely to undermine or even damage

da bi utegnilo spodkopati ali celo poškodovati

our inherently fragile democratic settlement.

našo krhko demokratično ureditev.

Now there will be those who will argue

Seveda bodo nekateri trdili,

that this could all too easily drift into a form

da to lahko hitro zdrsne v

of censorship, albeit self-censorship,

cenzuro, četudi samocenzuro,

but I don't buy that argument.

a ta argument zame ne zdrži.

It has to be possible

Mora biti mogoče

to balance freedom of expression

uravnotežiti svobodo izražanja

with wider moral and social responsibilities.

s širšo moralno in družbeno odgovornostjo.

Let me explain why by taking the example

Naj pojasnim z lastnim primerom

from my own career as a filmmaker.

iz svoje kariere filmarja.

Throughout that career, I never accepted

Ves ta čas nisem nikoli sprejel,

that a filmmaker should set about putting

da bi filmarji

their own work outside or above what he or she

svoje delo postavljali izven ali iznad

believed to be a decent set of values

lastnega dostojnega seta vrednot

for their own life, their own family,

o svojem življenju, svoji družini

and the future of the society in which we all live.

ter prihodnosti družbe, v kateri živimo.

I'd go further.

Še več.

A responsible filmmaker should never devalue their work

Odgovoren filmar ne bi nikoli razvrednotil svojega dela

to a point at which it becomes less than true

do te mere, da bi postalo manj kot zvesto

to the world they themselves wish to inhabit.

svetu, v katerem sam želi živeti.

As I see it, filmmakers, journalists, even bloggers

Filmarji, novinarji, celo blogerji

are all required to face up to the social expectations

morajo spoštovati družbena pričakovanja,

that come with combining the intrinsic power of their medium

ki pridejo z močjo njihovega medija

with their well-honed professional skills.

v kombinaciji z njihovimi strokovnimi veščinami.

Obviously this is not a mandated duty,

Seveda ta dolžnost ni napisana,

but for the gifted filmmaker and the responsible journalist

a je za nadarjenega filmarja in odgovornega novinarja

or even blogger, it strikes me as being utterly inescapable.

ali celo blogerja po moje povsem neizogibna.

We should always remember that our notion

Moramo se zavedati, da je naša predstava

of individual freedom and its partner, creative freedom,

o svobodi posameznika in o ustvarjalni svobodi

is comparatively new

v zgodovini zahodne ideje

in the history of Western ideas,

precej nova,

and for that reason, it's often undervalued

zato je pogosto podcenjena

and can be very quickly undermined.

in se jo hitro lahko spodkoplje.

It's a prize easily lost,

Je nagrada, ki hitro izgine

and once lost, once surrendered,

in ko je izgubljena, predana,

it can prove very, very hard to reclaim.

jo je zelo težko dobiti nazaj.

And its first line of defense

Prva obrambna črta

has to be our own standards,

morajo biti naši lastni standardi,

not those enforced on us by a censor or legislation,

ne tisti, ki jih določi cenzor ali zakon,

our own standards and our own integrity.

lastni standardi in lastna integriteta.

Our integrity as we deal with those

Naša integriteta, ko

with whom we work

delamo z drugimi

and our own standards as we operate within society.

in naši standardi, ko delujemo v družbi.

And these standards of ours

Ti naši standardi

need to be all of a piece with a sustainable social agenda.

morajo biti del trajnostne družbene agende.

They're part of a collective responsibility,

So del kolektivne odgovornosti,

the responsibility of the artist or the journalist

odgovornosti umetnika ali novinarja,

to deal with the world as it really is,

da pokaže svet, kakršen je,

and this, in turn, must go hand in hand

to pa mora iti z roko v roki

with the responsibility of those governing society

z odgovornostjo tistih, ki vodijo družbo,

to also face up to that world,

da se soočijo s tem svetom

and not to be tempted to misappropriate

ter nimajo skušnjav, da bi napačno identificirali

the causes of its ills.

vzroke za njegove težave.

Yet, as has become strikingly clear

A v zadnjih letih

over the last couple of years,

je postalo osupljivo jasno,

such responsibility has to a very great extent

da je velik del medijev

been abrogated by large sections of the media.

v veliki meri zaobšel to odgovornost.

And as a consequence, across the Western world,

Posledično po vsem zahodnem svetu

the over-simplistic policies of the parties of protest

poenostavljeni pristopi strank k protestu

and their appeal to a largely disillusioned,

in pozivi predvsem razočaranim

older demographic,

starejšim ljudem,

along with the apathy and obsession with the trivial

skupaj z apatijo in obsedenostjo s trivialnim,

that typifies at least some of the young,

značilno za vsaj del mladine,

taken together, these and other similarly

vse skupaj, ti in podobni

contemporary aberrations

moderni odkloni

are threatening to squeeze the life

grozijo, da bodo uničili

out of active, informed debate and engagement,

aktivno, informirano razpravo in aktivnost,

and I stress active.

poudarjam aktivnost.

The most ardent of libertarians might argue

Najbolj zavzeti libertarci bodo rekli,

that Donoghue v. Stevenson should have been thrown out of court

da bi sodišče moralo zavreči primer Donoghue proti Stevensonu

and that Stevenson would eventually have gone out of business

ter da bi Stevenson sčasoma izgubil posel,

if he'd continued to sell ginger beer with snails in it.

če bi še naprej prodajal pivo s polži.

But most of us, I think, accept some small role

A večina med nami verjetno sprejema razumno vlogo

for the state to enforce a duty of care,

države pri uresničevanju dolžnosti skrbnega ravnanja,

and the key word here is reasonable.

poudarek je na "razumno".

Judges must ask, did they take reasonable care

Sodnik se mora vprašati, ali so ustrezno poskrbeli

and could they have reasonably foreseen

in razumno predvideli

the consequences of their actions?

posledice svojih dejanj.

Far from signifying overbearing state power,

To ne pomeni prevlade države,

it's that small common sense test of reasonableness

je pa majhen skupni test razumnosti,

that I'd like us to apply to those in the media

za katerega bi rad, da bi se nanašal na medije,

who, after all, set the tone and the content

ki dajejo ton in vsebino

for much of our democratic discourse.

večini naše demokratične razprave.

Democracy, in order to work, requires that

Če hoče demokracija delovati,

reasonable men and women take the time to understand and debate

morajo razumni možje in žene razumeti in razpravljati

difficult, sometimes complex issues,

o včasih težkih, kompleksnih stvareh

and they do so in an atmosphere which strives

in to počnejo v atmosferi, ki ima za cilj

for the type of understanding that leads to,

razumevanje, ki vodi do sporazuma

if not agreement, then at least a productive

ali pa vsaj do produktivnega,

and workable compromise.

delujočega kompromisa.

Politics is about choices,

Politika so izbire

and within those choices, politics is about priorities.

in med njimi gre za prioritete.

It's about reconciling conflicting preferences

Treba je uskladiti nasprotujoče si izbire,

wherever and whenever possibly based on fact.

kjerkoli in kadarkoli mogoče na podlagi dejstev.

But if the facts themselves are distorted,

A če so dejstva izkrivljena,

the resolutions are likely only to create further conflict,

bodo dogovori verjetno le še povečali konflikt,

with all the stresses and strains on society

sledil pa mu bo

that inevitably follow.

pritisk na družbo.

The media have to decide:

Mediji se morajo odločiti:

Do they see their role as being to inflame

je njihova vloga razvnemati

or to inform?

ali informirati?

Because in the end, it comes down to a combination

Konec koncev vedno pridemo do

of trust and leadership.

kombinacije zaupanja in vodenja.

Fifty years ago this week, President John F. Kennedy

Pred 50 leti je predsednik John F. Kenedy

made two epoch-making speeches,

imel dva epska govora,

the first on disarmament and the second on civil rights.

enega o razoroževanju in drugega o državljanskih pravicah.

The first led almost immediately

Prvi je skoraj takoj vodil

v Pogodbo o prepovedi jedrskih poskusov,

to the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty,

and the second led to the 1964 Civil Rights Act,

drugi je leta 1964 vodil v Zakon o državljanskih pravicah,

both of which represented giant leaps forward.

oba sta bila velika skoka naprej.

Democracy, well-led and well-informed,

Dobro vodena in dobro informirana demokracija

can achieve very great things,

lahko doseže veličastne stvari,

but there's a precondition.

a obstaja predpogoj.

We have to trust that those making those decisions

Zaupati moramo tistim, ki odločajo,

are acting in the best interest not of themselves

da ne delujejo v svojem interesu,

but of the whole of the people.

pač pa v interesu vseh ljudi.

We need factually-based options,

Potrebujemo na dejstvih utemeljena mnenja,

clearly laid out,

jasno razdelana,

not those of a few powerful

ne tista peščice močnih

and potentially manipulative corporations

in potencialno manipulativnih korporacij,

pursuing their own frequently narrow agendas,

ki sledijo svojim pogosto ozkim ciljem,

but accurate, unprejudiced information

temveč točne, nepristranske informacije,

with which to make our own judgments.

ki nam bodo pomagale sprejemati odločitve.

If we want to provide decent, fulfilling lives

Če želimo svojim otrokom in vnukom

for our children and our children's children,

zagotoviti dostojno, polno življenje,

we need to exercise to the very greatest degree possible

moramo v največji možni meri izvajati

that duty of care for a vibrant,

dolžnost skrbnega ravnanja,

and hopefully a lasting, democracy.

za živahno in upam, trajno, demokracijo.

Thank you very much for listening to me.

Hvala lepa, da ste me poslušali.

(Applause)

(aplavz)