Journalists may be low in public esteem, but I reckon if those surveys asked respondents to rank student reporters, we’d fare even worse.

The general aura of suspicion that often greets journalists is frequently augmented by fear (of being wildly misquoted, I suppose) when our subject hears they’re talking to a student journalist.

Either that, or we’re patronised: patted on the head and asked, “is that all you’ve got?” with a smirk when we get to the end of our questions.

But the hardest part of stepping into journalism isn’t dealing with patronising and angst-ridden interviewees. It’s realising that almost everyone you know thinks they have The Story.
The mainstream media hasn’t covered it because of powerful interests, your previously sane friend whispers. But you have to investigate this.

Now I enjoy a good conspiracy theory as much as the next person. The gems have entered popular culture to become classics in their own right: that Elvis isn’t really dead, or that the moon landing was a hoax.

Others are so well constructed they take us from one reality to another. Watch Loose Change online, and end up mulling over whether society really knows the truth about September 11. Speak to someone who thinks global warming is not caused by human action, and understand things from their perspective, if just for a moment.

But often a scratch below the surface shows there’s not much point digging any further, much to the disappointment of your otherwise convinced friend.

Sometimes though, these whispers of hidden agenda are much closer to home and rather concerning. And they deserve to be taken seriously.

Like, the suggestion that retailers get incentives from tobacco companies for stocking cigarettes. This allegation is being investigated by the Ministry of Health, after the Association of Convenience Stores let slip at Select Committee that retailers received “standard trade rebates” from tobacco companies.
Retailers are fairly well restricted by cigarette advertising laws. Still, the thought that tobacco giants may be passing the local dairy owner cash to surreptitiously boost sales of the carcinogen seems morally dubious, to say the least.

The Ministry is due to report back to the Health Select Committee shortly with the results of their investigation. It will be interesting to see what they have found.

Of course, cigarette companies should be used to all the scrutiny by now – their history only invites more suspicion around their activities.

The most recent local example of underhand behaviour was exposed at a U2 concert in 2006. That was when National’s health spokesman Jonathan Coleman was snapped in a British American Tobacco corporate box, sucking on a cigar.

It was worrying that the health spokesman would so easily accept corporate hospitality from a manufacturer of one of the world’s most accessible poisons. More worrying, though, was that the country would be none the wiser had Dr Coleman not gotten himself into a fight with someone in the neighbouring box.

How many other members of the health select committee have been looked after by tobacco manufacturers, or fast-food executives, or alcohol promoters?

We may never know. But it’s a question we should be asking.

As much as journalists are ill respected by Readers’ Digest surveys, it is the media that plays the key role in keeping tabs on powerful interests.

It’s not easy to uncover these conflicts of interest, these potential hidden agendas. The media should be applauded when it does serious investigative journalism, and encouraged to do more.

So give us a break. And your news tips.

This article first appeared in the AUT student journalists’ newspaper Te Waha Nui.

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