CASES ON MEDIA VIOLATING ETHICS ON HUMAN GROUNDS

Conclusion(analytical result)

What code of ethics to be followed in media

Media/journalism ethics

An overview of what media ethics stands for in a society, to grow develop ethically and socially

CASES ON MEDIA VIOLATING ETHICS ON HUMAN GROUNDS

CASE 1-AARUSHI MURDER CASE

DATED:-23^RD MAY 2009

There are have been numerous instances where media has crossed all its boundaries for grasping cheap popularity by invading either into private life of the people or showing fake sting operations. These events are compelling legislative body or representative of India and people around the world to constitute a regulatory body, which can stringently patrol to check immoral acts of media.

Immoral act of media for cheap popularity have compelled the government to take some stringent action against them. On Monday (June 9), the government issued a showcase notice to a news channel for showing Aarushi’s MMS clips. Although, the Court have sent notice to the concerned news channel and has given 15 days time to reply to the notice, but the fact is that these notice would not serve any purpose if we have to take strict action against them because this is not the first case. Many a time, media has violated the law of land and victimised innocent people. In 2004, Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor slapped legal notices against ’Mid-Day’ demanding an unconditional apology or else face a defamation suit for printing objectionable photographs of the couple.

In Aarushi episode, information and broadcasting (I&B) minister found obscene, defamatory and denigrating of children and against good taste and decency. They have enough evidence to take action against the TV channels. Although, Aarushi’s mother, Nupur Talwar has registered a strong protest against the television channels and a production house. National Commission of Protection for Child Rights (NCPCR) also came to support her mother.

It is pity that most of the people has exploited and commercialised these regrettable events. In this race, Balaji Telefilms has run faster by depicting an ’inspired’ version of Aarushi’s murder case on their daily soap ’Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki’. This is the negative side of media. It is a well-versed fact that these days newspaper and news channel contains anything but not news. Balaji Telefilms is now planning to incorporate Aarushi’s muder case in their soap to glorify honour killing. But Aarushi’s mother has demanded an apology from TV channels and demanded that strict legal action be taken against these channels.

The UP police have already given bad name by alleging that the teenager had an affair with the family servant, Hemraj. In fact, a senior police official had not hesitated to describe Aarushi as a ’characterless’ girl as alleged by her father. These comments have earned the ire of several social organisations as well as women and child development minister, Renuka Chowdhury, who interfered in this case. She demanded that the police officials using such language should be suspended.

As Aarushi’s mother rightly said, ‘‘The tragedy that our family is going through is a grave one. But the greater tragedy would be the inability of this country to regulate the pillars of democracy to ensure fairness, transparency and justice for all, dead and living. We feel that these agencies (UP police) and errant TV channels should not only apologise to the family and the public, but should also face stiff legal action.”

Conclusion(analytical result)

• It is pretty clear that media today has become highly a money-oriented industry and can go to any extent to gain TRPs that is a gateway for getting maximum advertisements. This is high time and people should come forward to stop this monopoly of media.

• It’s not only curbing human rights but it also hampering the ethical standards of media, simply such acts are socially, emotionally ,and morally putting the media in darkness. Peoples started loosing faith on their part on media for news and informations.

Case-2 What is Smithsonian magazine’s ethical obligation to their freelance journalist injured on assignment?

Dated-29^th april 2008

As media outlets turn increasingly to freelancers in order to cut costs, the risks for hired journalists become more evident. Australian Paul Raffaele is a case in point. Raffaele worked as a freelancer for Smithsonian magazine for more than three years, until April 2008, when he was injured on assignment in Afghanistan. While sitting in a vehicle parked inside a police base in a small Afghan town, Raffaele was grievously wounded by a suicide bomb attack that shot pieces of metal into his elbow, chest and brain, where they remain today. Twenty-two policemen were killed in the attack, carried out by a 12-year-old boy. An additional 32 were wounded. Now, disabled and unable to work as before, he wonders why Smithsonian magazine refuses to assist him. For the many freelancers out in the field, Raffaele’s plight offers a sobering, cautionary tale.

Conclusion (analytical result)

Its really shame on our part, where’s humanity is heading to .Violating ethics to such an extent that Smithsonian magazine failed to value someone’s life, just ruthless act of inhumanity

We are not only violating ethics in these way, we are just putting our greed, and selfishness in front of our core ethical values and code of conducts.

What code of ethics to be followed in media

introduction

Journalism ethics and standards comprise principles of ethics and of good practice as applicable to the specific challenges faced by professional journalists. Historically and currently, this subset of media ethics is widely known to journalists as their professional “code of ethics” or the “canons of journalism”.^[1] The basic codes and canons commonly appear in statements drafted by both professional journalism associations and individual print, broadcast, and online news organizations.

While various existing codes have some differences, most share common elements including the principles of — truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness and public accountability — as these apply to the acquisition of newsworthy information and its subsequent dissemination to the public.

Like many broader ethical systems, journalism ethics include the principle of “limitation of harm.” This often involves the withholding of certain details from reports such as the names of minor children, crime victims’ names or information not materially related to particular news reports release of which might, for example, harm someone’s reputation.

Some journalistic Codes of Ethics, notably the European ones, also include a concern with discriminatory references in news based on race, religion, sexual orientation, and physical or mental disabilities.

Media/journalism ethics

Definition:-MEDIA ETHICS or journalism ethics is a branch of philosophy concerned with actions that are morally permissible and those that are not. Media ethics assist media workers in determining what is right, and how to choose the best from several alternatives. Media ethics constitutes a normative science of conduct and must therefore be applied voluntarily.

Ethics should set guidelines, rules, norms, codes and principles that will lead journalists and all other media workers to make moral decisions. They should not be forced to do so because ethics is applied voluntarily.

There are teleological ethics and deontological ethics-

• Ø Teleological ethics:-Teleological ethics is the acceptability of an action is measured in terms of its consequences – only after consequences have been noted is the rightness or wrongness determined.
• Ø Deontological ethics:-deontological ethics is when the rightness or wrongness of an action is dependent on the action itself and not on the results or consequences it produces.

The media ethics are so broad but we will specifically look into media ethics. Normative ethics is concerned with what people and institutions ought to do and how they should conduct themselves. Media workers are part of society and therefore, function within the parameters set by the expectations prevalent in a society at a particular time. Apart from society, the government of the country also informs expectations of what the media ought to do. Consequently, a nation’s media, more than any other kind of institution is shaped by the prevailing political power.

There are four normative media ethics theory but I will put my stress on two of the most important theories that forms the basis of a country’s media code of ethics

ü Authoritarian Theory:-In this theory, the press was seen as a very powerful tool, and those in power used it to convey only information they wanted the public to have. In this theory, the rulers controlled the press and reserved the right to license publications and censor content. The emphasis here is on the control of the press to ensure the promotion of the interests of those in power.

According to this theory; media is expected

• Ø Not to undermine the interests of the vested power.

• Ø Not to contravene the prevailing moral and political values because deviation could lead to censorship, formulation of stricter laws if the media contravene regulations.

• Ø License is provided on conditions that must be adhered to as well as criminal charges against the media that criticise the authority.

Social Responsibility Theory:-The emphasis of this theory is evidently on self-control. Due to development of the media, policy makers had to ensure that the media optimally contributed to the democratic process, while simultaneously providing the envisaged social benefits to media users. Apart from ensuring press freedom, social theory had to make provision for obligations of the media.

These obligations led to formulation of the social responsibility theory. In terms of this theory the media should:

1.Accept responsibilities towards society including setting professional standards for supply of information i.e. truth, accuracy, objectivity, privacy and balance of their reporting.

2. Avoid publishing information that could lead to violence or social disruption.

3. Expect societal intervention if the media fail to meet professional standard.

4. Collectively reflect a diversity of content to ensure public access to a variety of viewpoints, and their right to react to these viewpoints.

An overview of what media ethics stands for in a society, to grow develop ethically and socially

Accuracy and standards for factual reporting

• Reporters are expected to be as accurate as possible given the time allotted to story preparation and the space available, and to seek reliable sources.
• Events with a single eyewitness are reported with attribution. Events with two or more independent eyewitnesses may be reported as fact. Controversial facts are reported with of the publisher is desirable
• Corrections are published when errors are discovered
• Defendants at trial are treated only as having “allegedly” committed crimes, until conviction, when their crimes are generally reported as fact (unless, that is, there is serious controversy about wrongful conviction).
• Opinion surveys and statistical information deserve special treatment to communicate in precise terms any conclusions, to contextualize the results, and to specify accuracy, including estimated error and methodological criticism or flaws.

Harm limitation principle

During the normal course of an assignment a reporter might go about—gathering facts and details, conducting interviews, doing research, background checks, taking photos, video taping, recording sound — harm limitation deals with the questions of whether everything learned should be reported and, if so, how. This principle of limitation means that some weight needs to be given to the negative consequences of full disclosure, creating a practical and ethical dilemma. The Society of Professional Journalists’ code of ethics offers the following advice, which is representative of the practical ideals of most professional journalists

• Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage. Use special sensitivity when dealing with children and inexperienced sources or subjects.
• Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief.
• Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance.
• Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone’s privacy.
• Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.
• Be cautious about identifying juvenile suspects or victims of sex crimes.
• Be judicious about naming criminal suspects before the formal filing of charges.
• Balance a criminal suspect’s fair trial rights with the public’s right to be informed

Investigative methods

Investigative journalism is largely an information-gathering exercise, looking for facts that are not easy to obtain by simple requests and searches, or are actively being concealed, suppressed or distorted. Where investigative work involves undercover journalism or use of whistleblowers, and even more if it resorts to covert methods more typical of private detectives or even spying, it brings a large extra burden on ethical standards.

Anonymous sources are double-edged – they often provide especially newsworthy information, such as classified or confidential information about current events, information about a previously unreported scandal, or the perspective of a particular group that may fear retribution for expressing certain opinions in the press. The downside is that the condition of anonymity may make it difficult or impossible for the reporter to verify the source’s statements. Sometimes sources hide their identities from the public because their statements would otherwise quickly be discredited. Thus, statements attributed to anonymous sources may carry more weight with the public than they might if they were attributedThe Washington press has been criticized in recent years for excessive use of anonymous sources, in particular to report information that is later revealed to be unreliable. The use of anonymous sources increased markedly in the period before the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Science issues

The mainstream press is often criticized for poor accuracy in reporting science news. Many reporters are not scientists, and are thus not familiar with the material they are summarizing. Technical information is also difficult to contextualize for lay audiences, and short-form reporting makes providing background, context, and clarification even harder. Food scares are an example of the need for responsible science journalism, as are stories connected with the safety of medical procedures.

Examples of ethical dilemmas

One of the primary functions of journalism ethics is to aid journalists in dealing with many ethical dilemmas they may encounter. From highly sensitive issues of national security to everyday questions such as accepting a dinner from a source, putting a bumper sticker on one’s car, publishing a personal opinion blog, a journalist must make decisions taking into account things such as the public’s right to know, potential threats, reprisals and intimidations of all kinds, personal integrity, conflicts between editors, reporters and publishers or management, and many other such conundra. The following are illustrations of some of those.

• The Pentagon Papers dealt with extremely difficult ethical dilemmas faced by journalists. Despite government intervention, The Washington Post, joined by The New York Times, felt the public interest was more compelling and both published reports.
• The Washington Post also once published a story about a listening device that the United States had installed over an undersea Soviet cable during the height of the cold war. The device allowed the United States to learn where Soviet submarines were positioned. In that case, Post Executive Editor Ben Bradlee chose not to run the story on national security grounds. However, the Soviets subsequently discovered the device and, according to Bradlee, “It was no longer a matter of national security. It was a matter of national embarrassment.” However, the U.S. government still wanted The Washington Post not to run the story on the basis of national security, yet, according to Bradlee, “We ran the story. And you know what, the sun rose the next day.”^[20]
• The Ethics Advice Line, a joint venture, public service project of Chicago Headline Club Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and Loyola University Chicago Center for Ethics and Social Justice, provides some examples of typical ethical dilemmas reported to their ethical dilemma hotline and are typical of the kinds of questions faced by many professional journalists.