Journalism and ethics

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'Trust Me, I'm a Journalist' Journalism and
Ethics   Dr Ian Richards School of
Communication, Information and New
Media and Associate Professor Rick Sarre School
of International Business
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(No Transcript)
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When we enter the area of journalistic ethics,
we pass into a swamp of philosophical speculation
where eerie mists of judgement hang low over a
boggy terrain. (Merrill 1975, p.8) Journalism is
a cut-throat business, the unsavoury
practicalities of which do not lend themselves to
academic study. (Blackhurst 1997, p.23)
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• Why is this so?
• historical inheritance
• uncertain relationship with the notion of
  professionalism.

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• public nature of journalism
• workplace culture - emphasises the immediate and
  the practical over the reflective and the
  theoretical.
• Anyone whos worked in a newsroom knows that
  the Code of Ethics is generally put up on the
  wall. Theres a lack of a culture where its
  actually talked about or discussed. (Elgar 1997)

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• News values - characteristics which information
  must possess in order to be regarded by
  journalists as news.
• Consequence
• Proximity
• Conflict
• Human interest
• Prominence
• Novelty
• Timeliness

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• Our whole journalistic culture has been
  skewed this way, focusing on people's failures
  and weaknesses of character without the
  concomitant drive to understand why they have
  these faults, what the context is, and how they
  link up with their strengths and virtues.
• (Midgley, 1998)

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• Corporate influences
• In terms of content, there is no doubt that
  the consumer is more promiscuous than ever
  before, and that the only way to ensure that your
  relationship with him or her is more than a one
  night stand is to make the experience compelling.
  If all we do is report the news fairly and
  accurately, we havent got a chance. (OReilly
  1998)

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• The notion of the private delineates a
  sphere within which we are free to be intimate
  with others and pursue goals and interests we
  have without being subject to the public gaze.
  (Kieran 1997, p.76)
• Journalistic justifications for invasion
• freedom of speech
• public interest
• open slather
• hypocrisy argument

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• MEAA Code of Ethics
• Clause 11. Respect private grief and personal
  privacy. Journalists have the right to resist
  compulsion to intrude.

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The law and privacy
No right to privacy is recognised under
Australian common law, nor is it protected
generally in Australian legislation. The
Australian Constitution concedes only a very
limited range of privacy rights namely an
implied right to freedom of political expression
(Lange case, 1997).
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The law and privacy

• Common law protection may be available through
  other torts (e.g. trespass, defamation, nuisance)
• There is power for the Commonwealth to enact
  legislation First Optional Protocol to the
  International Covenant on Civil and Political
  Rights (ICCPR), article 17.

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The law and privacy
But nothing has been recommended by the ALRC, and
so nothing (more than protection of information
privacy in 1988 public 2002 private) has
been enacted by federal or State parliaments.
Privacy law is a grey area
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Officer Smith runs into one of those grey
areas of the law.
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Is the common law moving anywhere?
ABC v Lenah Games Meats (2002 HC) Lenahs
reliance upon an emergent tort of invasion of
privacy is misplaced. Whatever development may
take place in that field will be to the benefit
of natural, not artificial, persons. (Gummow and
Hayne JJ)
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Callinan J in dissent
The success of the ABC in this appeal would
send a clear signal that, so long as a publisher
does not itself personally soil its hands by
committing a crime, or by otherwise acting
illegally to obtain what it considers newsworthy,
the publisher will be free to publish the matter
as it sees fit. Why send a reporter to put a foot
in the front door when the publisher can be
confident that a trespasser with an axe to grind
or a profit to be made will be only too willing
to break and enter through a back window?
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A new tort of invasion of privacy?
Grosse v Purvis (Queensland District Court) A
remedy is available if there is a willed act by
the defendant, which intrudes upon the privacy or
seclusion of the plaintiff, in a manner which
would be considered highly offensive to a
reasonable person of ordinary sensibilities, and
which causes the plaintiff detriment in the form
of mental psychological or emotional harm or
distress or which prevents or hinders the
plaintiff from doing an act which she is lawfully
entitled to do.
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Video surveillance
Legislation in Victoria and WA limits the use of
video cameras, but the one test case (where
permission was sought in WA) the court granted
permission (favoured the journalist).
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Conclusion
Appears to be a presumption that intrusions can
occur unless there are public policy reasons to
limit the intrusion. The case law is consistent
tooinjunctions are usually only granted where
there has been unconscionable or egregious
behaviour by journalists.
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The law and privacy summary
One might safely assume that investigative
journalists cannot complain that the law in
Australia is tending to dampen their zeal,
although the law does appear to be asking that
investigative journalists act reasonably,
responsibly, and ethically in relation to the
legitimate interests of those whose activities
have been drawn to their attention.