Week 9

Moral Minefields: Legal and Ethical Dilemma

A journalist's relationship with the law has been a topic of discussion by both the public and the media itself for a long time. We also see the debate over journalists ethics come up quite often and as communications students, it is important for us to be aware of the issues that we will face as working journalists. I feel as though it is important for there to be a balance between the rights and the responsibilities of a journalist. While it is important to have media laws in place (to assist in making the public more comfortable going about their everyday lives and feel confident that the media can be held accountable for their actions) this can sometimes limit a journalist's ability to fulfil their responsibility to the public. In many cases, 'the public interest' argument is insufficient in the courtroom and hence there is a clash between the legal system and a journalists ethical beliefs regarding the publics right to know.

As Pearson notes in this weeks reading, "journalism law" includes those relating to defamation, court reporting, contempt of court, obscenity, media regulation, freedom of information legislation, intellectual property, trespass and breach of confidence. It is interesting that even with such laws, the public still find it hard to trust the media. This may be because the media can be seen to push the boundaries of the law when acquiring or reporting stories or this may even be because there are few laws that apply exclusively to journalists (usually they apply to all citizens). On another note, journalist's also aim to follow the Journalistic Code of Ethics. Under this code, journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information; minimise harm; act independently; and be accountable -as cited on The Society of Professional Journalists website - http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp

I was surprised to learn journalists have no rights beyond those of an ordinary citizen but it was comforting to know that they may be given some special privileges such as in the court room (note-taking and access to court documents) or being able to withhold a name of a source in a court case (this privilege is very rare however). Some laws such as FOI aim to assist journalists to facilitate their role in bringing information to the public.

From researching this topic I have gained a greater understanding of why we have media laws in place and how important it is for journalists to be fully aware of these. I have also learnt a great deal about the ways in which the media industry encourages self-regulation and how they try to show the public and government that the current laws are sufficient. A great example is the journalism code of ethics in which I pasted a link to above.

After this weeks presentations and from the readings, I personally feel as though there needs to be a greater legal platform for journalists to stand on in order to protect themselves while undertaking their job as information providers. I feel as though the law works against them rather then with them especially in cases such as access to FOI legislation which is actually meant to help provide access to information. In many cases, ministers and departments in which documents are held by, find exemptions under the law and access is denied. In addition to this, the time and costs involved in accessing information under FOI mean that FOI legislation is rarely used as a news gathering tool by journalists. This is just one example of the difficulty for journalists to fulfil their responsibilities because of the law.

It may be argued however that journalists do have ways of getting around the law. Journalists can be entitled to special privileges and have access to a range of defences in court, especially in the case of defamation. A journalist can use two types of defences – Absolute privilege (legal and judicial proceedings, communications concerning matters of the state and public document defence) and Qualified privilege (duty or interest to publish). Of course these defences are not guaranteed to be accepted and quite often aren’t.

I was very interested in the legal side of journalism and I found this book very helpful in developing a greater understanding of media law. I recommend reading it if you haven’t already:

R.Breit, 2007, Law & Ethics for Professional Communicators, LexisNexis Butterworths Australia