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Welcome
Who we are
What are we doing?
Why are we doing it?
Journalism Law & Ethics
Who we are
� Martin Hirst
� At AUT since 2007
� 15 years as a print &
broadcast journalist in
Australia
� Author:
Journalism Ethics:
Arguments & Cases
� Blogger:
Ethical Martini
� Allison Oosterman
� Teaching at AUT since
1999.
� Many years as a
journalist in Auckland.
� Taught at Otahuhu
College for two years
� Researching
journalism history.
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What are we doing?
� The principles of journalism ethics
� A discussion of ethical dilemmas
� Steps towards ethical decision-making
and problem solving
� Enough media law to keep you out of
jail
� An introduction to court reporting
How will we do it?
� Lecture series
� Ethics till Easter
� The legal issues
� Court reporting –
weeks 8-10
� Media Law Test in
week 12
� Weekly two hour
tutorials/seminars/
workshops
� Arguments &
Cases
� Reading
assignments
� Online
debates/discussion
Why are we doing it?
� News is about matters of public interest
� Journalists have a responsibility to
society
� With freedom of the media comes
accountability
� Frameworks for ethical thinking apply
across most situations you will encounter
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Journalism = public service
� A commitment to
democratic ideals
� Giving a voice to
communities
� Checks and
balances
� Accuracy, balance,
fairness
even in the face of severe
economic pressure, most
journalists remain convinced that
their news organizations are
performing well in keeping their
readers, viewers and listeners
informed, which is a key aspect
of public service (Beame, et.al. 2009)
Reflection-in-action
The reflective journalistic
practitioner needs to be able to
test ideas against practical
experience, be engaged with the
social context in which she or he
operates, and have the ability to
reflect upon dilemmas and make
crucial decisions in the midst of
practice.(Richards 2005, p.155)
� The daily work of a journalist
is an ethical minefield:
� Each interview is a social
interaction
� There is a need for informed
consent in some cases
� There is potential for harm
� There is an element of risk
� There is an issue of respect
The public interest
� Journalism holds a
mirror up to society
� It must reflect the good
and the bad
� The fourth estate model
holds that journalism
makes government
accountable to the
people
There can be no higher law in
journalism than to tell the truth and
to shame the devil - remain detached
from the great Walter Lippmann
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What is the public interest?
“The public interest is the only test that justifies
departure from the highest standards of journalism, and
includes:� detecting or exposing crime or serious misdemeanour;
� detecting or exposing serious anti-social conduct;
� protecting public health or safety;
� preventing the public from being misled by some
statement or action of an individual;
� detecting or exposing hypocrisy, falsehoods or double
standards of behaviour on the part of public figures or
institutions or in public institutions.”
�(Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting, 2009)
Frameworks for ethics
� A philosophical approach (meta-ethics)
� Thinking about doing the right thing
� The materialist approach
� The dialectic in journalism
� Political economy of ethics
� A situational approach
� What’s best under the circumstances
� An applied approach (normative ethics)
� Ethics codes, standards and rules
� Decision-making in action
Philosophy & ethics
� Aristotle’s “golden mean”
� a middle ground between extremes
� what causes the least harm
� Virtue ethics
� there is good and we must always do it
� everyone should be virtuous
� Utilitarianism
� do what’s best for the most people
� a good end (outcome) justifies the means
� The social contract
� what is necessary to keep society functioning
� Rights-based ethics
� everyone has inalienable rights
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Means, Ends & Consequences
� Teleology – everything is designed for a purpose
� if the intrinsic purpose is good, the action is good
� Deontology – the morality of an action based on the
action's adherence to a rule or rules
� an action is governed by a duty to good or to a higher cause
� Consequentialism – the consequences of a particular
action form the basis for moral judgment
� the ethics of an action are determined by its outcomes
Situational ethics is a teleological, or consequential theory, in that it is
concerned with the outcome or consequences of an action; the end, as
opposed to an action being intrinsically wrong such as in deontological
theories.
(un)Ethical Situations
� Founded on Christian
principles
� The only rule is
absolute,
unconditional love
� Can also be used in a
materialist context
SITUATIONAL ETHICS
decision-making should be based
upon the circumstances of a
particular situation, and not upon
fixed Law
In the case of situational ethics, the
ends can justify the means.
Joseph Fletcher (1905–1991) was an
American professor who founded the
theory of situational ethics in the 1960s,
and was a pioneer in the field of bioethics.
Fletcher was a leading academic involved
in the topics of abortion, infanticide,
euthanasia, eugenics, and cloning.
Ordained as an Episcopal priest, he later
identified himself as an atheist. (Wikipedia)
Applying ethical thinking
� Applies ethical thinking
to practical problems
� In journalism this
covers
� sources
� dubious methods
� daily actions
� consequences
Applied ethics is the branch
of ethics which consists of
the analysis of specific,
controversial moral issues
such as abortion, animal
rights, or euthanasia.
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Ethics and materialism
Being determines consciousness
� Material relations exist between
people and nature
� Social relations exist between
people and people
� Social relations also exist between
people, structures and institutions
� Social relations contain unequal
distributions of power
� Our emotional attitudes are
determined in the real world
Ethical fault lines in
journalism are not just a
clash of ideas – freedom
versus responsibility –
but also a clash of social
forces – ideas embodied
in material things
Ethical Dialectics
� An ongoing process of
contradiction and resolution
� Ideas and ideals clash
� People,, institutions &
structures are in tension
� Thesis-antithesis-synthesis
� Paradoxes abound in
journalism…and that is
good (Merrill)
The key contradiction in the
news media is between the
commodity form of news
and the public interest
function of journalism(Hirst & Patching, 2007, p.6)
The movement of the dialectic
action
Thesisaction
Antithesis
action
Synthesis
action
Antithesis
action
Synthesis
Ideas and social forces are in constant motion
– a moment of balance is
not stasis –
there is constant
disequilibrium
Merrill talks of a “triadic movement”
– the dialectic in
journalism
A thesis is challenged by its
opposite
(antinome or
antithesis)
The struggle is momentarily
resolved, but
then erupts
again
Each new thesis
(synthesis) is
challenged in
turn
Change is caused by the
actions of
people
reacting to
the world around them
Institutions and structures
contain
competing social
forces
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A dialectic in motion
Freedom of the press
Fourth Estate
Industrial Journalismaction
Citizen Journalism
Blogs and social media
Autocratic press
C18th : French and American
revolutions
Advertising grows in C19th
Newspaper owners seek
power
Watergate -1972 Rise of
corporate
media
1990s
Dissatisfaction with corporate
media
Digital Revolution Drudge Report
Web 2.0
News 2.0Paywalls
Legislation
C20th
Responsible journalism & codes of ethics
WMDs
Rathergate -2004
Start of 21st
Century
1st
Amendment
The ethico-legal paradox
� The law proscribes right and wrong
behaviours
� Ethics is a guide to doing the right
thing
� In some situations law and ethics
contradict one another
Ethico-legal paradox - sources
� Codes of ethics usually contain a
clause relating to source-confidentiality
� Legally, a judge can potentially*
require a reporter to name sources in
court proceedings
� What should a journalist do?
� What would you do?
* See Evidence Act for current legal situation regarding source confidentiality
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A fault line in journalism ethics
� We need public interest journalism now, more
than ever…BUT
� Global news media is in crisis
� A crisis of profitability and investment
� A crisis of trust and confidence
� Journalists are under pressure to work harder
(more stories) and faster (deadlines)
� Less time for investigation, less time for ethics
� More chance of conflict and dilemma
SDL – your responsibility
� BCS
� Hirst & Patching
(2007) Ch. 1
� Join the AUT
Online discussion
forum
� P/G Dip
� Hirst & Patching
(2007) Ch. 1
� Beam, et.al. (2009)
� Sign up for Values
Exchange and
learn how to use it
Everyone: check the handbook, get a copy of
the Burrows pamphlet, check AUT Online,
make a note of assessments and class
schedules
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