Privacy and Ethics

It was very radical for British journalisms because there is coverage on hacking of phone. It gave a shock to the entire world when there were cases of hacking into phones of a child murder victim, family of London’s, terror attack and parents and soldier killed in action that happened a few years back. NOTW, which was owned by Rupert Murdoch were about to close after servicing for 168 years. (Media Shift, 2011)

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According to Wise Geek (2011), invasion of privacy means there is interference on a person’s private life. It is often related to public figures because the media follows them most of the time in order to get stories. Nowadays, there are laws to invasion of privacy where it protects people in four ways namely, intrusion of solitude, public disclosure of private facts, false light and appropriation. For example, a celebrity can easily sue a journalist because she was being filmed without permission. Each person has their own right to keep their lives private. For example, if a journalist found a document in the garbage bin, the document will still be private even though it is found in a public space. (Wise Geek, 2011)

Every journalist needs to follow the journalism ethics so that what they write will always be ethical. According to National Union of Journalists Malaysia (2011), journalists will have to respect the truth and the publics have the right to know the truth. Besides that, the journalist will only report according to the facts that he got and will not suppress false information. The journalist will also be using fair methods to obtain the news, photographs and documents. The documents that a journalist obtains will remain confidential and he must not plagiarize other people’s work.

References:

Media Shift, 2011, UK Phone hacking scandal shows Clash of Privacy with need to know, retrieved on 12^th November 2011, http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2011/07/uk-phone-hacking-scandal-shows-clash-of-privacy-with-need-to-know188.html

Wise Geek, 2011, What is Invasion of Privacy?, retrieved on 12^th November 2011, http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-invasion-of-privacy.htm

National Union of Journalists Malaysia, 2011, Code of Ethnics, retrieved on 12^th November 2011, http://www.journalismethics.ca/