Ethics and Corruption at News International - Essay Example

Ethics and Corruption at News International Between 2005-2007 investigations were conducted into News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation, into alleged phone hacking practices by tabloid papers falling under their auspices. It was later determined that phones of prominent celebrities, the British Royal Family, and even the family of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler were tapped -- most prominently by subsidiary tabloid News of the World -- as a means of gaining information for stories. A number of high profile resignations and arrests occurred as a direct result. The News International phone-hacking scandal would become recognized both in the United Kingdom and the United States for its sensational and spy movie-like nature. More importantly, the scandal raised important issues about privacy, as well as institutional culture and style. In considering the scandal it’s clear that the practices demonstrated large-scale institutional corruption, yet the breach of ethics outside of regular social legitimacy may not be as dramatic as they seem on the surface. The most overarching concern in terms of corruption at News International is the organizational breaching of ethical conduct. In this context of understanding it’s clear that one of the major contributing factors was organizational leadership. Stakeholder theory is a major conceptual model that investigates notions of organizational leadership. Essentially, stakeholder theory is an approach to business ethics that attempts to investigate what really counts in organizations (Phillips, 2003). While there are varying models in this area of analysis, in terms of News International, one considers the failure of leadership to emphasize ethical responsibility and journalistic integrity. I believe that greatly contributing to the pivotal breakdown that lead to the organizational corruption is the very nature of the subject matter that was covered. Tied in with notions of journalism are notions of contributing to the public good. Indeed, journalism has popularly been referred to as the fourth estate, as it can function almost as another aspect of government (Smith 2011). Following organizational stakeholder theory, ethical responsibility of the fourth estate is such that the ‘why’ of the organization is directly in-line with publically accepted means of information gathering and dissemination. This can be contrasted with many of the News International publications, most notably News of the World, which eschewed traditional journalistic content for an investigation of gossip that can only marginally be argued to constitute news. I believe, following the stakeholder approach to organizational ethics, that in this shift away from operating as the fourth estate, News International also shifted away from any coupling with ethical approaches to information gathering. In these regards, it follows that intrinsic to the very nature of gossip based journalism are organizational propensities towards corruption. One considers then that in addition to banning these forms of information gathering the government should consider banning the forms of gossip reporting that News International produces. Although it is easy and appropriate to fault News International for gross ethical misconduct, I believe the more pressing considerations are those that consider organizational elements that allowed for such practices to occur. One of the most pervasive theoretical models that one considers in relation to the events at News International is institutional theory. Institutional theory is an approach to organizations that argues despite individual backgrounds, including education and ethical tendencies, the force of the institution is such that individuals will tend towards a uniform paradigm (Scott 2004). I believe that in great part the most staggering element of the News International scandal is that it wasn’t simply an isolated incident. In these regards, the phone hacking spanned a number of years and involved a wide array of individuals employed by the organization. Consider that the first allegations of phone hacking emerged as early as 2000 as the organization, under editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, went before Parliamentary proceedings under accusations that they had wiretapped the family of murdered child Milly Dowler and paid police officers for information (Phone-hacking scandal: Timeline, 2012). The hacking scandal continued until as late as 2005 when the story finally broke following the publication of a piece in News of the World that used tapped-telephone information from Prince William’s assistants (Phone-hacking scandal: Timeline, 2012). The longevity of these occurrences – spanning half a decade and more than one editor – indicates that they were not simply isolated aspects of immoral employees, but interweaved into the organization’s very institutional structure. One considers that in large part the criticism Rupert Murdoch received following the scandal, although no evidence has surfaced that he had any knowledge of the actions, is appropriate as it was his responsibility to establish the tone that would form the institutional paradigm. In fact, Murdoch is said to have favored Rebekah Brooks and participated in a denial after the allegations surfaced. While undoubtedly it seems that the journalists involved knew they were committing unethical acts, I believe the individuals who set the organization tone -- such as Rupert Murdoch -- must take an equal amount of responsibility. While institutional theory accounts for the organizational acceptance of such phone hacking practices, it’s necessary to also consider broader sociological aspects when responding to this organizational corruption. Notably, Knetter (1989) has argued that while institutional forces shape intra-organizational behavioral patterns, these patterns are influenced by larger-environmental notions of legitimacy that are in-turn contingent on regional economic patterns. When this contextual framework is considered in terms of corruption at News International, it indicates that in part the very ability of the organization to function on such a large-scale was related to macro-elements in the United Kingdom. In these regards, I am certainly not absolving the journalists or institutional heads, but indicating that the fact such information could be used in ways that economically benefited the publications is at least in-part indicative of a public hungry for this information. It is no secret that the United Kingdom has strong thirst for gossip and a history of dubious methods of information retrieval; one considers the Princess Diana paparazzi incident as a tragic example. While the tactics used by the publications remained largely hidden, the public was all too ready to consume whatever tawdry details could be unearthed. Such practices speak to larger notions of organizational legitimacy, as the larger sociological environment is partially attributable to the organizational corruption. In this context of understanding I believe that after the legal sanctions that were implemented, society should consider redirect its outrage internally and question the extent and type of information they choose to digest. While the privacy intrusions breached by News International are undoubtedly deplorable, perhaps, the most surprising element is that everyday citizens readily pay, albeit indirectly, to have their personal information recorded and sold to the highest bidder. Silicon Valley graphic artist Michael Ridley has explored these very notions of privacy in his work. Perhaps most prominently, Ridley’s short film ‘Network’ considers the nature of multimedia messages (MMS) that individual’s send daily over Internet and telecommunications networks (Ridley, 2011). It’s estimated that each individual sends over 736 pieces of meta-data daily, all of which are recorded by service suppliers and constitutes the individual’s digital identity (Ridley, 2011). These ‘big data’ are then analyzed and sold to interested parties as a means of advertising and tailoring product designs to the user. When one considers such practices in terms of the New International phone hacking scandal, it’s clear there are a number of prominent similarities and differences. To a large degree, the phone hacking scandal implemented what can be considered more direct forms of privacy invasion through its intrusion on actual voiced telephony. Surprisingly, a strong degree of similarity exists between the two practices once one distinguishes between these forms of communicative intrusions. In this context of understanding, multimedia message service metadata constitutes everything from SMS to email messaging to Internet searches. It’s clear then that the intrusion of privacy becomes a social concern not when personal communication is intercepted, but when the intercepting party is no longer technologically mediated and the ‘data’ takes the privileged form of voice. One can even draw a parallel between the implementation of the information, as big data analytics and media sources such as News of the World are both interested in privacy intrusion, not as a means of social progress, but as a means of achieving economic gain. Of course, there remains the thought that such privacy intrusions contribute to the social good. There is the sense that Google is using my personal information to better tailor search results, just as phone hacking, or WikiLeaks is creating a more equitable social discourse. In one instance we are giving up our own freedom, where in the other it is a celebrity’s, or the family of an abducted girl’s, that is being intruded upon. While intrusions into our digital identity are more obscure and technologically mediated, in reality such practices are not as ethically far removed from the News International scandal as we care to realize. Indeed, in terms of scale organizations store up to four years of an individual’s digital life, staggering amounts more than the News International scandal entailed. In conclusion, this essay has constituted a reflection on the News International phone hacking scandal. In this context of understanding prominent organizational theories, including stakeholder, institutional, and legitimacy theory have been presented as a means of responding to concerns of ethics and corrupt within the news publication. It’s argued that to a great degree the issues that arose are a result of the type of news being covered as well as the institutional and macro-environment in which they took place. Still, there are elements of privacy that citizens regularly discard in their daily lives. Ultimately, it’s clear that to a degree we are all being watched and recorded and sometimes, as evidenced in the phone hacking legal convictions, society decides to bite back. References Barr, R. (2008). 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The Fourth Estate. [Online]. Available from: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-fourth-estate.htm [Accessed: Jan 12, 2012]. Read More