How Did News International Violate Ethical Standard of the Society of Professional Journalists - Case Study Example

Ethics and Corruption at News International I. Introduction: Background of the Case Perhaps the recent controversy that rocked the News of the World and other tabloid newspapers published by News International in Britain is the greatest scandal in modern British media history. The controversy involved a series of phone hacking and bribery all done to publish stories that intend to titillate the reading public. The former chairman of the Conservative Party Lord Fowler described the act as “an awful, deplorable and indefensible piece of work” as it invades the privacy of citizens and victims of crimes. The scandal was first noticed in 2005 when Clive Goodman wrote an article at News of the World stating that a member of the Royal Family, Prince William borrowed a portable editing suite from Tom Bradby, a correspondent from ITV. There were no other people who were aware of it except for Prince William and Tom Bradby and figured it was likely that their voicemails must have been illegally tapped. An investigation followed headed by Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police that led to search of News of the World London office where they found voice mail accounts belonging to Prince William’s aides that included Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton. Clive Goodman and his associate Glenn Mulcaire were later arrested by the Metropolitan Police and were charged with tapping the telephones of the royal family which is a criminal offence under section 79 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (The National Archives). Both plead guilty of the charge and were sentenced to four and six months in jail. During a July 2011 investigation, it was revealed that the phone tapping were not only limited to the Royal Family and other public figures but also included the relatives of the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler and the victims of the July 7 London bombings. The Metropolitan Police also estimated that there may be 4,000 possible targets from the documents they seized from News of the World Today (BBC News 2011a) Further investigation revealed that moneys were paid to police between £20,000 to £30,000 in exchange for information that News International would published as confirmed by a former Scotland Yard chief (Chapman 2011). These incidents of phone tapping and police bribery revealed the extent of unethical practice in the journalism industry in the UK that resulted in a public outcry against New International’s insensitivity for the already aggrieved victims of crimes and its total disregard of ethical propriety in obtaining information. The News International case also demonstrated how vulnerable London’s police force to corruption because it was also a party that provided illegal information to News of the World in exchange of cash. The News International case also revealed the natural tendency of imprudent business organizations to cover their own crimes with the appointment of Rebecca Brooks to lead the internal investigation under whose watch the phone tapping of Milly Dowler’s relatives happened. This paper will examine the ethical principles of journalism violated by News International. And as a reaction to the case, this paper will reveal why the closing down of News of the World is not enough to correct its actions and why was justice not fully served in the case. II. Ethical issues of the case a. There are several ethical issues on the News International scandal. The most pressing ethical issue we can derived from the case is the illegal phone tapping of News of the World Today by hiring a private investigator, Garry Mulcaire that breached the privacy of the Royal Family, several public figures and a number of private citizens that included the relatives of the murdered Milly Dowler and victims of 7/7 London bombings. b. Corruption issue with the Police The News International case is not only confined to the ethical issue of its subsidiary News of the World but also includes bribery to police officers to obtain information which Rebecca Brooks admitted. c. Cover-up in the News of the World Critics and government regulatory agencies alike find the initiative of News International to conduct an internal that will be headed by Rebecca Brooks who was Editor of the News of the World under whose watch some of the alleged phone hacking took place(Mulholland 2011). This ploy is similar to the Enron case of the United States when it attempted to cover-up its anomalous accounting practices when it tried to destroyed documents and files that could incriminate when they were investigated by the DOJ. III. Ethical standards violated by News International The News International case clearly illustrated how News of the World overstepped and disregarded the boundaries and ethical standards of journalism in delivering information to the general public. When News of the World illegally intercepted the phone calls and resorted to bribing policemen to obtain information, it violated the following ethical standards; a. Society of Professional Journalist’s ethical standard In United Kingdom, there exists an organization for journalists which is the Society of of Professional Journalists (SPJ) which provides the ethical standards whereby media practitioners has to adhere. Among these pillars of ethical standards that a journalist should adhere to is; Seek Truth and Report It Journalists should be fair, honest and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information (Society of Professional Journalists). Obviously, this basic pillar of journalistic etiquette was blatantly violated by News of the World when it employed dishonest and unfair means of obtaining information. b. The Press Complaints Commission (PCC), The Press Complaints Commission (PCC), is a regulatory body of British newspapers which News of the World and The Sun is under its jurisdiction. It published a Code of Conduct for journalists which several items were violated by News International. Among this is the item 10 of the code which states; i. The press must not seek to obtain or publish material acquired by using hidden cameras or clandestine listening devices; or by intercepting private or mobile telephone calls; or by accessing digitally held private information without consent. ii. Engaging in misrepresentation or subterfuge, including by agents or intermediaries, can generally be justified in the public interest adn then nly when the material can be obtained by other means (Press Complaints Commission Editor’s Code of Practice). IV. Conclusion, analysis and synthesis of the case News International clearly violated not only the ethical standard in the practice of journalism of the Society of Professional Journalists but also the regulatory statute of Press Complaints Commission. When it illegally obtained the information it pubished through phone tapping and paying police officers bribe, it trampled upon the part 1 of regulation of SPC which mandates that journalists should be fair and honest in gathering their information. Phone tapping as a means of gathering information is not only dishonest but also illegal. Moreso, paying bribes to policemen which gave the tabloid unfair advantage over its competitors. It exacerbated the issue with the fact that those illegally obtained information did not serve any higher purpose other than to aggravate their victims who already sufferred a loss from a crime (Milly Dowler, victims of 7/11 bombing). As a business entity, the practice of News International’s employees demonstrated that they did not have the ethical principles that should guide their actions as a news organization. News International only concerned itself on how to increase its readership base on whatever means possible. As BBC described News International subsidiary News of the World, it is “is famed for its celebrity scoops and sex scandals, earning it the nickname, the News of the Screws” (BBC News 2011b). News International also illustrated its insensitivity or ignorance to any concept of Corporate Social Responsiblity that it has also an obligation to society at large in addition to making profits when it attempted to cover-up its own wrong doings by exonerating itself with an internal investigation headed by Rebecca Brooks. The appointment of Rebecca Brooks lacked any moral ascendancy to conduct such investigation because she was the Editor in Chief of the News of the World when the relatives of Milly Dowler’s phone was tapped. She was also a party to blame by virtue of command of responsibility and it is ironic that she herself would lead News International’s internal investigation. In addition, she already admitted to bribing police officers to get information before and it is likely that the result of the investigation would not serve any justice but the only interest of News International to exonerate itself. The closing of News of the World on July 11, 2011 is not a gesture of remorse on the part of Rupert Murdoch nor the giving away of its last profits to good causes be considered as an atonement of its “sins” as a news organization. The main reason it closed News of the World is because it is no longer viable as a business entity as advertisers are already withdrawing its placement on the firm and not because it was sorry for what it did. It can be classified more as a damage control mechanism so that the disrepute of News of the World will not spread on other news subsidiaries of News International. It is important to note that the United States DOJ is already beginning to investigate its News International counterpart in New York and the closing of its London counterpart would be a logical thing to do to contain the damaged wrought by the scandal. The giving away of News of the World last profits was also meant to appease the public’s outcry of its unethical behavior. It is not in the character of Rupert Murdoch to be benevolent with his critics describing him as “a shark” (Yusop 2011). In a way, it was a move to divert any intention to prosecute Rupert Murdoch by playing the benevolent and repentant good guy. The replacement of of the people at Press Complaints Commission is a laudable move by the government but it is not enough. Inorder to uphold and emphasize journalistic etiquette and social corporate responsiblity, those who are on top of News International that includes Rupert Murdoch should be made accountable to send the message that unethical behaviours would not be tolerated and no crime will go unpunished. Bibliography 1. BBC News (July 7, 2011a). News of the World to close amid hacking scandal. Online. Available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14070733. Accessed on January 13, 2012. 2. BBC News (July 7, 2011b). News of the World to close amid hacking scandal. Online. Available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14070733. Accessed on January 13, 2012. 3. Chapman, James and Wright, Stephen (July 7, 2011). Paddick: 'News International handed police envelopes stuffed with £20k in Wapping McDonald's' online. Available at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2011861/News-World-phone-hacking-Rupert-Murdochs-links-criminal-underworld.html. Accessed on January 13, 2012. 4. Press Complaints Commission (nd). Editors Code of Practice. Online. Available at http://www.pcc.org.uk/cop/practice.html. Accessed on January 13, 2012 5. Society of Professional Journalists (2012). SPJ Code of Ethics. Online. Available at http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp. Accessed on January 13, 2012. 6. The National Archives (nd). Online. Available at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/. Accessed on January 13, 2012 7. Yusop, Al Jafree (July 25, 2011). Breaking the Journalism Ethics: The Demise of News of the World. Malaysiandigest.com. online. Available at http://www.malaysiandigest.com/opinion/27853-breaking-the-journalism-ethics-the-demise-of-news-of-the-world.html. Accessed on January 13, 2012. Read More