Offshore Detention Centres: Annual Costs Hit $1 Billion - Report Example

Offshore detention centres: annual costs hit billion On Oct 20th, a news item appeared online on the Sydney Morning Herald in its Federal Politics Section with the title of “ Offshore detention centers: annual costs hit $1 billion” by Sarah Whyte1. The news article describes the amount of money spent by the Australian government on the detention centers where refugees and asylum seekers are kept in order to restrict their flow to the mainland Australia. The article narrates the overall expenditure made by Australian government on the asylum seekers in keeping them in New Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Nauru islands. Citing the details of the expenses made, article quotes Deputy Secretary of Immigration Mark Cormack indicating that the costs are incurred on the health, transportation and other administrative related costs. Further, it also indicates that the costs have been on the decline without actually making a reference to the areas where cost cutting has been made. There are three important issues or the topics discussed in this article which have the legal, ethical as well as the administrative issues. On the legal side, article presented a challenge in terms the settling asylum seekers as per the law of the land, compliance with the international laws dealing with refugees and asylum seekers. Apart from this, the global ethical issue has been highlighted however, with relatively low focus on the extent and the degree of the consequences of the global issue of ethics. This is due to the fact that global media reporting ethics suggest that media now inhibits the pluralistic culture with global context. The overall impact of the reporting of on issues such as asylum seeking therefore can have global repercussions. What is lacking in this piece from upfront is the failure of the author to actually represent the human emotions and necessities into the overall argument. It must be noted that this piece is about asylum seekers- people who have to actually leave their countries due to any risk to their lives. As such, these people have to go through an ordeal which may be difficult to express in words however, author of this piece, right from the beginning of the article focused on the issues which effectively fail to take into consideration the human side of the cost.( Aristotle, 2004). Though the issue of cost is important however, the context it has been given by the author clearly suggests that it may not be the right way to express opinion on an issue which has strong human emotional backing. Author must have been able to introduce into the writing, a reference to how the cost cutting can actually further aggravate the overall situation of the asylum seekers rather than helping them to rehabilitate and improve their lives. This media piece further discussed about possible issues of conflicts between the governments of PNG and Australia and indicates about a meeting between the Prime Ministers of PNG and Australia. Despite the close coordination between the two governments there have been issues pertaining to refugees and asylum seekers which require further attention of the leaders. Prime Minister of PNG clearly suggested for a new and reformed policy to deal with the issues of asylum seekers and refugees and a new approach is requested to deal with this issue. Responsibility of Media Though this news media piece attempted to produce a balanced coverage of the issue however, from the perspective of the media responsibility there are certain issues which require further focus on this debate regarding cost incurred on asylum seekers. First, the objectivity is considered as the norm of the journalism and every media writing must be put through a rigorous process of objectivity. What is lacking in this piece of writing however is the required objectivity and what is called the norm of the media. (Couldry, & Freedman, 2010) Another important virtue of media is that of accuracy and media persons are supposed to actually ensure that all the information presented in the news item. Media persons need to be cautious of the situation where they present data and information which may not be completely correct. The Editor’s Code of Practice also highlights the significance of the accuracy of the information and indicates that media persons should clearly avoid presenting information which is incorrect or not verified from reliable sources. (The Press Complaints Commission., 2012). As such It becomes critically important for the media persons to present facts and figures after due verification.(Skovsgaard, , Albæk, Bro, P., & De Vreese, 2013). Author Sarah Whyte quoted a cost of $1 billion spent on the asylum seekers as well as on other administrative related costs. The only source cited by Sarah is the Deputy Secretary of Immigration thus making the overall claims less reliable due to non-reporting of other sources of information by the reporter. Though the source seems to be credible as it is coming from the person responsible for the management of such detention centers however, it has not been confirmed from secondary sources thus making the overall accuracy of the cost figures reported relatively less reliable. In general, it needs to be understood that costs may be of different types and not all costs are meant to be spent on asylum seekers. Though Sarah has given the statistics on how the cost is distributed however, the core part of the cost spent on the actual rehabilitation and day to day expenses of the asylum seekers is relatively not that big. However, reporter has put the heading which gives an impression as if the whole amount is purely spent on the asylum seekers. Some portion of the money is spent on the administrative and other issues which can easily be saved or appropriated in different manner than attributing it towards the asylum seekers. It is therefore critical that the reporter must be able to show an objective explanation of the money spent on the asylum seekers. Ethical Issues Professional ethics matter a lot when it comes to discussing the roles and responsibilities of the individuals involved in the reporting of the news. What is important to note however, is the fact that author actually started with a headline which indicates a relatively negative connotation to be related with the asylum seekers. Authors suggested that asylum seekers are living in detention centers which itself suggests that if asylum seeking is a crime or something which is dangerous for the society. From utilitarian concepts, it is clear that actions must be driven by the notion of greatest good for the greatest number of people. From this perspective, it is clear that media persons need to take up issues which are based upon deliver maximum good for the maximum number of people. However, a closer look at the contents of this news media piece suggests that author might have ignored this ethical assumption. First the article offers a one sided view of the government, how much it is spending and what obstacles and challenges they have to face in order to help rehabilitate asylum seekers so that they can be constructive and positive citizens of their respective nations. What is also critical to understand is the fact that the author has failed to highlight the emotional drain suffered by the asylum seekers when they actually have to leave their own countries due to perceived risks to their lives and adapt a new country to live their life. Editor therefore failed to integrate into the piece the required ethical ground taken by the author of this piece. Apart from this, this piece has failed to highlight the failure of the government to actually control the costs as well as other factors which are contributing towards the increase in the number of asylum seekers in the country.( Sander, 2003), Sydney Morning Herald is an important paper however, it seems that it has failed to take into consideration the public interest. Since Australian government has been helping the asylum seekers since years, however, there is a public support behind this. Newspaper however, has failed to highlight how public is actually supporting such measures of the government and what requires to be done in order to actually improve the awareness of the public on this issue. Newspaper also discussed the meeting of the two leaders to reconcile the issues of differences and to devise policies to actually overcome these challenges. However, Sydney Morning Herald has published the images which may not highlight the true condition under which asylum seekers may be living. As such Herald has failed to properly raise the issue of public interest but rather took a casual approach on discussing the real side of cost cutting for the rehabilitation of asylum seekers. In the end, it is clear that this piece of writing suggests just one side of the story with important ethical issues left unattended. Author has taken liberty and ignored important professional ethics and virtues while at the same time just focusing selected issues with no references to other related areas. What is also critical to understand that this writing piece has relatively little substance and violates Kant’s humanity principle by touching on the sensitive issue in a relatively casual manner without actually giving more attention to other related details of the story?( Kant, 1909).  References Aristotle. (2004). The Nicomachean Ethics, trans. J. A. K. Thomson. London: Penguin Books. Book 2, Ch. 6, pp. 39–43 Kant, Immanuel (1909). ‘Of the metaphysic of morals’, Kant’s Critique of Practical Reason, 6th Ed, trans. Thomas Kingsmill Abbott. London: Longmans, Green and Co. pp. 38-43. Phillips, A., Couldry, N., & Freedman, D. (2010) ‘An Ethical Deficit? Accountability, Norms, and the Material Conditions of Contemporary Journalism’ in Fenton, N. (ed) New Media, Old News. London, UK. Sage. Ch. 3. pp. 51–67. Sander, K. (2003), Ethics and Journalism [excerpt]. London, Sage, pp. 18–20. Skovsgaard, M., Albæk, E., Bro, P., & De Vreese, C. (2013). A reality check: How journalists’ role perceptions impact their implementation of the objectivity norm. Journalism, 14 (1), pp. 22–42 The Press Complaints Commission. (2012). The Editors Code of Practice. Retrieved from http://www.pcc.org.uk/cop/practice.html Read More