The Potential Violation of Law through the Media - Research Paper Example

 1. Introduction The development of globalization around the world has led to the differentiation of the criteria used for the evaluation of effectiveness of various business policies; winning competitors has become the main priorities for entrepreneurs worldwide; however, there are sectors, like the media industry, which need to follow the ethics and laws related with their activities and disregard the competition and the achievement of specific financial targets – at least this would be the most appropriate choice for media worldwide; however, in practice the policies used by media often violate the legal rules that regulate their activities – the existence of upper interest – of the interest of the public1 – is used in this case as a justification for adopting these practices. Current paper focuses on the examination of the potential violation of law through the media – reference is made specifically to the news sector. The views of researchers that have studied the specific issue and relevant case law are used in order to identify the interaction between media and law2 and the level of violation of the latter by the former – especially as of the news reporting. It is proved that the role of media in modern society can have different aspects. The specific issue can be understood through the study of Gies (2005, 450) who supports that ‘Court communicators are also aware that their success in the media arena depends on a degree of skill and strategizing to ensure that the integrity and complexity of their message are preserved in media reports’. In other words media are not necessarily in opposition with law; however, they tend to violate the principles of law when aiming to serve specific interests – referring to business interests and not to the public interests – an argument which tends to be use widely by media entrepreneurs and employees as a justification for breaching the law. 2. Media, news and law 2.1 Media and news – framework - examples In order to evaluate the relationship among media, news and the law it would be necessary to describe primarily the general framework of news; different views have been developed in the literature regarding the character and the role of news – in all their forms, i.e. either in written or in oral format – referring to the news as presented through the press and the news as reported through the media. In accordance with Minear et al. (1996) news can be divided into three categories: ‘a) the headline news – this is the case of the news reported through the television and the radio but also the news published through the press, b) documentary news – this category refers to the news as broadcasting or to the news as published in the inside papers of journals and c) news commentary – most commonly known as editorials’ (Minear et al., 1996, 34). It is clear from the above that the evaluation of the methods used for reporting the news can be based on different criteria – especially when reference is made to different categories of news as analyzed above. Willis (2007) gives the definition of news through referring to the criteria, which are used in order to choose a story that will be published or announced as a news story; more specifically, the following criteria as considered as having the major role in choosing the event that will become news: ‘a) timeliness, b) proximity, c) market conditions, d) uniqueness, e) conflict, f) human interest, g) the day flows of news and h) the competition, i.e. the news reported or published by the competitors’ (Willis, 2007, 45). The above criteria could ensure the credibility of a news story; however, there is always the issue of personal perception – referring to the perceptions of editors or correspondents; these people should be able to identifying the social and political conditions of their region and promote the publication or the reporting of news that would interest the viewers – or the readers. Currently, the reporting of news is not aligned with the rules and the ethics set by the laws that regulate the particular sector. The evaluation of news in their general framework would require the analytical reference to the following issues: a) the procedure followed3 – including the identification of the event that will become news and the publishing or reporting of the news, b) the quality of the news4 – as of their credibility; the accessibility to specific places for acquiring details on a particular event that can become news belongs in the specific category, c) the respect of existing legal rules5 – that regulate the specific sector; the respect of the rules of human rights by media would be also an issue required further examination and d) the content of the news – the reference of the media to specific events or personal details may be prohibited by the law. The general framework of these issues will be analyzed further in current section; the consequences of violating the legal principles related with the above issue are going to be analyzed and explained in the section that follows. The practices of media regarding the reporting of news have been strongly criticized; it has been proved through the relevant research – based not only on the views of people out of the specific sector but also on the experiences of individuals that have worked in media – that the principles used by media when having to deal with news are clearly against the existing laws. In many cases, breaching the law is used as a justification – it is supported that the identification of actual facts is not possible without passing the borders set by the law; in other words, breaching the law related with the report of news is characterized as an action made for the protection of public interests – not for the violation of human rights and other legal rules referring to the reporting of news. The above issue is highlighted in the book of Goldberg Bernard, a former employee of CBS News; Goldberg wrote a book referring to his experiences as a news correspondent of CBS News; Goldberg worked in this position for about 28 years; emphasis is given on the methods and the principles used for identifying and reporting the news. Applying these methods and principles is obligatory for all employees – if an employee states his opposition to these methodologies he is considered to be a traitor (Goldberg, 2002, 3); in the News sector the level of violation of legal rules is such that Goldberg speaks for News Mafia (Goldberg, 2002, 10). It should be noted that viewers do not welcome the methods used by media in order to achieve their targets; in fact, viewers don’t trust the media and this is the main reason why ‘fewer people watching network news’ (Goldberg, 2002, 13). The fact that there is no particular option for viewers to state their opposition regarding the decline of quality and credibility in reported news does not mean that viewers agree with media practices; the decline in number of people watching networked news is the best indication that people disagree with the methods used by media for identifying and – mostly – for reporting news. There is also the case that the violation occurs in the opposite direction, i.e. against the media; then it is possible for appropriate initiatives to be developed in order to have the protection provided by the law6. It could be supported at this point that the changes in the methods used by media when reporting news have been introduced under the pressure of the consumer preferences – referring to the viewers; the response of the viewers to the specific policies prove that these practices are welcomed by the public – even if partially the law is violated, a fact that needs to be further investigated in any case. Regarding this issue it is noted that ‘like literary fiction, news requires the willing suspension of disbelief in order to have its knowledge accepted but this important literary character of news may be fading as the news institution breaks down into segmented markets and specialized information services’ (Erickson, 1998, 83). In other words, the effective reporting of news requires the use of specific policies – these policies have been differentiated from the ones used in the past but this change was an expected result taking into consideration the development of technology and the changes in the social principles and ethics worldwide; in other words, policies in the report of news that could be characterized as unethical in the past may be considered as ethical under current social and technological conditions7; the opposition of media to the law should be therefore critically examined in order to justify those points that prove the violation of law by media; it is possible that the introduction of more effective laws would be the priority for governments worldwide – and not the punishment of businesses that fail to follow the directions of existing legal principles – many of which can be characterized as outdated taking into consideration the issues developed above. The decline in the quality of news has been described as a consequence of the changes in lifestyle but most of the changes in the consumer preferences worldwide; the traditional methods – including the language and the use of images – while reporting news had to change in the late 1980s in order to respond to the new social and cultural ethics. The specific phenomenon is described in the study of Diamond (1991); in the above study it is noted that in the beginning of the decade of 1990s well known media networks – such as ABC News, CBS News and NBC News had to change their methods for reporting news – the relevant procedure has been characterized as ‘streamlining the process’ or ‘reevaluating the mission’ (Diamond, 1991, 11); the result has been the radical change in the presentation of news – the use of language that is expected to increase the interest of viewers – even through increasing the actual conditions of a specific event – has been proved to be particularly helpful towards the increase of the percentage of viewers of these networks. From now on, emphasis is given on events that can keep the interest of viewers. The invasion of Irag in Kuwait is presented as the event, which led to radical changes in the methods used by media networks in reporting news; in fact, the response of the American media to the above event has been extremely quick; ‘correspondents and camera crews were dispatched to the Middle East’ (Diamond, 1991, 11) in order to offer to the viewers the chance to be informed on real time on the events taking place in the particular region; the response of the viewers to the above practice was such that the traditional methods for news reporting has been changed radically ever since. The failures in the procedure of reporting or publishing news as well as in the content of the news reported or published are a common phenomenon; however, the responsibility for these failures cannot be related with only one person – the news director or the top editor are not the only persons that decide on the procedure followed or the content of an event that is reported or published as news. In fact, these decisions have to be taken within the existing organizational framework – referring to the rules that currently regulate the above issues within an organization that operates in the specific industry. Referring to this issue, Minear et al. (1996) emphasizes on the fact that news should not be related with the editor; quite often the content of news is considered as being the view of the editor without this assumption to be appropriately based; in fact, by accepting the above assumption it means that there is no acceptance of ‘the process that filters information long before an editor reaches a final decision’ (Minear et al., 1996, 34). In accordance with the above, the first step towards the development of effective methods for the evaluation of quality and the legality of news reported through the media, is the identification of the category in which news belong – using the basis of the three categories mentioned above; at a next level, the issue of application of the legal rules related with the specific category of news should be examined. When an event that is going to be reported as news reaches the editor, it is expected that the necessary examination on its content and alignment with the relevant legal rules has been completed. Quite often, the media violates human rights. This violation can take place either by using language or descriptions that insult a person or persons or violates his/ her right to privacy8 – or other similar right. It is also possible that media violate human rights by other practices, in accordance with the conditions of the event that is reported or published as news. Larson (2006) refers to a specific aspect – a negative one – of news: the promotion of discrimination. More specifically, through the research made by Larson (2006) it has been proved that ‘minorities are typically under-respresented in the news relative to their numerical in the public’ (Larson, 2006, 82). The under-representation in news of people with specific racial or cultural characteristics could possibly interpreted as violation of existing laws regarding discrimination. However, there is also the ability of the editor – or correspondent – to claim that in the way that a series of events was developed there was no active presentation of minorities within a news story; moreover, there is always the right of freedom of the editor – or correspondent – to choose the parts of a story that will be published or reported to the public. The violation of human rights by media cannot be always directly established; in fact, in most cases, the courts are asked to decide on the potential violation of human rights – or of other legal rules – by the media. Moreover, it is possible that the identification of the existence of violation or not to be successfully completed at the second level of a relevant case’s hearing – i.e. in the Court of Appeal – the complexity of the relevant disputes can create constraints towards the examination of all the case’s parts. One of the most severe failures of news published or reported worldwide is related with its content; in fact, in many cases the publication or the reporting of the event or the piece of information which has become news is likely to be prohibited by the law – for example the case of violation of privacy9 – where this right is recognized by the law – or the case of obtaining personal data the access to which is prohibited to third persons – apart from the person to which the specific data refer. The content of news may be in opposition with existing laws in different ways – either because the method that the relevant pieces of information were acquired was not allowed by the law or because the content can be characterized as insult against the person or person to which the news refer. 2.2 Consequences from breaching the legal rules related with the report of news In order to understand the effects of violation of the legal rules that regulate the activity of media it should be necessary to refer primarily to the general context of the practice of the Courts in relation to the disputes of this type. At a next level, the consequences of the violation of law by the media will be presented – using relevant case law. There are cases where the Court has accepted the non-existence of such violation by the media trying to avoid the development of the crisis in the particular sector10. The practice of Courts regarding the recognition of rights that can be protected by the law – referring to any of their violation including the one that can take place through the media – is differentiated11. In certain cases, the Court has accepted the right of individuals to protect their personal life while in other cases the non-existence of privacy has been used as a justification for denying the support of the state to a violation of right by the media. Another factor that can influence the decisions of Courts over disputes related with the violations of laws by media is related with the claim of the applicant – plaintiff; one of the most important rules of courts worldwide is that each court needs to decide within the framework set by the plaintiff – applicant; there is no possibility of the Court to extend its decision above the level set by the plaintiff’s suit. In this context, the following consequences are expected to result for the media that have been found to have violated the law: a) prohibition from reporting or publishing the specific piece of information in the future12, b) compensation for the damage – in health or monetary – caused to the person(s) to which this piece of information involved13, c) compensation of any third persons that also suffered damage, d) obligation to publish or report news that will inform the public on the actual – true – event that has been already published or reported and e) the prohibition of media to cover a trial – most commonly because of the age or the mental/ health state of one of the parties14. Often the Court has to face the issue of confrontation between the national law and the relevant law of the European Union15; in this case, the latter should be applied – always taking into consideration the conditions of the particular case and the relevant position of the European Court. In any case, it seems that if the conditions of the violation cannot be clearly identified, the Court is likely to dismiss the relevant case – as there is no sufficient evidence on the specific crime16. 3. Conclusion The quality of news published or reported by the media is an issue on which many different views have been developed. In most cases, the methods employed by media for acquiring information of the event that is going to become news are against existing laws – the media often try to keep a balance by changing regularly their strategic policies17. These methods are often justified by the Courts – when it is considered that the upper target of the specific action has been the protection of public interest; however, there are also cases – as indicatively mentioned above – where the Courts have accepted the claims for compensation of the individuals that suffered damages by media. It could be noted at this point that the interests of media are based on the financial interests of their owners/ shareholders – in this context, the profits from advertising would be the criterion for deciding the incorporation of an event into the news (Carney, 222002, 57); Wolfsfeld (1997) also agrees that ‘at every stage of the process news industry is selecting and promoting those aspects of the conflict that make the best news story’ (Wolfsfeld, 1997, 52). Today, the role of media worldwide has been changed; in opposition with the past – when media had a clear role – to provide information on events that are considered to be importance for the public in a particular region – or the international community – today media serves a series of tasks: a) the increase of the wealth of their shareholders – mainly through the advertising, b) the promotion of the work of justice – through the coverage of trials, c) the promotion of political messages – referring to the use of media as a tool of communication between the politicians and the public and d) the promotion of products/ services – enhancement of commerce. At the same time the violation of laws through the media has been proved to be extensive; the Courts have been set by the legislator as having the power to resolve the relevant disputes by deciding on the criterion that is most valuable in the case under examination. 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