Ethics
Because the stories reported on the news are real, and affect real people, much like in documentaries, it is therefore vital to abide by ethics. Ethical journalism rests on truth and accuracy, independence, fairness and impartiality, humanity, and accountability for mistakes (Ethical Journalism Network, s.d).
There are rules in place to stop reporters violating ethics:
Freedom of information act
The freedom of information act gives members of the public access to all information contained within organisations in the public sector (Gov.uk, s.d).The main reason for putting this in place is that the public have a right to know the inform being contained, unless it is sensitive (Information Commissioner's Office, s.d).
To get this information a "request for information" has to be put in, which describes what information is wanted by the requester (legislation.gov.uk, s.d).
Organisations which accept requests for information are government departments, such as councils, education centres, such as schools and universities, health professionals, the police, publicly owned companies and publicly funded museums (Gov.uk, s.d).
However, health organisations must only provide information about work done under the NHS, and public service broadcasters, like the BBC, don't have to inform the public about any journalistic or artistic activities (Information Commissioner's Office, s.d).
Another term which applies is that "An organisation can also refuse your Freedom of Information (FOI) request if it will cost more than £450 (£600 for central government) to find and extract the information"(Gov.uk, s.d).
Yet, copyright is unaffected by this act. The owners of information have the right to keep their work from commercial exploitation, even if it is requested under the freedom of information act (Information Commissioner's Office, s.d).
Sub-judice (also known as "contempt")
The grounds of sub-judice are that "it is the role of the courts to deal with legal issues that are before it. The courts' role should not be usurped by others making public statements about how these issues should be dealt with" (Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, s.d). Therefore, reporters are not allowed to make comments which may influence a case in court one way or the other, especially if this case is before a jury (Channel 4, s.d).
However, although juries may be swayed by outside comments, a judge may not be, and should only consider the evidence before them. For this reason, courts may be more relaxed about information or comments on a case being decided by only a judge, since there is less chance this will produce any prejudice (Mac Cormaic, 2015).
Sub-judice comes into play when a case becomes 'active', which means an arrest has been made, a search warrant obtained, or a charge made (Channel 4, s.d). After this, the media cannot do the following without breaking the rules of sub-judice (or putting themselves 'in contempt'):
- Predicting a trial's outcome
- Filming interiors or exteriors of court buildings without permission
- Interviewing a juror about the legal proceedings
- Recording in court, whether on camera, tape, or even through drawings, without permission
- Paying witnesses (these can also be prejudiced, just like jurors)
- Identifying anyone where this could affect the case's outcome or put them in danger
- Gaining information about the deliberations of the jury and reporting this (Channel 4, s.d).
However, a report will not break the rules of sub-judice by reporting the factual content of an ongoing case, if the report is unbiased and unlikely to prejudice the trial's outcome (Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, s.d).
Also, if reporting about a case in the U.S. in the UK, these rules of sub-judice would not apply, so it would be allowable to report information which could prejudice the outcome, even if the case was ongoing (Channel 4, s.d).
Case study: ethical & balanced live reporting
When the testimonies of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, and Brett Kavanaugh were broadcast live, the news networks had to follow strict rules. In order to do this the networks all had to use the same video feed which they were required to play in full, only able to differentiate themselves by graphics and guest appearances during breaks (Barr, 2018). This was so it wasn't possible to edit the live feed to miss parts which could have biased the report one way or the other.
However, the three cable networks in America (ABC, NBC, and CBS) were still in competition for viewers (Barr, 2018). Therefore, they all took different approaches in order to draw in viewers.
Fig. 1 NBC News: NBC News Live (2018)
For example, NBC took a live approach, creating the feeling for viewers as if they were actually there in the middle of the action. This was created by not only the live feed, but also during the breaks from this, since the cameras kept rolling in the courtroom so people could be seen milling around (see fig.1).
Fig. 2 NBC News: NBC News Live (2018)
Even when guests did appear, they often were shown on a split screen, so that the courtroom could still be seen. For example, just before Kavanaugh appeared, a live feed of the corridor he was about to walk down was still visible while a guest was talking (see fig.2).
Fig. 3 CBS News: CBS News Live (2018)
CBS set up extra content online with a live blog so viewers could follow along when on the go, or only read the key points (see fig.3). This allowed them to still report without interrupting the live feed.However, during the breaks they cut to a panel, taking a reporter-led approach to cover many different angles. Before the live feed started two presenters had a conversation about the story, making it familiar to viewers who didn't know anything about the story beforehand (see fig.4). But, if viewers missed this conversation, they didn't have another chance during the bulletin to catch up.
Fig. 4 CBS News: CBS News Live (2018)
The twitter handles under the reporters' names also signifies more extra online content which viewers could interact and follow along with during the broadcast.
ABC used the same reporters throughout the whole broadcast, so the audience were always aware someone who was familiar to them was covering the story. For example, both George Stephanopoulos in the studio and David Muir live covered the whole broadcast, even though it was almost ten hours long (see fig.5, fig.6, and fig.7).
Fig. 5 ABC News: ABC News Live (2018)
Fig. 6 ABC News: ABC News Live (2018)
Fig. 7 ABC News: ABC News Live (2018)
This created an immediacy which heightened the urgency of the story, since it helped viewers feel connected to the events.
The Law
Trespassing
Trespassing is when a journalist enters a person's private property without permission, yet this rule is not broken by publishing the information obtained there (Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press, s.d).
Journalists can film in public places legally, however, there are some limitations on uses for this footage, since some members of the public may not wish to be filmed, and there could be issues if children can be seen in the background (Kobré, 2013).
If a crew has lots of equipment, then they may be asked if they have a permit, since it could be possible for them to become an obstacle preventing the safe flow of pedestrians and traffic, and therefore a hazard to the public (Kobré, 2013).
Trespass laws apply as soon as 'a journalist or other enters private property to ask questions, he or she gains an implied consent to remain on the property if the property owner agrees to talk. These individuals may become trespassers, however, if they refuse to leave when asked' (Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press, s.d).
However, it is possible to not commit trespass by standing on the pavement, or another piece of land which is publicly owned, and filming private property -- yet, as with public places such as shopping centres and restaurants, if reporters are asked to leave, then they must comply if this request is reasonable (Kobré, 2013).
Reporters who 'go undercover' may also be trespassing by hiding their identities, and the fact they are obtaining information, but this is still considered a debatable issue (Reporter's Committee for Freedom of the Press, s.d).
Privacy
Trespassing forms a part of privacy laws, as does invasion of privacy. A person's privacy is considered to have been invaded when the press reports facts which are deemed as private, unless that person is in the public eye (Kobré, 2013).
Facts are deemed as private, 'if a reasonable person would be outraged or embarrassed by public disclosure of that matter or if the person asserting a right to privacy had a reasonable expectation of privacy with respect to that matter', also the case if this matter is not newsworthy or of public concern (Watson, 2008).
Privacy is also violated if a person is reported in a false light (Kobré, 2013). This involves the publication of false information which is offensive to the person, and could humiliate and embarrass them (Watson, 2008).
Misappropriation is when a person is represented for a reporter's personal gain without their prior permission, meaning their privacy is violated (Kobré, 2013).
Defamation
Defamation (also known as "libel" or "slander") is when information is published which could damage a person's reputation, giving them the right to sue (BBC, s.d).
Information is seen as defamatory if it causes a person to be subjected to hatred, damages their reputation as a person, or condemns them in regard to their profession and work (Dodd & Hanna, 2018:272).
However, if the person is a "public official" they probably won't win their case, since when this happens, it has to be proven that the publisher(s) of the information intended "actual malice", meaning they knew the information was false, or didn't care to check if it was true or false (Kobré, 2013).
Usually, 'The claimant (or pursuer in Scotland) does not need to show that they suffered any actual damage, nor that what was said was false. On the contrary, the defendant (or defender in Scotland) generally has to prove that it was true' (BBC, s.d).
Copyright
Copyright is put in place so that work is credited to its creator(s) and can not be copied without permission (BBC Academy, 2017).A work is copyrighted as soon as the work has been shown to the public, even if a copyright notice has not been requested for it (Vila, 2016).
However, this work has to be in a physical form, such as a video or written document, since this makes it "intellectual property" (Kobré, 2013).
Creators can give others the rights to their work or give them permission to use it only for a specific purpose, meaning they still keep their rights to it (Vila, 2016).
Yet, if the work is "a work made for hire", then the creator's employer is the owner of the work, and therefore owns the copyrights (Kobré, 2013).
Copyright is breached when a 'substantial' part of a work is copied without permission, where 'substantial' means 'how significant the part that is copied is, and can apply to a very small extract' (BBC Academy, 2017).
A copyright notice looks like the copyright symbol © or the word copyright, followed by the first year the work was exhibited to the public (the year of "publication"), and the owner's name (Kobré, 2013).
For independent creators, their work remains copyrighted until 70 years after their death, and if the creator made a work for hire, this remains copyrighted to the company for 95 years after it was first published or 120 years after it was created, whichever is the shortest duration (United States Copyright Office, 2011).
Creators can make their work available to the public with no copyright attached through the Creative Commons license or fair use. The Creative Commons license means creators retain copyright to their work, but give permission for others to use it non-commercially as long as they are credited as the creator (Creative Commons, s.d).
Fair use allows work to be used without copyright if it is for (limited) educational purposes, news reporting, or incidental inclusion (The UK Copyright Service, 2004).
Incidental inclusion is when, for example, a copyrighted piece of work such as a poster appears in the background of shots for a news report; however, this doesn't infringe copyright, since it is covered under fair use (Kobré, 2013).
However, there has been no copyright on news, facts, information, and since 2014, quotes if they are available to the public, with credit given only if necessary, as long as this information is used non-commercially (Thom, 2014).
Fake News
Fake news is defined as 'deliberate falsehoods or fiction masked as news circulating on the internet' (Handley, 2018). The biggest problem is how to separate fake news from actual news, since some fake news can be convincing, and news reporting is spread over so many multimedia platforms.
Fake news is particularly prevalent on social media because of how users are able to share and spread information. For example, an MIT study recently discovered that, 'A false story reaches 1,500 people six times quicker, on average, than a true story does', especially if this story is on politics, since these fake stories were 70 percent more likely to be retweeted than genuine news (Meyer, 2018).
Experts are currently coming up with possible solutions to solve this problem. These solutions cover using human editors who are taught to asses articles before they are posted to the sites, although this could be expensive as would require many trained professionals; crowdsourcing, such as the way in which Wikipedia works, meaning anyone could sign up and rank news, yet this could make it easier for individuals to push biased or fake news into the mainstream; or algorithms, which are cheaper, quicker, and more accurate than people, although there is not yet a system which can completely filter out fake news, or which is not still influenced by the engineer who created it (Woolf, 2017).
The reason fake news can spread so quickly through retweeting and sharing is that fake news often uses words which evoke more emotion in readers, such as surprise and disgust, yet genuine news is more likely to make a reader feel sad, or that they should trust the brand (Meyer, 2018).
However, the problem is so prevalent that although the MIT study found that users who share genuine news have most likely been on social media longer, so are probably verified and have more followers, fake news is still able to spread further and faster, despite this (Meyer, 2018).
The BBC have set up a scheme within schools to help students learn how to identify fake news, so the next generation is well-equipped to deal with this problem (Handley, 2018).
The BBC have set up a scheme within schools to help students learn how to identify fake news, so the next generation is well-equipped to deal with this problem (Handley, 2018).
List of illustrations
Figure 1. NBC News Live (2018) [YouTube] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6EF0nuFjCw (Accessed on 22 October 2018).
Figure 2. NBC News Live (2018) [YouTube] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6EF0nuFjCw (Accessed on 22 October 2018).
Figure 3. CBS News Live (2018) [YouTube] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVGIiiZXdl4 (Accessed on 22 October 2018).
Figure 4. CBS News Live (2018) [YouTube] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVGIiiZXdl4 (Accessed on 22 October 2018).
Figure 4. CBS News Live (2018) [YouTube] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVGIiiZXdl4 (Accessed on 22 October 2018).
Figure 5. ABC News Live (2018) [YouTube] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPRzWdAt9fk (Accessed on 22 October 2018).
Figure 6. ABC News Live (2018) [YouTube] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPRzWdAt9fk (Accessed on 22 October 2018).
Figure 7. ABC News Live (2018) [YouTube] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPRzWdAt9fk (Accessed on 22 October 2018).
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