Freedom & accountability of media (original) (raw)
Freedom of Press and Media Ethics: A Comparative Study
International Journal of Media, Journalism and Mass Communications, 2020
If there is a first stage of freedom in any country, then it is the freedom of expression. If the person will not have the freedom to speak, then surely there is no other freedom for him. The right to express itself gives birth to all other rights. The whole world looks at the media to have access the true and correct information. But with the increase of Paid News and Yellow Journalism, the legitimacy of information given by media is vulnerable. As the unethical characters are coming out of the media industry and forced the policy makers to think about it to introduce new laws and regulations to maintain its place in the hearts of common man. Section 19-1 (a) of constitution tells us about the freedom of speech but one has to be very clear about the use of these rights given. If we fail to do so then needs arise to put cap on that, which is inhuman and unethical as this deprives one to access its rights.
MEDIA ETHICS: A Call to Responsible Journalism
2008
For many years now, globally, the media has assumed and reinforced its important role as a legitimate reflection of public interest and opinion. This is very true of the Malawian media which is fast becoming a strong pillar, catalyst and tool of democracy since 1994 when Malawi re-embraced multi-party democracy with a liberalised, plural media. The power and apparent influence of the media was long realised time in memorial. All governments since independence, corporate organisations, influential and powerful politicians and individuals have sought ways and means to control and regulate the media not only by wanting to limit its legitimate right to write, broadcast and publish freely but also to posse it, manipulate it, subject it to mere puppets that can be pulled by the string and as we observe today to reduce the media to tools of third grade propaganda. Luckily, global, regional and local trends in good governance coupled with a Malawian constitution that provides for freedom of expression and above all media institutions that safeguards the freedom of the media through self- regulation and advocacy, seem to be working in favour of the media by advancing the principle that a free media is one of the pre-requisites for good governance and a legitimate voice of public opinion and interest. However, the threat to media freedom seems to be beyond the powers that we know to have an insatiable desire to restrict the media. Malawian journalism, in some of its quarters, plays betrayal. This presentation discusses what might be a grey area in the Malawian media, the ethical conduct that brings about a responsible and credible media that can truly be a representative of public interest.
Groenhart, H. (2013). Five arguments for public media accountability.
Paper presented at the conference Future of journalism, Cardiff, 2013.
Both in academy and society critics disagree whether or how quality of journalism should be regulated. Proponents for press regulation, either harmed or appalled by apparent malpractices of news media companies, are usually contested by a persistent believe among journalists and policy makers in journalism’s autonomy. This disagreement is partly due to a confusing vocabulary on public media accountability (PMA). Drawing on literature review, qualitative interviews with journalists (N= 45) and focus groups of news users (N = 33) – part of a dissertation research on PMA – this paper disentangles vocabulary and presents five arguments for PMA: improvement-by-sanction; self-legitimation; community managing; business profit and operational efficiency. Each argument is set up around typical interpretations of the notion of the apparent state of journalism, responsibility, transparency and dialogue. Much potential of PMA is wasted because professionals and companies define it mainly from an improvement-by-sanction discourse and subsequently reject it, claiming professional autonomy. Contrastingly to the mainly normative discourse in literature, this study explains the emerging interest in transparency and dialogue in journalism by means of consumer loyalty and innovating journalistic practices. This has consequences for both journalism education and newsroom policy. If any, press regulation should only be articulated in terms of news media companies’ openness of profit margins and quality investment on the one hand and stimulating newsroom transparency on the other.
Ethical Principles of Journalism Communication: Media Convergence as a Transforming Factor
Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies
The advent and development of new types and forms of media led to the development of ethical principles of journalism in the second half of the 20th century. However, the process of media convergence, which began at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st centuries, has led to global changes taking place at all stages from the creation to the distribution of content. These changes are associated with a serious transformation of the ethical principles of journalism. The authors of this article conclude that further degradation of the ethical values of the media is inevitable, and directly related to certain trends that are inextricably linked with the process of media convergence. These trends are an increase in the share of user-generated content in the media; an overabundance of content that has influenced the media business, giving priority to the speed of content delivery and its clickbait potential; an increase in branded content; and the development of data journalism, wh...
Industry on 8 th and 9 th March, 2013. The need for this conference arose because of several reasons. The first and foremost objective of this national conference was to bring together experts from academia, industry and elsewhere to a platform where they could indulge in effective deliberations over the challenges faced by the media industry and strike a consensus on contentious issues pertaining to the media in particular and the society in general. Secondly, the dichotomy between revenue generation and journalistic ethics is well known. The conference aimed at bridging the gap between the two by means of zeroing on a mid path which doesn't compromise on the essence of either of the two. Thirdly and most importantly, the conference tried to figure out the future growth prospects of the media industry which were mindful of alternate revenue generation sources, interactive communication and higher audience participation while simultaneously bringing forth the ethical limits of media operations.
International Journal of Management Trends Key Concepts and Research, 2023
The media play a huge role in people's lives because they inform people about the happenings in the world. Sometimes one has to wonder how accurate that information really is and what role ethics play in the Universe. The media's ethics refers to moral principles and values that journalists and media houses should respect, including truthfulness, objectivity, precision, respect for privacy, etc. Fake news is a problem that occurs when the media presents incorrect or misleading information, if someone is malicious or wants to manipulate public opinion, they can easily exploit these falsehoods. That is why ethics in the media is very important in order to prevent the spread of fake news and preserve the integrity of journalism. One of the important issues related to ethics in the media is the question of the source of information, journalists should check their sources to make sure that the information they convey to the public is really true. Sometimes, journalists may be under pressure to publish information that is not fully verified in order to be first with the news or to please their editors and media houses.