Jonbenet and Maddie: Case Studies in the Ethical Deficit of Contemporary Journalism (original) (raw)
Related papers
2020
This study aims in seeking further knowledge on the phenomenon pertaining to journalists' experiencing ethical dilemma while in the line of duty. On a separate study, it is said that novice journalists frequently face puzzling situations, especially when covering traumatic events; that they oftentimes come unprepared to resolve it on site (Amend, Kay, & Reilley, 2012). Thus, causing them to question their own responsibility and authority as journalists. This pushes the researcher to cater this as her/his study in order to fully understand the situation at hand and thus making a comprehensive analysis with the possibility of uncovering topics that weren't available on the other researches similar to the study at hand. This study will focus on today's new set of journalists and how would they counteract public deterrence while embodying Journalistic Ethics and Human Ethics in general.
Contemporary journalists are accused of being insensitive and unreliable. It is often hard to deny the media critics statements, however, the job of a journalist is influenced by so many factors such as the editorial board's requirements, for whom the most important evaluation (and estimation) criteria is the number of materials submitted by a journalist and the breaking nature of the topics. Over the period of four months, the authors have conducted a series of interviews with journalists in Poland. On the basis of the interviews, they have determined and described the moral challenges of the profession and the underlying causes of violating the ethical rules - not only the journalistic ones.
Three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared on 3 May 2007 from a holiday apartment in Portugal. Over five-years and multiple investigations that failed to solve this abducted child case, Madeleine and her parents were subject to a process of relentless ‘intermediatisation’. Across rolling 24-7 news coverage, websites, documentaries, films, Youtube videos, books, magazines, music and artworks, Madeleine was a mediagenic image of innocence and a lucrative news category. In contrast to Madeleine’s media sacralisation, the representation of her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, fluctuated between periods of vociferous support and prolonged and libellous ‘trial by media’. This article analyses how the global intermediatisation of the ‘Maddie Mystery’ fed into and fuelled the ‘trial by media’ of Kate and Gerry McCann in the UK press. Our theorisation of ‘trial by media’ is developed and refined through considering its legal limitations in an era of ‘attack journalism’ and unprecedented official UK inquiries into press misconduct and criminality.
2014
The landscape in which journalists now work is substantially different to that of the twentieth century. The rise of digital and social media necessitates a new way of considering the ethical questions facing practicing journalists, and this volume aims to consider the various individual, cultural, and institutional influences that have an impact on journalistic ethics today. This book of essays is a useful provocation on a subject that has had far less consideration in the academy than it deserves, writes Angela Phillips.
Media justice: Madeleine McCann, intermediatization and ‘trial by media’ in the British press
Theoretical Criminology, 2012
Three-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared on 3 May 2007 from a holiday apartment in Portugal. Over five years and multiple investigations that failed to solve this abducted child case, Madeleine and her parents were subject to a process of relentless ‘intermediatization’. Across 24–7 news coverage, websites, documentaries, films, YouTube videos, books, magazines, music and artworks, Madeleine was a mediagenic image of innocence and a lucrative story. In contrast to Madeleine’s media sacralization, the representation of her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann, fluctuated between periods of vociferous support and prolonged and libellous ‘trial by media’. This article analyses how the global intermediatization of the ‘Maddie Mystery’ fed into and fuelled the ‘trial by media’ of Kate and Gerry McCann in the UK press. Our theorization of ‘trial by media’ is developed and refined through considering its legal limitations in an era of ‘attack journalism’ and unprecedented official UK inquirie...
Journalism, 2016
Do journalism subjects invariably feel betrayed and misrepresented by journalists, as Janet Malcolm claims in her seminal 1990 book The Journalist and the Murderer? If not, what explains the ongoing appeal of her now famous conclusion? Based on interviews with 83 people who were named in newspapers in the New York City-area and a southwestern city, this article takes up these questions by putting journalism subjects' own descriptions of their experiences with the journalistic process in dialogue with Malcolm's central argument. I conclude that Malcolm's conman-victim model for the journalist-subject relationship fails, in some key ways, to describe journalism subjects' experiences; and yet, Malcolm does capture important emotional truths at the heart of the journalist-subject encounter. In the end, the hyperbolic versions of the journalist and subject she portrays may continue to resonate not because they are strictly accurate, but because they play a role in journalistic boundary work, simultaneously probing and reinforcing the boundaries of acceptable journalistic practice.
Investigative Journalism and the Legitimation of Moral Order
1987
Investigative journalists long have had an adversarial relationship with powerful institutions and those in public office, stemming from the "righteously indignant" reporters of the early nineteenth century penny presses who guarded the interests of the public. Currently, investigative journalists are in a difficult position if they have to report news of moral transgressions, while remaining morally neutral. When documenting transgressions, they tend to circumvent the problem by (1) citing the law, (2) citing codes of conduct, (3) citing experts, or (4) appealing to common sense. Yet all news, how objective it purports to be on its "surface level" is inherently linked to morals because the subject(s) of the story have crossed some moral boundary, identified by the reporter. Hence reporters in their role as "watchdogs" not only reflect the moral norms of society but actively fashion and legitimate the very consensus they ostensibly only convey. However, because investigative journalists select from a limited range of dominant moral standards, accept these standards uncritically, and present them "objectively," they can evade responsibility for contributing to the definition and legitimation of what usually appears to be an "independent" moral order. The values journalists espouse in the "deep level" of their stories only become apparent in a historical and cultural treatment of news. (Seven endnotes and 46 references are included.) (JC)
The disappearance of Madeleine McCann: Public drama and trial by media in the Portuguese press
2009
The extraordinary media coverage regarding the disappearance of the British 3-year-old Madeleine McCann emerges as an illustrative example of a ‘public drama’ and ‘trial by media’. This article presents a comparative analysis of the perspectives and narrative devices employed by two Portuguese newspapers in establishing a dialogue with their respective audiences. High-profile mediatized criminal cases have the potential to linger in the public memory and become cultural references which may affect long-term public representations of crime and justice. Our analysis is limited to a sample of representative Portuguese newspapers. We found a basic distinction between ‘quality’ and ‘popular’ press which may be related to inherent differences of their market and implicit audiences. A distanced, neutral and reflexive style of the quality press contrasts with the construction of a sensationalistic narrative by the popular press. The latter provided the audience with a daily dose of vicarious participation in a criminal drama which developed into a trial by media, sustained by a rhetoric that encourages the audience to ‘take sides’. Sensationalist media narratives can potentially undermine the principles of fair trial and the presumption of innocence. But they can also elicit relevant collective energies directed at starting processes of change.
Media-Invented Stories and Outright Lies a Threat to Journalism Ethics and Media Credibility
Media Law, Ethics, and Policy in the Digital Age
When one thinks of barriers to setting up a news corporation, one might think in terms of the costs of machinery and staffing. This case study of a start-up news corporation called Crocels News shows that the biggest cost can be in resolving legal disputes, most significantly from news articles scrutinising public bodies and their staff. This chapter investigates the difficulties faced by Crocels News in providing news content. By considering the legal correspondence received, the chapter provides insights into some of the problems all news services are likely to experience if they do not have access to the huge legal budgets of the established news corporations. The findings are particularly worrying for emerging forms of news reporting, such as citizen journalism. The chapter therefore proposes changes in statute so that case law that protects free speech is more easily enforced.
Beyond “Woodstein”: Narratives of Investigative Journalism
Journalism Practice, 2019
Using a methodology inspired by structural narratology and by James Hamilton's [2016. Democracy's Detectives: The Economics of Investigative Journalism. Cambridge: Harvard] economic analysis of investigative journalism, this paper identifies a set of 14 recurring structural and formal elements (plot events, character types and functions, visual iconography) that constitute a fable about investigative journalism. The fable structure is applied to analyze six diverse films about investigative journalism produced in the US in the last 40 years. The films include two instantiations of successful investigative journalism (All the President's Men, Spotlight), two cases where conflict between journalists and corporate managers diminished the impact of the investigation (Good Night and Good Luck, The Insider), and two instances of a counter-fable of failed investigative journalism (Truth, Kill the Messenger). The paper argues that the films' representation of investigative journalism influences public perceptions of investigative journalism. It also speculates about the factors that will influence investigative journalism and its representations in the current political context in the US.