truth telling, justice, credibility and freedom and fairness in the media

7/29/2019 Truth Telling, Justice, Credibility and Freedom and Fairness in the Media

1/30


2/30

Truth-telling, or veracity, can be defined as

the avoidance of lying, deception,misrepresentation, and non-disclosure ininteractions with society or information

related to the society or any populationthat the media might come in contact

with.


3/30

What is a Journalistic Ethic?

Journalistic ethics and standards comprise principles of ethics and of good

practice as applicable to the specific challenges faced by journalists.Historically and currently, this subset of media ethics is widely known to

journalists as their professional "code of ethics" or the "canons ofjournalism

What role does Telling have in this context?

When the society or any population that comes in contact with a

specific branch of media, they Trust and depend on it to know newsand information. Upholding that trust, it is of utmost importance thatmedia disseminates information that is true, as the people have a rightto know and understand what REALLY is happening around them. Thetruth may conflict with other values that the population believes in, but itis in the mere nature of this profession to challenge, and make sure thatthe truth, and truth alone prevails.


4/30

In terms of Public interest: Revelation of military secrets and other sensitive governmentinformation may be contrary to the public interest, even if it is true. However, publicinterest is not a term which is easy to define.

In terms of Privacy : Salacious details of the lives of public figures is a central content

element in many media. Publication is not necessarily justified simply because theinformation is true. Privacy is also a right, and one which conflicts with free speech.

Fantasy. Fantasy is an element of entertainment, which is a legitimate goal of mediacontent. Journalism may mix fantasy and truth, with resulting ethical dilemmas.

In terms of Taste. Photo journalists who cover war and disasters confront situations which

may shock the sensitivities of their audiences. For example, human remains are rarelyscreened. The ethical issue is how far should one risk shocking an audience's sensitivitiesin order to correctly and fully report the truth.

Truth telling is crucial in media ethics as any opposition of truth telling isconsidered deception. Anything shown by the media whether print or video isconsidered to be original. When a statement is written in an article or a video is shown of

a public official, it is the original truthful words of the individual official themselves.


5/30

The National Enquirer Issue :

The National Enquirer is an American supermarkettabloid now published by American Media Inc (AMI).

Founded in 1926 the tabloid has gone through a variety ofchanges over the years. The Enquireropenly acknowledges that it will pay sources for

tips, a practice generally frowned upon by the mainstreampress. At least one prominent story, connected tothe Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case in 2002, had to beretracted after it was revealed that two informants hadfabricated false information. The informants had been paid alarge sum for the story

This questioned the credibility of the magazine and itspractice of paid informers, owing to this, circulation figuresdropped and the image of the magazine in the public eyewas diminished.


6/30

The Adnan Hajj photographs controversy (alsocalled Reutersgate) involves digitallymanipulated photographstaken by Adnan

Hajj, a Lebanesefreelance photographer based in the MiddleEast, who had worked for Reuters over a periodof more than ten years.

Hajj's photographs were presented as part ofReuters' news coverage of the 2006 IsraelLebanon conflict, but Reuters has admittedthat at least two were significantly alteredbefore being published


7/30

The first image was discovered on August 5, 2006 when blogger CharlesJohnson of Little Green Footballs wrote that the first image "shows blatant

evidence of manipulation" Reuters "killed" the 'photograph' and released a

statement that stated Hajj claimed to not have intentionally altered the

photo but was trying to remove "dust marks


8/30

The second manipulated image was reported by the pseudonymous

blogger "Dr. Rusty Shackleford" on his blog "the Jawa Report".Reuters

captioned it as showing an Israeli F-16 fighter jet firing ground-attack missiles

"during an air strike on Nabatiyeh", but the F-16 was actually deploying one

defensive flare, and the original photograph showed only one flare. The

photo had been doctored to increase the number of flares falling from the F-16 from one to three, and misidentified them as missiles.


9/30

On August 6 2006, Reuters announced it would stop allcooperation with Adnan Hajj.Hajj claimed he had just beentrying to remove dust marks, and that he made mistakes dueto the bad lighting conditions he was working under. Critics

point out that this is impossible, as Hajj's doctored imageadded an entire plume of smoke, duplicated severalbuildings, and showed a repeating pattern indicating thatone plume of smoke was "cloned" several times.

On August 7, Reuters decided to withdraw all 920 photos by

Hajj from sale

As of May 11, 2008, Reuters has removed all of Hajj's imagesfrom its site


10/30


11/30

Justice is the first virtue of socialinstitutions, as truth is of systems of

thought."Justice can be thought of asdistinct from and more fundamental

than benevolence, charity, mercy, ge

nerosity, or compassion.


12/30

Democracy and media power mutually co-operate with each other. Had there been nomedia power, the very essence of democraticculture would have sunk. The media has madethe voice of the common man significant,impacting social attitudes and democraticresponsibility.

If it wasnt for sustained public pressure arisingout of media activism, perhaps a logicalconclusion could never have been reached incases like the Jessica Lall murder, thePriyadarshini Mattoo case and the high-profileNitish Katara case


13/30

The Indian Constitution, while not mentioning the word"press", provides for"the right to freedom of speech andexpression" (Article 19(1) a). However this right is subject torestrictions under sub clause (2), whereby this freedom canbe restricted for reasons of "sovereignty and integrity ofIndia, the security of the State, friendly relations withforeign States, public order, preserving decency,preserving morality, in relation to contempt,court, defamation, or incitement to an offense".

Laws such as the Official Secrets Act and Prevention ofTerrorist Activities Act(PoTA) have been used to limit pressfreedom. Under PoTA, person could be detained for up tosix months for being in contact with a terrorist or terroristgroup. PoTA was repealed in 2006, but the Official SecretsAct 1923 continues.


14/30

Jessica Lal (19651999) was a model in New Delhi, whowas working as a celebrity barmaid at a crowdedsocialite party when she was shot dead at around 2 amon 30 April 1999. Dozens of witnesses pointed to SiddharthVashisht, also known as Manu Sharma, the son of VenodSharma, a wealthy and influential Congress-nominated Member of Parliament from Haryana, as themurderer.

In the ensuing trial, Manu Sharma and a number of otherswere acquitted on 21 February 2006.

Following intense media and public pressure, theprosecution appealed and the Delhi High Courtconducted proceedings on a fast track with daily hearingsconducted over 25 days. The trial court judgment wasoverturned, and Manu Sharma was found guilty of havingmurdered Lal. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on20 December 2006.


15/30


16/30

Traditionally, modern, credibility has twokey components: trustworthiness andexpertise. Trustworthiness is based moreon subjective factors.

According to the Society of ProfessionalJournalists code of ethics,

professional integrity is the cornerstone ofa journalist's credibility.

Two types of media credibility- sourcecredibility and news medium credibility


17/30

Concerns in the newspaper industry, risingnumber of people turning to radio for news,and then about the number relying ontelevision made arising studies of the credibilityof a medium argue the advent of informationand communication technology especially theInternet, is giving some impact to our daily life.

Since the late 1990s when the Internet began

providing new interactive environment ofinformation that allowed users to seekinformation and communicate with others inways never before possible, the concept ofcredibility has received considerable attention


18/30

The credibility of online and traditional media isbecoming an increasingly important topic tounderstand in the field of communication, andvarious studies in different countries havereported different results about the Internetcredibility.

But, because of privacy issues, contentaccuracy, reliability, and other related

concerns, some observers have predicted atrouble for news in future. Generally, becausepast researches revealed that people are lesslikely to rely on the media they do notperceived as credible.


19/30

The media in India has grown into aneconomic giant, it is considered theworlds most dynamic media industryand one of the fastest growinganywhere.

In recent years, the media has lowered

the quality of Indias public discourse.This is producing a growing, andpotentially grave, crisis of credibility.


20/30

The Indian media now faces a seriouscrisis of credibility. If it does not reform

itself, it will find its greatest asset gettingrapidly devalued and eventuallyvanishing.

Journalism will then cease to be all thatmakes it worthy and socially relevant: anhonest, investigative, analytical, public-oriented and ethical pursuit.


21/30


22/30

The Wikipedia page for Freedom of Press defines it asFreedom of the press or freedom of the media is thefreedom of communication and expression throughvehicles including various electronic mediaand published materials.

The Indian Constitution mentions that Article 19 (1) (a)which talks about freedom of expression is subject toreasonable restrictions under sub clause (2), wherebythis freedom can be restricted for reasons of"sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of theState, friendly relations with foreign States, public order,preserving decency, preserving morality, in relation tocontempt, court, defamation, or incitement to anoffense"


23/30

Laws such as the Official Secrets Act and Preventionof Terrorist Activities Act(PoTA) have been used tolimit press freedom.

Off-late freedom of expression, its boundaries andintentions have been questioned; what with acartoonist being charged with sedition for havingexpressed his feelings about the country the best hecould, by making a snarky caricature.

Where fairness is concerned, todays media makesjudgments even before the final verdict of a case hasbeen passed, thereby committing contempt of courtand such.


24/30

There have been several cases of freedom ofpress or in the case of India where freedom ofexpression have been questioned in court. Some

examples are:

In Tamil Nadu, 15 journalists were sentenced to 15 days simpleimprisonment for alleged breach of privilege and contempt bythe state Legislative Assembly. (2011)

The blogger Chyetanya Kunte was sent a legal notice by NDTVfor suggesting that Barkha Duttas reports of the Mumbai siegemight have endangered lives. This incident got the public toquestion the freedom of press and there were demonstrations ofanger with howls of protest about NDTVs bullying tactics, anddefences of a bloggers right to free speech. (2011)


25/30

The Press Freedom Index is compiled by ReportersWithout Borders every year.

The index uses 44 different criteria ranging from

censorship of news media to physical attacks onjournalists, and the ability of the media toinvestigate and criticise and reflects the degreeof freedom that journalists, news media, and

netizens enjoy in each country and the effortsmade by the authorities to respect and ensurerespect for this freedom, the US organisation said.


26/30

This year, Indias ranking fell to 131 out of 179 from 122 lastyear.

In India, RwB pointed to the exposure of violence of journalistas a result of the on-going conflicts in Jammu and Kashmirand Chhattisgarh, as well as intimidation of journalists bymafia groups in the country's biggest cities. However theauthorities were no better, they warned, pointing to thedangerous implications of the Information technology Rules2011 introduced last year and which requires Internet firms to

remove harassing, obscene, libellous and other forms ofcontent or risk prosecution. Foreign journalists were alsoimpacted, with troubles obtaining visas, and pressure to givethe country positive coverage, the organisation said.


27/30

The top position was shared by Finlandand Norway, followed jointly by

Estonia and Netherlands. Eritrearemained at the bottom position, aposition it has held since 2007


28/30

Indian Express Newspapers v. Union of India speaking about theutility of freedom of press the court observes:-

The expression freedom of the press has not been issues in

article 19 but it is comprehended within article 19(1)(a). Theexpression means freedom from interference from authoritywhich would have the effect of the interference with the

content nd the circulation of the newspapers and cannot be

any interference with that freedom in the name of public

interest. Freedom of press is the heart of social and political

intercourse it is the primary duty of the courts to up hold the

freedom of the press and in validate all laws or administrativeactions with interfere with it contrary to the constitutional

mandate.


29/30

In Indian Express v. Union of India, it has been heldthat the press plays a very significant role in thedemocratic machinery. The courts have duty to

uphold the freedom of press and invalidate all lawsand administrative actions that abridge thatfreedom. Freedom of press has three essentialelements. They are:

1. freedom of access to all sources ofinformation,

2. freedom of publication, and 3. freedom ofcirculation.


30/30

In Romesh Thapper v. State of Madras, a lawbanning entry and circulation of journal in a statewas held to be invalid . The Court held that that

there can be no doubt that freedom of speechand expression includes freedom of propagationof ideas, and that freedom is ensured by thefreedom of circulation. A law which authorizesimposition of restrictions on grounds of publicsafety or the maintenance of public order fallsoutside the scope of the authorized restrictionsunder clause (2) and therefore void andunconstitutional.

truth telling, justice, credibility and freedom and fairness in the media

Documents