The rights of the journalist is that they are able to take photographs of their news subject in public.Looking at the case study of Bosco Wong, pictures were wrongfully taken of him in his bathroom. Celebrities in Hong Kong in particular, are not protected against privacy and journalists they go the extra mile to get a very interesting news story. The impetus for journalists to invade privacy is basically to sell newspapers. There is no guaranteed legal privacy. Famous people tend to lose their privacy and are subject to scrutiny all the time.
As a journalist, a journalist has to face the dilemma to determine to invade a person's privacy or not. This week's presentation was somewhat similar to last week's one, where there was the debate as to when to draw the line with regards to privacy issues. In my personal opinion, I would be very ethical if I am a professional journalist. In relation to privacy of an individual, it is important to make sure that if that person is deemed as innocent, it is best to respect his or her privacy as much as possible. However as the example given in class, The New Paper, aims at selling newspapers by using sensationalized pictures and stories, then I think there is a purpose for the journalist working for this particular paper, to give their editors what they want to fulfill the "mission" of the newspaper.
References
1.http://asianfanatics.net/forum/topic/613905-bosco-wong-got-a-shock-after-receiving-a-photo-of-a-half-naked-male-fan/ (Accessed 4th July 2011)
Hi Gwen,
ReplyDeletegreat blog post you have there. I have a question for you though, you mentioned that you would be very ethical if you are a professional journalist. However, how ethical can you be if you are working for papers such as The Newpaper that focuses more on trivial stories and gossips?
Heya Gwen,
ReplyDeleteI guess it really depends on what kind of newspaper companies that the journalist are working for. If its a tabloid news company, then surely the journalist have to be prepared to take such photos that invade the journalist's privacy so as to be able to sell the newspaper and for the company to earn profits. For other news companies that are not tabloid, they also have to sell the newspapers to earn revenue and thats why they do tend to sensationalize some news up to a extent. What do you think? Should news companies publish news for the public interest or news that is interesting to the public?