On July 2011, Rupert Murdoch, owner of News of the World (NOTW) had shut down his company due to a hack scandal that that invaded different people’s telephone conversations such as celebrities, prominent figures, families of murder victims and politicians by using a four-digit PIN to access their voice mails. The tactless action by the newspaper eventually lead to a damaged reputation along with all its advertising clients pulling out due to massive disapproval of social media users.
(Source: Upi.com, www.upi.com)
The issue of the final publication on the 9th of July 2011 before the newspaper agency was shut down.
According to Nissenbaum (1997, 109), the meaning of privacy is that it declares space for individuals where they are free of public judgments, scrutiny and responsibilities. The statement was supported by Kieran (1997) as he stated that privacy prevents people and journalists from getting supremacy over individuals to their disadvantage. I believe it was indeed crude and abhorrent for the News of The World to have phone hacked into people’s personal conversations for their own benefit and therefore, I find it to be ethically and morally wrong.
To what extent do journalists go to give a good story? Another incident, which involves invasion of privacy, was the Vanessa Perroncel case. Perroncel, who is a French model, had her privacy invaded by two newspapers. According to Greenslade (2010), on July 2010, Mail on Sunday and News of The World (NOTW) had acquired Perroncel’s private information and claimed false facts that she had been having an affair with English footballer John Terry (Greenslade 2010). Soon after that, the two newspapers had apologized for invading Perroncel’s privacy and also publishing false information.
(Source: What’s On Xia Men, www.whatsonxiamen.com)
An image of Perroncel with Terry during a football match taken during the Carling Cup game in 2007.
In an ethical point of view, Patterson & Wilkins (2002, p122), states that a person should have the power to control certain information from certain people and also the extent of what and how that information is published or presented. And once a person or a company’s private information has been invaded, the consequences can be damaging such as the diminishing of identity and reputation. According to Kieran (1997, p74), invasions into the personal aspects of an individual’s life can leave a mark of harm and distress. Under these ethical circumstances, it was unethical and morally wrong for the News of The World to have use such a distasteful manner. Therefore, journalist in the field of publication and design should always be ethical and extra sensitive to people's feelings.
References
- Greenslade, R 2010, Two newspapers apologise to Vanessa Perroncel for breaching her privacy, The Guardian, viewed 14 November 2011, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade+football/john-terry>.
- Nissenbaum, H 1997, Toward an Approach to Privacy in Public: Challenges of Information Technology, Princeton University, viewed 14 November 2011, <http://www.nyu.edu/projects/nissenbaum/papers/toward_an_approach.pdf>.
- Patterson, P & Wilkins, L 2002, Media Ethics: Issues & Cases, 4th edn, McGraw-Hill, New York.
- Kieran, M 1997, MEDIA ETHICS: A philosophical Approach, Preger Publishers, United States of America.
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