What are ethics?
The definition of ethics by the Oxford dictionary is “Moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity.” So basically its regulating legal and professional actions that should be taken into consideration especially in a professional working environment in order to avoid ethical violations that may lead to breaking the law.
Codes of ethics outline the values of a practice or a business and discuss how problems should be approached. The codes of ethics that are relevant to deception and fakery within journalism are the SPJ Code of Ethics and MEEA Code of ethics, which both display similar ethics and regulations for journalists to follow.
What is meant by deception and fakery?
Deception is the act of deceiving someone into believing something that isn’t true, such as saying you’re 20 years old instead of 30, fakery is just faking something like making a story up for clout or just bluntly lying, really both of them are just about lying which is something that really shouldn’t be done within a profession such as journalism since people rely on journalists for the truth. Roger D Dickson said in his text Making up the news: journalists, deviance and social control in news production “In recent years several examples of misconduct and bad journalistic practice have been exposed and, arguably, have contributed to a decline in public trust in journalism.” Which supports the fact stated that audiences rely on their journalists for the facts of any news stories, and going undercover betrays that trust.
How does it all relate to journalists?
Two vital examples that will be discussed in relation to the terms mentioned are undercover journalists FAKING who they are and situations of made up stories or DECEIVING stories. There are five core principles of journalism that were written by Aidan White that can assist in regulating and setting boundaries for journalist to ensure that they are entering the public sphere with responsibility and understanding on how to project their ideas.
Truth and Accuracy
Aidan states that journalists cannot always promise readers the absolute truth when presenting stories, but they must aim to get the facts straight and not change or manipulate anything that has been said by anyone that may have been at the scene of the story or change any facts of a story. Facts also need to be checked to ensure relevance and accuracy otherwise it could lead to a sloppy or messy story and no one wants to read that.
Independence
Journalists have to have their own voice when it comes to creating and producing a story and not let their personal views or intrests hinder the ways in which they get their stories, and as stated in the MEAA Journalist Code of Ethics “Do not allow personal interest, or any belief, commitment, payment, gift or benefit, to undermine your accuracy, fairness or independence.”
Fairness and Impartiality
When it comes to a story there are always two sides. A journalist has to be fair and unbiased in relation to finding out aspects of different stories or occurrences. Journalists can’t favour one side of a story more just because they agree with what that person was saying, they have to balance both sides and add their own context ensuring its not a he said she said scenario and both parties are equally treated with respect.
Humanity
Basic concept – don’t be that journalist that shows things that are offensive or traumatising. If a journalist is covering a fire, ethically they aren’t going to go and take videos and photos of burning victims expecting the community to be okay with being shown that side of the story when they are really only looking for the facts and a slight insight onto the events. As stated in the SPJ Code of Ethics journalists are required to “Balance the publics need for information against potential harm or discomfort.”
Accountability
This is vital when it comes to being a journalist. It’s basically a sign of being a professional and responsible journalist which all journalists would hopefully strive for. If a journalist makes a mistake, does something unethical or offends an audience, according to the SPJ Code of Ethics they must “Acknowledge mistakes and correct them promptly and prominently.” otherwise they wont look very professional right? Yes! Journalists have to listen to their audience.
Undercover journalists? Fake stories? How does that all work?
Undercover journalists are journalists that pretend to be someone they are not for insider information, for example the well known Elizabeth Jane Cochrane pretended to be insane in order to get admitted to an insane asylum and report on what was going on inside. The gutsy acts of journalists is also shown in the acts of Chris Terrill, who pretended to be a wildlife smuggler so he could get insight into the Illegal Orang-utan trade. Basically journalists risk their career in order to get an insight into stories no regular journalist could, but journalists are trained to identify themselves before conducting any interviews or research as a professional standard, so since it is related to the practice it should be taken into consideration.
When it comes to fake stories, a well known example comes from an article was written by the ABC about Channel Nine journalists who were sacked over fake reports on the Daniel Morcombe murder case. His remains were eventually found but the Channel Nine journalists had filed fake reports on two separate occasions. On both occasions, they said they were close to Beerwah where the site of the search for Daniels remains was, when really on one occasion the helicopters were still on the Brisbane station helipad, and circling the station’s Mt Coot-tha studios the other occasion, so really the reporters got lazy and didn’t actually want to leave the studio so they decided to stay put and fake a LIVE report. Pretty silly right? This occurrence went against what is said in the MEAA Journalists Code of Ethics which states that journalists should “Report and interpret honestly, striving for accuracy, fairness and disclosure of all essential facts.” Which the reporters clearly did not apply to their actions.
Okay, but is it all illegal?
Well technically neither are “illegal” in a sense that someone could be arrested, but there are aspects of both that could be considered illegal and could result in charges being made. For example if someone faked a news article that displayed defamation, they could be sued and taken to court, or if an undercover journalist engaged in illegal manners or did anything illegal such as trespassing, privacy of spoken word, violation of intimate privacy or spying and stalking, they could be caught and arrested under the law, so both are risky and both shouldn’t be conducted.
Deception and fakery are both ethical issues that still affect media today that will eventually effect the trustworthiness of journalists and news reports. Stories should be checked continuously for validation, and journalists shouldn’t have to risk their carreers in order to gain anymore insight than they already have.
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