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Media – role, obligations and ethics

Role of media

- Spreading information on matters of public interest

- Matters of public interest

News of what is happening and what will happen

Areas of interest affecting daily life

2

- Reflecting different views

- Serving as watchdog

-  Other roles?

developing and promoting social values, e.g. cultural, educational

3

Democratic society

- govern according to majority’s decision

-  respect minority’s views

-  election to ascertain majority views

-  protection of minority

-  rule of law

4

- independent judiciary

-  checks and balances

-  human rights

-  education & information

- need to have informed opinion

5

Need to have a responsible media

- Necessary in democratic society

-   Social responsibility

-   Media in privileged position; need to have responsible behavior

-   Need to have watchdog for watchdog?

[William Hamilton (Wall Street Journal) – private

enterprise owes nothing to the public]

[Joseph Pulitzer – without high ethical ideals, newspapers

would fail to serve the public and could be dangerous]

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Obligations

- tell the truth

- news v truth

- news = fragments of information that come to attention of reporters

- truth = verified information

- lack means to verify in every case

- if cannot verify, qualify information

- need to be impartial

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- respect human rights

- freedom of thought (BOR 15)

- freedom of opinion (BOR 16(1))

- freedom of expression (BOR 16(2), BL 27)

- right to seek and receive information (BOR 16(2))

- right to privacy (BOR 14, BOR 10, BL 30)

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- protect sources of information

- if not divulge, readers may doubt truth or reliability

- if divulge, source will dry up

- if too intimate or close to source, may lose professional impartiality

- if no connection, no source

- practice: totally secret or divulge to editor for him to judge

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 Washington Post editorial in 1969

“Source (nee Rumor) had four daughters (Highly Placed, Authoritative, Unimpeachable, and Well-Informed). The first married a diplomat named Reliable Informant. (The Informant brothers are widely known and quoted here; among the best known are White House, State Department, and Congressional.) Speculations’ brother-in-law, Ian Rumor, married Conjecture, from which there were two sons: It Was Understood and It Was Learned. It was Learned just went to work in the Justice Department, where he will be gainfully employed for four long years.”

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- promote social justice

- minority interest v unfettered freedom of expression

- outspoken minority v silent majority

- trend favours independent posture

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- maintaining social values

- leading trend v reflecting trend

- creating opinion v reflecting opinion

- independence

- neutrality

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Legal restrictions on exercising rights

- Basic Law (BL 27, 10)

-  General law (Civil – copyright, defamation, malicious falsehood)

-  General law (Criminal – contempt of court, treason, seduction, incitement, procurement, conspiracy)

-   Censorship – balance of conflicting interests

 “Liberty can never be absolute. Censorship can never be absent.” - Christians

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Professional restrictions

-  Professional ethics

- Professional practice

-  ethics (ethos – Greek) – home base – basic principles of behavior

-  morality (mos or mores – Latin) – customary behavior

-    value judgments

-    ultimately law becomes the only reliable guide, but is that enough ?

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Approach

-  what are the legal constraints

- what values are involved

- what are the ethical principles involved

-  are there any conflict of loyalties

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Meaning of Privacy

difficult to define

- right to be left alone

Warren & Brandies (1890)

- right to control information about oneself

Westin (1967)

16

- freedom from unwarranted & unreasonable intrusion into

activities that society recognises as belonging to the realm of individual autonomy

Wilborn (1998)

- field of action that does not touch upon the liberty of others

Nowak (1993)

17

- Public’s right to know v individual’s right to privacy

- Categories (a) intrusion on seclusion or solitude; (b) public disclosure of embarrassing private affairs (c) publicity that places individuals in a false light (d) appropriation of individual’s name likeness for commercial advantage

Intrusion of Privacy

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-  following the law sometimes not sufficient: rights not well defined; case specific

-  Exception – public officials; public figures

-   Attitude of court – broad protection to press, greater latitude, “newsworthiness”

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-  Guiding principles:

(1) decency & basic fairness – non-negotiable; may require more stringent restrictions than protection provided by the law;

(2) social values as criteria for selecting which private information is worthy of disclosure;

(3) dignity of the person;

(4) no abuse of privilege for commercial objective

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Bill of Rights

 Art 10 (ICCPR art 14.1)

– (equal before the courts; entitled to fair and public hearing)

“ … the press and the public may be excluded from all or part of a trial for reasons of morals, public order (ordre public) or national security in a democratic society, or when the interest of the private lives of the parties so requires, or to the extent strictly necessary in the opinion of the court in special circumstances where publicity would prejudice the interests of justice; but any judgment rendered in a criminal case or in a suit at law shall be made public except where the interest of juvenile persons otherwise requires or the proceedings concern matrimonial disputes or the guardianship of children”

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Art 14 (cf ICCPR art 17)

(1) No one shall be subject to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honour and reputation.

(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such

interference or attacks.

Art 15 (cf ICCPR 18)

(1) Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and

religion.

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Art 16 (ICCPR art 19)

(1) Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.

(2) Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.

(3) The exercise of the rights provided for in paragraph (2) of this article carries with it special duties and responsibilities. It may therefore be subject to certain restrictions, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary – (a) for respect of the rights or reputations of others; or (b) for the protection of national security or of pubic order (ordre public) or of public health or morals.

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Basic Law

Art 27

Hong Kong residents shall have freedom of speech, of the press and of publication; freedom of association, of assembly, of procession and of demonstration; and the right and freedom to form and join trade unions, and to strike.

Art 30

The freedom and privacy of communication of Hong Kong residents shall be protected by law. No department or individual may, on any grounds, infringe upon the freedom and privacy of communication of residents except that the relevant authorities may inspect communication in accordance with legal procedures to meet the needs of public security or of investigation into criminal offences.

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Art 39

The provisions of the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights, the international Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights, and international labour conventions as applied to Hong Kong shall remain in force and shall be implemented through the laws of the HKSAR.

The rights and freedoms enjoyed by Hong Kong residents shall not be restricted unless as prescribed by law. Such restrictions shall not contravene the provisions of the preceding paragraph of this Article.