Media Law and Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Media Law and Ethics - Essay ExampleNewspapers are among the most affected modes of intercourse in modern times that rush been adversely affected by the debates and the differing viewpoints taken by stakeholders in the independence debates (Barendt, 2009). While some support an entirely free press, a cross section of ordination feels that such freedom should be regulated to some extent. That is, laws should be enacted to ensure that media houses, more so newsprint publishers are regulated so that they do not exceed certain limits that could endanger personal and worldly concern safety or engross on human rights and liberties. Those in support of total report freedom assert that this absolute freedom must be sought through constitutional and legal protections although the norm is that there should be zero interference in the media freedom from overreaching state and regulatory agencies (Dean, 2011). However, the supporters of newspaper publisher freedom concur with their oppo nents who feel that with regards to government information, certain critical information, classified as secret and minute due to their national interest and security roles should be protected from disclosure to the public. Newspaper publishers should therefore endorse that certain information must be controlled and secretly guarded for the sake of protecting the interests and safety of a state. Newspapers should be Free As a result of the sensitive and controversial nature of press/newspaper freedom, governments have established not only laws and agencies to execute certain press freedom- think tasks further also commissions of examination to look into specific events related to press freedom. In the UK, one such commission was the Leveson Inquiry, which Prime diplomatic minister David Cameron appointed on July 6, 2011 in accordance with the Inquiries Act 2005 to further investigate the cultural and ethical practices related to the revelations of phone hacking activities by the News International. The News International phone-hacking scandal is a controversy surrounding the defunct News of the orb and other media outlets related to the subsidiary of News Corporation, News International. In this phone-hacking scandal, the employees of these related firms have been accused of engaging in police bribery, phone hacking and improper influence in executing their tasks of stack away information and creating stories. The public outcry was particularly targeted at News Corporations owner Rupert Murdoch whose come with was accused of targeting celebrities, high-profile cases, victims, the British Royal Family and bombing victims in their phone hacking activities. Because of the resultant advertiser boycotts, the News of the World closed on 10 July after publishing for 168 years and the News Corporation cancelled its think takeover of the British telecommunications company BSkyB (The BBC, 2011). The Lord Justice Leveson-led inquiry was thus mandated to inquire close these claims about the News of the World. Further, the Inquiry had to look into the initial police inquiry and the allegations that the News Corporation made outlaw(prenominal) payments to police (Jenkins, 2012). The most important role of the Inquiry was however to review the UK medias general kitchen-gardening and ethics. From this case study, it is imperative that media stakeholders recognize their role, responsibilities and influences in the society to act not only ethically but