Week 8 - 'In the public interest: Puvlic v Private'

This weeks seminar presentation was on "The public interest: Public v. Private". The topic was highly engaging and thoroughly and thoughtfully presented. The presenters displayed a solid knowledge thus understanding of their choosen topic, this was particulary evident through in depth research skills, clear and effective delivery,engagement and enthusiams with questions asked raised to the class, good usage of powerpoint and overall a very well done presentation that clearly highlighted the importance of public v. private. The examples also added interest and a new level to the presentation.

Celebrity blogs was a particular area that was touched upon in the presentation. Celebrity blogs are by passing own media. They have more control of what they do and what they chose to display about themselves. There are also private things shown on some blogs. Celebrity blogs are quite popular which celebrities such as Bruce Willis, Rosie O'Donell, Moby and to mention Donald Trumph.

Privacy laws was an important aspect of the presentation and one that must be indulged into. An example used in the presentation was Dan Horowitz, American criminal defence attorney who won landmark cases for Michael Flately and pro-athletes. It is important to note that privacy laws defines journalism in a way that will reduce the media's capacity to report freely. It is now easy to defame people, privacy laws should be tightened to give the public greater protection from prying reporters. It is paramount for journalists to have a thorough knowledge of the provisions of the Privacy Act.

Autonomy is one of the key terms of the professionalization approach. This was also mentioned and discussed in the presentation. It means freedom to shape journalists' work without being controlled by internal and external powers. Besides expertise, commitment to the job and responsibility are used as the main indicators for professional orientations. This aspect is particularly crucial, insofar as journalism differs from "real professions" by its legal preconditions. Just because a journalist may reveal one thing does it in turn mean you have to reveal the other?.There is also this freedom for press issue- how far do we go?
A journalist should look and see if it is in the publics interest.

The set reading for this weeks topic was based on "Public interest, private lies", by Ian Richards. Firstly, what indeed do public and private mean? Hanson (1970) argues that, historically, the emergence of city-states and theories of sovereighty led to the idea of a distinctly public realm, and that the emergence of a notion of democracy involving citzenry and a public arena led to the associated notion of 'the private'. While there is still an ongoing debate over what these notions mean, the literature contains many echoes of parent's view that privacy is 'the condition of not having undocumented personal knowledge about one possessed by others'. Kieran (1997) states that'It is not merley particular information about our lives that is private but those areas of our lives that the information concerns'. This basically means that this notion of the private puts up a sphere in which we are free to be intimate with others and pursue our goals and interests we have without being subject to the public gaze.

Notions of privacy are also prevelant. Today's privacy laws have four distinct interpretations- intrusion, publication of embarrassing private facts, publication which places someone in false light and appropriation, meaning use of an individual's name, picture or likeness without the person's permission, usually for commercial exploitation. It is difficult to see how an individual can behave ethically unless that individual has the freedom to choose to behave so. This is where autonomy is concerned. 'Autonomy implies control over one;s person, and therefore, one's privacy'.Journalists are propelled in the direction of revelation rather than concealment, of disclosure rather than protection.

The Australian, Media Entertainment And Arts Alliance (MEAA) noted that privacy can involve the person (bodily privacy), conversations (eavesdropping), seclusion (surveillance), and personal information (unauthorised disclosure). Clause 11 of the Alliance's revised Code of Ethics advises journalists to 'Respect private grief and personal privacy', and the 3rd clause of the Australian Press Council's (APC) statement of principles states that news and comment should be presented 'honestly and fairly, and with respect for the privacy and sensibilities of individuals', with knowing that 'the right to privacy should not prevent publication of matters of public record or obvious and significant public interest'.

Journalists have a number of justifications for favouring intrusion over respect for privacy, these are:-

* by entering public life, individuals surrender any claim to personal privacy: accordingly, they are 'fair game' for enquiring journalists;
* journalsits have a duty to report private situations when these details could have relevance to the public performance of an individual or group;
* individual journalists are simply conduits for information, and it is up to the readers/listeners/viewers to decide the limits;
* if it is not illegal, it must be permissible.
most of these journalistic notions derive from the greater good.

Brison (1998) identifies six different accoutns of autonomy in the literature on free speech, these are:-

* freedom from government interference;
* the individual as autonomous moral agent;
* a good consisting of the actual ability to be rationally self-legislating;
* the right to moral independence;
* freedom of both thought and action in the relevant domain;
* the range of goals one is aware of having as real options.
The first two of these are relevant to journalism- the so called 'watchdog' role of the press and its part in keeping citizens free from government interference.

The journalist is a trusted social watchdog by the public who rely on newspapers, magazines and new media to educate and inform them of current events and social revelations. It is becoming increasingly more difficult today to differentiate between gossip and voyeurism and information necessary for the democratic process.

So i leave you this week to ponder on the question: Public v. Private, how far should it go? That's all we have time for this week.Next week i will be discussing Moral mindfields: Legal and ethical dilemma.It will be mind boggling, be sure to miss out!

I'm Shanna Bull.