Murdoch's Newscorp Woes and the Ethics of Journalism

[malasadas.livejournal.com]

Rupert Murdoch's media giant Newscorp is probably best known to Americans as the home of Fox News Channel, a consistent thorn in the side of liberal media consumers since its inception in 1996. But other than being the home of such media personalities as Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, and, until recently, liberal tormentor extraordinaire Glenn Beck, Murdoch owns a vast array of newspapers in the UK, Australia and the United States.



This was discussed recently, in more than one post but I have a different set of questions in mind.

Newscorp has already shut down the tabloid News of the World in the UK as several current and former employees were arrested in a scandal that includes hacking phone accounts of major British politicians and the Royal Family. The scandal, however, is not being contained in the now defunct tabloid and has spread to The Sun and The Sunday Times which are accused of trying to hack email, financial records and medical records of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and of attempting to bride Scotland Yard officers for information on the Royal Family. Former P.M. Brown gave an interview with the BBC where he accused Murdoch's papers of employing criminals to steal personal information. Most distressing to Brown was an incident when he and his wife had just been informed that their young son had cystic fibrosis and were quickly contacted by The Sun for comment on a story they were running revealing his illness. Newscorp was already facing lawsuit for accusations of nepotism, a lawsuit now amended to include accusations that the board is providing no effective oversight of business practices given the continued release of accusations.

The discussion on NPR this morning raised a few interesting points that may get lost in the overall furor that may or may not cross the pond to Murdoch's U.S. holdings. One, there is the question of to what degree this kind of behavior permeates tabloids in the UK that are NOT part of Murdoch's media company. Second, what are the limits on journalists and investigation?

This is actually a lot more complicated than it seems. While some of the continuing accusations are shocking (such as hacking the cell phone of a murdered girl and possibly deleting voice mail messages from the account), it would be hard to argue that if The Sun had hacked P.M. Brown's financial records and found clear evidence of bribery that they would not be hailed for uncovering wrong doing. Instead, they got their hands on a story about the P.M.'s son and are being called bastards.

What evidence should a news outlet already be in possession of BEFORE it engages in undercover surveillance of political and popular figures? And if the UK takes its promise to investigate seriously, just how widespread will we find these kinds of practices within the institution of journalism as a whole?

Comments

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

Bingo.