Codes of practise and Ethics

As a Journalist you are expected to follow the below mentioned Codes of Practise in order to produce work of the correct conduct and ethics.
Ofcom- The licensing authority. It is independent of government, the broadcast regulator.

PCC (Press Complaints Commission) for magazines and written publications. 

BBC- editorial guidelines. 

Ofcom is a powerful regulator, PPC is not.

There is currently a on the regulatory codes at the moment due to the Leveson Enquiry. The regulation for written publications is under debate and will be probably overtaken under Leveson’s instruction. Broadcast regulation is not affected by this. 

The cause of this divide originally was phone hacking scandal. It has given us the opportunity to talk about press ethics. The phone hacking dilemma has put journalism in a new spotlight. 

Who guards the guardian? 

Newspaper regulation is in limbo. The press want their own regulator- the IPSO the independent press standards organisation but the government want a royal charter, a statute regulation. For the newspapers this was too much state intervention and no freedom of the press.

The PCC does still exist and it is still being used but it is all about to be replaced. The problem with the PCC was that nobody in the PCC highlighted the issues of phone hacking. This huge ethical scandal went on while the PCC was in operation and therefore it has failed. The problem being with the PCC was that it was a self regulator. This argument is very similar to who polices the police.  

Although broadcast journalism is safe under how it is regulated it is still important to pay attention to how and what things are broadcast. The motive for broadcast journalists to behave ethically is that we represent an organisation and we must ensure the public trusts us. If we treat people properly and we have a good reputation this will give the organisation a better image. If the broadcasters make mistakes the public can turn against watching it.

Examples of ethical transgressions
The documentary about the Queen on BBC One was edited in a way that it was misrepresenting the Queen. The BBC One controller Peter Fincham had to resign from his job. 

Similarly, in 2008 Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross prank phone call scandal on the BBC radio 2. Ended Jonathan Ross's career on the BBC. 

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/oct/27/russell-brand-jonathan-ross-andrew-sachs-calls

The main codes:

·         The PCC- newspapers and magazine 

·         Ofcom- broadcasters

·         BBC- for bbc staff and licence payers. 

·         NUJ- Code of Conduct

What does it matter?

1.       Ethical issues

2.       How far can we go to get a story?

3.       The codes of practice will tell you when it is ok to get a particular story. In

investigative reporting there are ethical issues surrounding secret filming, persistence etc. 

4.       The public interest regarding the story needs to be there and public interest should be taken into account. You may be intruding but you may be raising a public interest issue. 

5.       Under cover investigating, secret filming may provide you a story that is justified by an overriding public interest. 

6.       Circumstances

7.       Motives

Codes provide a benchmark to calibrate your own ethics. 
Reassure our audiences, build the trust. 
E.g. NHS exposure. Someone will complain- this will be your tip off, leading you to investigate. There is an expectation that something is failing. Often these exposures will help things improve. 

The murder of Lee Rigby in Woolwich London contained coverage captured on a mobile phone. Broadcasters are required to warn the viewers of the distressing content, and in this case the broadcasters did so. To show someone's moment of death would be distasteful and it wouldn't be shown on any news programme. 
The watershed (after 9pm) can show more explicit content. 

In broadcast you must be impartial in stand with the Ofcom guidelines. Newspapers can be partial. 

Ofcom powers
-Direction not to repeat programme
-Corrections or findings must be broadcast
-Impose fines- up to 5% of revenue. 
-Revoke broadcast licence 

ITV was fined 5.68 million for phone hoax and the BBC was fined 93,000 for hoax competitions.