News of the World

Today in class, October 13, I will be discussing the first amendment and ethical journalism. Those two important factors in journalism was disregarded by News of the World in the summer of 2o11. I will discuss the importance of the first amendment and ethics, and how the two elements were disregarded by News of the World.

The beginning of my presentation will define the first amendment. I want the audience to understand that the first amendment in journalism is basically a way we as the people are allowed to obtain different sources of news, through different outlets. The first amendment allows journalist to express their own opinions without government intervention. This makes it more accessible to create journalism, which holds thousands of opinions, to be shared and discussed amongst each other.

The second thing I will be defining is ethical journalism. Ethical journalism is one which ethical standards and codes are formed by the credibility for media organizations that can affect their success at all levels. Ethical journalism is the acknowledgment of creating stories by hard work and honesty which most journalist choose to follow. The main focus of ethical journalism I will be acknowledging in my presentation is not breaking the law to create a story the other competitors in the newspaper industry have not come up with.

I will then be discussing the case of News of the World. News of the World hacked into innocent civilians phones all throughout England. They damaged a missing persons case by hacking into the girl's phone who had been missing and deleting voicemails that could have helped the police solve the missing persons case. The unethical journalist was accused of hacking into other unlawful phones ranging from people of the government, celebrities, royalty, and innocent bystanders. The owner of the newspaper is a billionaire mogul Rupert Murdoch. He owns many news corporations in the UK and also in the United States. His involvement stemmed from not having control over the situation at hand, and willingly knowing what was going on.

I will show a clip of the crime accused by News of the World by the Washington post journalist. This clip will help me demonstrate the relevance this case holds in the newspaper industry. I will conclude with discussion questions which reflect the ways News of the World dishonored ethical journalism, and how it affects journalism in today's society. The presentation will be interesting to participate in because of how the violation of privacy was breached, and how it could easily be done in the media industry today.