Introduction

The news editor of Key 103 has asked for a guide on news values and current attitudes towards ethics and morals in journalism You will continue with your previous blog on news production with further blog posts on;

•     Legal and Regulatory Constraints
•     Ethics and News Values

Legal and Regulatory Constraints

Handling of Stories Involving Minors

The BBC guidelines state that they "ensure the physical and emotional welfare and the dignity of children and young people is protected during the making and broadcast of our content, irrespective of any consent given by them or by a parent, guardian or other person acting in loco parentis. Their interests and safety must take priority over any editorial requirement." The Ofcom say that the purpose of the guidelines is to ensure that people under the age of eighteen are protected. Within the guidelines it states that certain news stories should be scheduled appropriately judged by the nature of the content, the age range of children in the audience, the nature of the station, the time of day and the start to finish time of the programme.

When putting together a news story that will be broadcasted across a specific radio, there are legal checks to take into consideration. For example if a story includes someone that has committed a crime and they’re under the age of 18, their names are not allowed to be told.

Contempt of Court

The contempt of court is the offense of going against or being disrespectful towards a court of law and its officers. For example the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror was fined £10,000 each and was ordered to pay £25,000 apiece in costs for breaching contempt of court laws with their coverage of Levi Bellfield’s conviction for the abduction and murder of Milly Dowler. The articles in both newspapers contained background information about the case which the high court said went further than what the jury had been told in the court.  

Libel and Defamation

Libel and defamation is saying or writing something about someone that is false and damages their reputation. For example The Sun newspaper published an article that Cameron Diaz had an affair with one of her friends, Shane Nickerson. The article also had contained a hardly recognisable image that caused damage to both relationships. Cameron Diaz sued The Sun for defamation. Also another case is that Robin Williams sued his celebrity look alike who was pretending to be the actual Robin Williams. This imposter was deceiving charities under name which causes serious damage to his reputation.

Coverage of Elections

The principle of this is to ensure that the communications act and other guidelines that relates to broadcasting on elections and referendums are applied at the time of the elections and referendums. This basically means that at the time elections, news reporters give their opinion of be biased about a certain party. In the BBC guidelines it states that "On polling day the BBC, in common with other broadcasters, will cease to report campaigns from 06.00 until the polls close. Coverage will be restricted to uncontroversial factual accounts, such as the appearance of politicians at polling stations or the weather. Subjects which have been at issue or part of the campaign, or other controversial matters relating to the election, must not receive coverage on polling day, to ensure that nothing in the BBC's output can be construed as influencing the ballot while the polls are open."

Official Secrets Act

It is an offense for anyone to disclose certain information, documents or other articles relating to security or intelligence. For example with the James Bulger case, the people who tortured and murder the young boy were put under witness protection and given new names. If anyone told the names of the killers, it would be breaching the contract of the official secrets act. A hacker names Glenn Mulcaire faces prosecution for obtaining the identities of four notorious offenders, one of them being Robert Thompson which is one of the killers of James Bulger.

Ethics and News Values

For one of the news stories I will be analysing is a public interest article. This story is about Jimmy Saville a TV presenter in the past, the man who sexually abused multiple young children. A woman now in her 40’s, has said that at the age of 8 she was a victim of his Jimmy Saville’s abuse. It happened as she lay in Stoke Mandeville Hospital after she had undergone surgery for cancer, which left her with 144 stitches across the lower part of her body. She had raised complaints with a ward sister at the time and was told to ‘Be quiet, silly girls. Do you realise how much he has done for the hospital?’

This story is in interest of the national public, this is because he was a TV and Radio presenter and was once a British icon. Also because more and more cases are being broadcasted, people will want to know and deserve to know what this man did as it was such a large case and there are a lot of questions people want answers to. 

The immediacy of this story is quite important because it is a very serious case and should be broadcasted on TV and radio. Most broadcasting companies do have immediacy now as they can interrupt a TV show with a banner across the screen informing the viewers with the news story. Another way to do this is on the radio at the times the news programme plays, or if it is a very serious story the show can be stopped.

There are a few follow up stories angles from this story, for example more stories on sexual abuse cases not just to do with Jimmy Saville but also other criminals that maybe the audience don’t know about. Another story could be to do with the families of the victims doing interviews about the incident.

When getting audio to include in the news story, it is quite difficult when trying to protect the victim if they are either a minor or just don’t want to be named. It would be possible to get an interview from the victim or criminals family but the reporter must be very careful to protect the identity otherwise this is breaching certain contracts. It is also very limited when trying to get audio from the criminal as they’re either in prison or like Jimmy Saville, have passed away.

This story is both human and public interest as it is a serious case and a lot of people want answers and like I have said previously he was well looked up to, he was an icon for others.

 The second news story I am analysing also a public interest and also very serious. This article is about a 16 year old girl Rebecca Watts, from Bristol (St. George’s area). She was reported as missing when she didn't return home from going to visit her boyfriend. Her father led a search with hundreds of neighbors to help find her or any clues of her whereabouts.

Just like the previous story, TV and radio broadcasters can add a banner on a TV programme or stop a radio show to inform people about the story. This is immediacy and will ensure people are aware of this serious story. For example if more people find out about this there will be more chance of finding any clues about Rebecca. Also other broadcasting companies could put this out on social media sites at any time in the day.

There are a few follow up angles to go from when broadcasting this story, for example it could help uncover other stories about missing children. Also their families will be interviewed and could create a radio quick audio clip that would be broadcasted to try and contact Rebecca in case she is listening.

There will be quite a lot of available audio because her family, friends and neighbors will be being interviewed to ensure as many people as possible are informed. Her name isn't being protected and it is a vital part of information that the public need to know to help find her.

This story is human and public interest as it is very serious and every person that sees or hear about it could have some information about the missing girl.