The Legal and Ethical Contexts of Local Radio Journalism

In order of Importance…

1. Produce no material likely to lead to hatred or discrimination on the grounds of a person’s age, gender, race, colour, creed, legal status, disability, material status or sexual orientation.

2. Do nothing to intrude into anybody’s private life, grief or distress unless justified by overriding consideration of the public interest.

3. Take no unfair personal advantage of information gained in the course of her/his duties before the information is public knowledge.

4. Strive to ensure information is disseminated is honestly conveyed, accurate and fair.

5. Obtain Material by honest, straightforward and open means, with the exception of investigations that are both overwhelmingly in the public interest and which involve evidence that cannot be obtained by straightforward means.

6. Protect the identity of sources who supply information in confidence and material gathered in the course of his/her work.

7. At all times uphold and defend the principle of media freedom, the right of freedom of expression and the right of the public to be informed.

8. Resist threats or any inducements to influence, distort or suppress information.

9. Differentiate between a fact and an opinion.

10. Not by way of statement, voice or appearance endorse by advertisement any commercial product or service save for the promotion of his/her own work or of the medium by which he/she is employed.

11. Avoid Plagiarism

12. Do his/her utmost to correct harmful inaccuracies.
 

I decided to put ‘Produce no material likely to lead to hatred or discrimination on the grounds of a person’s age, gender, race, colour, creed, legal status, disability, material status or sexual orientation’ as the most important. Producing a story that will discriminate people will not only drive an audience away, it will also be classed as racism. Stories that will affect the audience in an negative way highlights that the journalist is to blame for breaking the legal rules and displaying horrific material, this also  tarnishes the organisation that the journalist is working for, hence I think it is the most important as it leads to a domino effect.

 

 

 Source: OCR Media Studies for AS Third Edition, Julian McDougall