Law Media Communication Assesment Report

University
Ethical
regulations and
legal provisions
relating to the
public interest
How do ethical regulations and legal provisions compel
professional communicators to consider the public interest?
Student Credentials
12/1/2019

Law Media Communication 1
How do ethical regulations and legal provisions compel professional communicators to
consider the public interest?
Professional Communicators are the professional people who deal directly with the public or
communicate with the individuals and especially the public regarding the issues. Especially
people like, journalists, need to be quite aware of the information they share with the public
and not just the journalists but people that are directly or indirectly associated with either
media, legal field or even communication all fall under the same category. (Nordquist,
2018) In this discussion the topics that shall be covered include the legal provisions or even
the ethical regulations or the code of ethics all the professional communicators can talk about
with the general public and it’s not just about communication but also act in accordance with
certain provisions or regulations so that public interest is preserved.
Media plays a very important role in today’s society as it spreads information that is well
researched and ‘can’ be shared with the public. Now the issue that arises is what kind of
information is allowed to be shared or the actions that can be done to prevent public harm.
Certain codes and provisions that have been made or incorporated just to ensure that no
public harm takes place or even in cases where it does take place can be prevented.
Journalists especially need to be quite aware of what they say or talk about as masses of
people listen to them and believe in them. Just for the sole purpose of preventing public harm,
in Australia MEAA has introduced the Journalists Code of Ethics that in itself talks about
certain ethical codes they need to abide by so as to be a journalists (MEAA, 2019). MEAA or
the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance binds the Journalists working for them as well as
the one’s registered with the Fair Work Commission so that they abide by the code of ethics
they have introduced in order to prevent any harm to the individuals who look up to them or
in any way harm the public interest.

Law Media Communication 2
Public interest refers to the well- being of the general public or the action that is taken in
consideration for the public interest refers to an action that shall be taken or to prevent any
general public interest. In order to take a decision of sharing certain information or hide
certain information from public, the major thought that shall be considered is whether it is in
public interest or not. Now the basic idea that better explains the public interest is that, if
certain information is shared or an action is taken the outcome will be helpful to the general
public or not. Public interest as per the Australian Government has been referred to in the
PID Act also known as the Public Interest Disclosure Act, which talks about the disclosures
that can be done or shall be done in the public relating to certain data (Department of
Human Services, 2019).
A legal expert is the one that needs to be quite sure about at least the legal aspects as well as
the ethical regulations that need to be followed as they have quite an upper hand upon the
laws and regulations of the country relating to what is ethical and what is not ethical in
relation to public interest. ‘Law of Lawyering’ is the key to know the responsibilities these
law experts or the lawyers need to follow in order to practice Advocacy in Public Interest.
‘Law in Lawyering’ refer to the legal and ethical obligations the lawyers are bound by or the
responsibilities they need to fulfil such as the professional rules, statutes and the general laws
that they need to consider before enacting anything. Considering these aspects if they are in
public interest or not, taking action accordingly is the key to becoming a Professional
Communicator or professional lawyer (Australian Law Reform Commission, 2010).
People in Public Relations are also the ones that are quite in the centre of the discussion as
they also are the ones that deal with people directly or indirectly and while communicating
with them, they need to be aware of the information they are sharing or the aspects they need
to be careful about so as to prevent public harm. In order to avoid misunderstandings,
misrepresentation of any sorts or even any kind of defamation proper communication is the