University Law Media Communication Essay: Public Interest and Ethics

This essay delves into the critical relationship between ethical regulations, legal provisions, and the public interest within the field of media and communication. It explores how professional communicators, including journalists and public relations professionals, are compelled to consider the well-being of the public through adherence to ethical codes and legal frameworks. The essay examines the significance of these regulations in preventing public harm, ensuring responsible information dissemination, and maintaining public trust. The essay emphasizes the importance of considering public interest when sharing or withholding information, as defined by legal acts like the Public Interest Disclosure Act. Furthermore, it provides a detailed case study of the 2008 Mumbai attacks to illustrate the consequences of media failing to adhere to ethical and legal standards, highlighting the need for journalists to exercise restraint and protect sensitive information. The essay also contrasts this with examples of responsible media coverage, such as the 9/11 attacks, and underscores the need for media professionals to balance the public's right to information with the need to protect national security and prevent harm.

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

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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.

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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

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key that too not on the basis of assumptions but facts. PRIA is one such professional entity
that binds all kinds of Public Relation individuals, especially the members so as to work with
standards that are high enough so that the Public Interest is maintained. PRIA or the Public
Relations Institute of Australia has introduced certain standards of professional Competence
and ethical practice abiding by which the members can prevent any kinds of public harm and
work for the welfare of the Public (PRIA, 2019).
When the effect of these individual is concerned, abiding by these certain laws and
regulations helps maintaining the public peace while breaching laws and the ethical standards
in relation with these might result in public tranquillity hence resulting in issues such as
defamation of individuals and misrepresentation. In order to maintain the peace in the general
public these laws and regulations need to be followed. There are various other codes of ethics
and legislations in the states that concern the public welfare and shall be abided by.
A perfect example of media protocols being not followed by the journalists and contradicting
the ethical and legal aspect of their jobs is the 2008 Mumbai Attacks or which is also widely
known by the name of “26/11 Mumbai Bombings”. In India, on 26th November 2008, a bunch
of terrorists attacked the dream city of Mumbai. The firing and bombing continued for three
consecutive days and the way media reported everything was unethical and not as per the
codes of journalism. In cases like these media and journalists specially the ones who are
experienced and know about what needs to be done in what situation and what can be shown
on the national television or in any form reported to the public, while in the case of Taj
bombings all of these ethics and laws were breached on many levels (The Wire, 2019).
Though it is necessary to report what is going on in the country and with full truthfulness, but
again there is a limit to what can be shown on the screen and what shall be reported. Sensitive
information from the crime scenes was lost due to constant reporting, people were killed and

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everything as such was shown on national television. Everything includes bombings and
killing or people, guns being fired and people fleeing, creating a panic throughout the
country. That is again not the way to report any news or no part of journalism allows any
journalist to report live war like situations or open suicide bombings or firing even for that
reason (Afaqs News Bureau, 2019).
As per the Code of Ethics of the All-India Newspaper Editors' Conference it states clearly
that, “Confidences shall always be respected. Professional secrecy must be preserved.” and
also in the said Code of Ethics it is also expressed that “Journalists should observe special
restraint in reports and comments dealing with tensions, likely to lead, or leading to civil
disorder.” which refers to the constraint these journalists have or at least need to have while
reporting the issues as such (Accountable Journalism, 2019). Now in this case study, the
constant live footage from the bombing sites and other gunshot sites would have led to
various secret evidences being disclosed on the national television. As well as it might have
led to people being injured or even in certain cases hurt due to unnecessary gathering
(UNESCO, 2019).
At the site of crime, journalists could be seen lying around or crowding the crime scene when
the terrorists were attacking people. On the social media sites, the reports regarding the time
to time changes in the crime scenes and terrorist attacks could be easily seen by anyone
online. Just by typing in a key word, anyone anywhere could access the brutal pictures of the
attacks going on in the city of Mumbai in India. Families, journalists, anyone anywhere could
see the situation of hotels, buildings and streets on attack. Each and every news channel was
on the run to cover the locations where attacks happened. A chain of cameras revolved for
twenty – four hours coverage by journalists from various news -paper or news agencies in
general. Being a major news story, every individual that related to the news or media or
journalism in general had to say something regarding the attacks or was reporting it live from

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the attack. In fact, the conversations that could be extracted, taking place amongst the
handlers and the terrorists clearly depicts that they were easily able to see them on the news,
guided them accordingly and even encouraged the terrorists to go ahead and complete the
mission in the name of god (Mannathukkaren, 2010).
In the scenarios where there is a risky situation throughout the globe, these journalists face a
lot of criticism and also go through a lot while reporting. Especially, the cases where
situations are quite abrupt or controversial make reporting the cases even more difficult such
as the environment where war can take place at any moment just like the bombings of Aleppo
in Syria or Afghanistan or even terror strikes or even hostage crisis’s such as the infamous
Iran hostage crisis and recent Sydney hostage crisis (Ther Guardian, 2014). Though the
journalists are the ones that suffer the most in such scenarios as they have to survive harsh
conditions and report the truth to the nation. As each and every individual today can easily go
through the news it is so easy for individuals to do so, while the situation surrounding the
journalists at that moment is another story.
Despite the fact that they work hard, journalists do have to remain under a shield of ethics
and legal provisions as they are the ones who are covering the news and the happenings in the
countries or round the world for that matter. Ethics in general are a must for journalists are
there is a certain limit to what they can show on screen as a wide range of people of every age
group can go ahead and see it. There is also a certain limit to what individuals should be
allowed to see as it might instigate anger or aggressive behaviour amongst people or
something that might lead them to believe in something not based upon facts or just
assumptions can also have a very negative impact on the society.
As far as the case of Indian journalism and broadcast related individuals are concerned, they
never followed the ethical aspects of their jobs and hindered the investigations and even went

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quite near to the sites of attacks just to cover a story. While in comparison with the journalists
who have covered international incidents as such or the attacks such as the 9/11 or even the
7/7 bombings of the London, people have been noticed keeping quite a subtle approach
towards it (BBC, 2015). Secret information was protected and no breach of ethical law or
anything as such was done and secrecy was maintained. Media in all followed a particular
protocol so as to avoid any hassle and reporting was also not compromised upon and things
as well as the situation were reported in the manner it should have without compromising the
country’s secrets. The broadcasts made were quite regular and based upon the summary as
provided by the police or the law enforcement officers present at the location. Certain
precautions need to be taken at the initial stages of any such scenarios that declare emergency
in the city or the country. The officials who were well informed of the situation and the
officials administering the whole scenario also provided their own views over the whole
emergency situation that gave a proper insight on what happened and how it happened
(Schultz, 2019). The initial activity that needed to be taken care of included, creating a
perimeter surrounding the whole crime scene or the place where attack took place by the
officials so as to prevent any more harm to take place and take precautionary measures. These
first responders included people mainly like the local law enforcement officers created a
crisis group convenes so that it is easier to get in touch with the families of the people who
have been suffering or are in middle of the attack and also trying to evacuate the scene of
attack at that certain point so that the maximum people can be saved from the sudden crisis
(Norris, 2019). Evacuating maximum people is a necessity in such scenario, involvement of
control room with the information regarding the people involved including the people
deployed so as to make sure of the authority in the area as well as clear and concise
information being properly transmitted through the whole system of authoritative individuals
according to which media is informed and then the media reports the same as required so that

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people know what is happening in the country at the time of emergency and what can be
done to prevent such actions again, this all is a very systematic approach towards dealing
with issues (North et al., 2013).
Here in this case the media is quite aware of what is being dealt with and the seriousness of
the issue and hence hindrance in the operations or the steps taken by authoritative persons is
avoided by not just media professionals or the journalists but also the public surrounding the
attacked scene. In cases where there is a national emergency and specific steps need to be
taken anyhow the co –operation of each and every individual is a very important part. In
scenarios as such ethical as well as legal provisions come into force and a much systematised
way to deal with the urgency in the nation is a better approach to take as it helps the law
enforcement officers to work better and conduct the operation in an efficient manner. Staying
within certain boundaries of ethics and law only helps in conducting the investigation in a
better manner and hence, should be encouraged. The journalists and individuals who on day
to day basis deal with issues as such know better regarding the ethical aspects involved with
the job they are into.

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