Hacking phones and hacking privacy.

News of the World (NOTW) tabloid hacking into phones scandal was revealed by New York Times following a trail towards Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire. Both worked for the paper and had access to anyone’s voice mails using a four-digit PIN number. Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corporation which also owns NOTW and the Sun has shut down NOTW after 168 years. Advertisers were pulling out and NOTW’s circulation dropped rapidly. The invading of privacy with this latest scandal has brought most to a standstill.

There is a fine line between obtaining sufficient information and invasion of privacy. Yet these two are very subjective depending on the knowledge of a person. In this case, I would believe that invading the privacy of people to obtain information results the information to be immoral and untruthful. How far would one go in terms of pursuing more information to achieve higher circulations and higher readership?

Ruben’s swollen face; an eleven year old boy who survived the air crash that occurred in Libya was plastered all over newspaper after the incident had happen. One of the newspapers, De Telegraaf, published a telephone interview which they claim he was on the phone by accident (Tol, 2010). This is similar as phone-hacking as both went overboard in trying to pursue information, invading the privacy of people. Quote Couldry (2006), “The liberal values that underlie any democratic society, those of not harming and respecting others, are kept outside the realm of journalism”. Taking for example racism, if journalism would rule out racism to not harm and respect others, what about the invasion of privacy.

According to Putnis & Petelin (1999), one of the STC Guidelines for Technical Communicators is to “respect the confidentiality of their clients and employers”. In circumstances, witnesses and victims can be deemed as a journalists’ client as they provide information and fulfill the requirement of their daily job. Journalist should uphold that to respect their privacy and not to feed on information that would jeopardize either one’s privacy or confidentiality.

References:

1. Couldry, N 2006, Listening Beyond the Echoes: Media, Ethics and Agency in an Uncertain World, Paradigm Publishers, Boulder.

2. Putnis, P & Petelin, R 1999, Professional Communication: Principles and Application,2^nd edn, Prentice Hall, Sydney.

3. Tol, M.V 2010, Disasters and the Media: How far is too far?, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, viewed 12^th November 2011, < http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/disasters-and-media-how-far-too-far>.