ACC213 - Media Law and Ethics Assignment 1

Assessment Details:

Discuss the relevant ethical and legal issues raised by the four paragraphs o f information below.

Divide your work into 4 paragraphs, numbered, corresponding with the paragraphs (i.e. 1 to 4) but DON’T reproduce these paragraphs on your submission or repeat their wording in yo u r answer. The markers will have this when they mark your work, and Turnitin doesn’t like reproduced content. Use the supplied unit readings and case examples to support your answer.

Make sure you check the Marking Rubric attached to the assignment to see where marks are allocated. You don’t need to assume anything on the facts supplied below. Avoid phrases such as ‘assuming that ...’, or ‘If we assume that...’ All journalists are members of the MEAA. All PR are members of PRIA.

1. Mary Green is the News Director at Channel X and hears that police want public help to find a missing woman. She sends a camera crew and reporter Jane Jones out to her family home after finding the address in the public phone directory. The police PR Officer gave the wife and mother’s name to the media, along with the name of the suburb where she lives with her husband and adult son. Police also gave all media outlets a headshot photo they obtained from the husband.

2. The Channel X crew is first to get to the address, and sets up their camera across the road from the house, filming the family as they arrive and leave. The reporter Jane Jones knocks on the door but the woman’s husband tells her to get off the property. Jane and the crew stand on the footpath and film their story with the front door in the background. By then Channels Y and Z have also arrived, with Channel Y setting up next to Channel X. Channel Z’s camera person climbs a tree a few metres behind them and films the house from there. Their reporter Steve Slick Tweets from the scene, “Is Melbourne’s latest missing mum a murder victim? Watch Z news tonight. Channels X, Y and Z all lead their main news programs that night with the story, using footage from the street, the headshot photo, and details from police PR about the woman having gone for a walk the day before and her family appealing for help when she failed to return.

3. When the woman’s body is found next to a log in a national park outside Melbourne, Channels X, Y a n d Z along with Daily Newspaper and Radio 3SP upload the news onto their websites. All stories say the police are now investigating the woman’s murder. No one has been arrested or charged with any crime yet. Radio 3SP’s morning talkback show host Ray Rant tells listeners that “Police always look to the husband. If this guy isn’t a wife killer, he’s got a strange way of showing it.” While Channels X and Z return to the family home, Channels Y and Z, along with the Daily Newspaper and Radio 3SP decide to wait for the police investigation to progress further.

4. A month later, police arrest the husband and charge him with murder. He appears in court the next day. Media outside the court wait for the husband to walk outside after being released on bail. The husband’s lawyer applied for an injunction against any further comments about the accused on social media and the court granted it. Only the Daily Newspaper had a reporter in court for the entire hearing of the husband’s not guilty plea and injunction application. TV news bulletins that night report that there is a not guilty plea in the wife killing case. Channel X’s report by Jane Jones says the husband has a prior conviction for assault. Jane also uploads the transcript of her story to their Facebook page, along with footage from outside the court. No one monitors the Channel X page comments overnight.