Public Interest In The Media

Analyse whether the concept of the ‘public interest’ provides journalists with the right to invade the privacy of those in the public eye.

It goes without saying that journalists will go to great lengths to deliver a news story, even if that does include the invasion of privacy. As secrecy and privacy become things of the past, journalists sometimes behave unethically ("As secrecy and privacy…", 2011). For those in the public eye, they have to assume that everything they do or say will eventually become available in the public domain ("As secrecy and privacy…", 2011). 'Public interest’ is such a broad concept and there does not seem to be a firm definition of the term, although it is widely used as a justification for a journalist's purpose and methods. According to the media industry, public interest involves matters that affect a considerable amount of people.

The BBC's Editorial Guidelines state that 'public interest' includes the exposure of crime, anti-social behaviour, corruption and other aspects concerning the public ("Section 7: Privacy", 2014). The only problem with the BBC's approach is that it only gives examples and doesn't start with a definition or a set of principles ("Journalists need a workable definition", 2012). There is a vast amount of information that can be deemed as less important, yet still a great interest to members of the public, such as celebrity coverage (Morrison & Svennevig, 2012). Over the years, the media industry have become aware of the fact that audiences look for more than what is defined as public interest, so journalists are crossing boundaries to maximise their audiences (Morrison & Svennevig, 2012). In most cases, journalists have claimed 'public interest' in defence of actions tha...

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...rge a journalist with an offence that is linked to revealing an important story for public interest ("Journalists can break the law", 2013).

Evidently, the general public believe that the information shared by the media is very important as it promotes well being and identifies wrong doing. In some ways, the media possesses a guardian role as it keeps people in the know. However, individuals' privacy can be intruded - even if journalists adamantly say that it is for the greater good - it is still classed as unacceptable in most cases. Any investigative journalist must face the reality that their work could end up having to be defended in a court of law. They must realise that they operate within the law and at no point are they ever above it. No editor can give a journalist working on an investigation that they have the right to breach ethical and legal boundaries.