Media law and ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Media law and ethics - Essay Example In today’s modern world where there is the rule of information, Media holds a huge responsibility in the aspect of State politics, culture and economics. The role of media cannot be separated from masses living out in a multi-cultural system. In UK, where media holds a distinctive position, have a close relationship with customs of the State. Media which exercise the right of freedom of speech, uncovers all the special events taking place in the general public, in the parliament or in the secretariat office (Kieran, 1998). It automatically becomes the responsibility of journalism and journalists to deliver the right message and right information to the public, in order to avoid any misinterpretation or create big misunderstandings. The role of media in UK has always remained under criticism, as there had been events in the past which portrayed the negative image of journalism and journalist’s rule in the region. There had been stories which brought curiosity into the pu blic (Kieran, 1998). Princess Diana before her death had been a continuous target for media intrusion in her life to which she confronted to the British press that she wanted privacy in her private life of her sons and herself. The press was anxious to take pictures of Princess Diana with Dodi Fayed who was the son of Mohammad Fayed, a wealthy owner of Harrods. Princess of Wales had claimed before that she had been harassed by freelance photographers who would sell photographs to media and then they would leak their picture which was clear intrusion in her private life. Even after the divorce from Prince of Wales, Princess Diana did that entire she could do to appeal from journalist to leave her and her children alone to get along with their lives. Princess Diana was so irritated with journalists’ intrusion that she jumped out of the car and took the ignition key from the journalist bike from preventing them from following. Even in the night when Princess Diana died, the reas on for her death was the chasing of the media journalist of her car. The presence of Paparazzi in the place of the incident and tried to take photographs of Princes Diana raised concerns over privacy laws and freedom for press in Great Britain (Crook, 2010). The case of Milly Dowler, a thirteen year old girl, who got kidnapped and murdered, is one of the main incidents which can never be forgotten. The story raises a lot of questions that never had been answered by the journalism’s community in the true essence (Peck, 2010). An investigation made by the Surrey police in 2002, reported strict involvements of journalists in the murder of the 13 year old girl, Milly Dowler. After Dowler’s disappearance, her phone got hacked, and nobody knew where the girl was and she was not even answering the phone (Leigh, 2012). News of the World Journalists became part of the story, when Surrey Police identified them as distracters of the ongoing investigation. There were many journali sts who were found guilty on the hacking of Dowler’s phone and the deletion of instant voicemail messages (Get Surrey, 2012). It brought a serious questioning on the face of media of that time and still today has been set as a weird example for the rest of the journalism community (Leigh, 2012). The deliverance of