Invasion of Privacy

Secondly, I have chosen an invasion of privacy story to look at. This will be the phone hacking scandal of 2006/07. Voicemail messages were intercepted by the News of the World and a Private Investigator. This of course caused outrage amongst the public and people involved. A lot of people that had been in the public eye since then also had to question whether their phones had too been hacked when the Guardian reported that the News of the World had hacked the murdered school girl Milly Dowler’s phone. 

Rightly so, the family of Milly Dowler were upset and angry by the situation, after having found out that their daughters phone and privacy had been invaded, and there was nothing that she could do about it. Therefore it was a story of priority, and caused uproar. 

It then worsened as the police found out that many other phones had been hacked, including those of celebrities, Prime Ministers and those that had been murdered. 

This story wasn’t that big at first, it was only second page news when it was discovered, it was only the nation found out that it starting hitting the headlines and breaking news stories were created. However it was very big online, on websites such as the Daily Mail which is always updated with new news stories very quickly, and social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook also helped spread the news. This is story immediacy. 

Follow up stories then came out because the public started wondering, if the newspapers had hacked the phones of those in the public eye, whats to stop them hacking theirs? 

This of course sparked panic and paranoia, with everyone questioning the News of the World and their motives. Celebrities also got involved which helped with popularising the story because fans of the celebs will share the stories they tell. 

This story was huge in Britain, with the News of the World being a British Newspaper. There was a big need for availability of audio. The Prime Minister actually released a statement saying the whole situation was “Truly dreadful.”
A lot of celebrities also gave statements, like Hugh Grant who quotes things such as “Toxic, Bullying and Blackmail.” These statements would trigger emotions in the public as they know who these people are, almost making the story more personal to them. 

Radio stations all have different news room policies. Some stations will feel more strongly about the ratings that they are getting, rather than who they are going to offend or upset when they release the stories. Stations like Radio 1 and Key 103 would broadcast a story like this because of their target audience being the generation that are more accustomed to using their mobile phones. 

I feel that this story is a public interest one because everyday could of just as easily had their phones hacked. However it isn’t a story that we need to know about, as it’s not likely that we did have our phones hacked. Also the older generation may not be as interested in the story as mobile phones aren’t as popular amongst them so it doesn’t seem to effect them as much. 

Overall I think that the media have definitely gone a step to far with the phone hacking. A mobile phone is there for private use, and for someone to invade that is disgusting. 

Also, the thought of someone going through your phone once you have died, like in the case of Milly Dowler, is horrible. She is not here to say what she thinks on the situation so the News of the World have been very cowardly in this instance.  

Legal and Regulatory Constraints

There are many different legal and regulatory constrains that broadcasters must abide by. I have stated and explained a few below:

Handling of stories involving minors - OFCOM have rules in place when dealing with children in the media. They will never give out the surname or the whereabouts of the minor involved for safety precautions. They will also have to have consent of a parent or guardian over the age of 18 has to be given also, if they're under 18 then the induvidual cannot be questioned. This same rule applies to vunerable people, the traumatised or mentally ill. There are a set of rules for people under 16, and another for those under 18, they are both very similar. People under 18 also have to be protected. Radio stations must ensure that they broadcast the news as suitable times. For example if there is a story wheras a minor has been attacked, this news would be broadcasted at dinner time, or later on at night when children will most likely not be listening, and not at a time such as breakfast, or on 3pm when they're on their way home from school.
They have to realise that children's mental and physical states are what need to be looked out for, therefore they need to be protected against harm.
If a child is in the news due to fame, for example, starring in a film or being on a reality show, they still have to be protected. They must not be subject to anything without consent, such as violence, dangerous behaviour and suicide, exorcism, the paranormal or hypnotic techniques.
An example of protecting a child from the public eye is the news story of the Rochdale paedophile grooming gang. The victim who came forward and gave evidence to the crime is never mentioned in the press.
An example of protecting a child is the Rochdale Peadophile story. They were a grooming gang who targeted young girls. one of these girls came forwards and sent the gang down. The girl in the story does not have her name mentioned - this is to protect her idenity from the press and public eye.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9253016/Rochdale-grooming-trial-Asian-grooming-gangs-the-uncomfortable-issue.html - this link gives information on the story.
Contempt of Court: This is a court order which says that a person or organisation has been disrespectful or disobeyed the courts authority. The judge is able to impose this if a person is disrupting this - they can also charge a fine or give a jail sentence to people found guilty of contempt in court as it still has to be fair. An example of contempt of court is revealing somebodies identity that was supposed to be protected by the courts. Some celebrities have taken out super injunctions to prevent the press from publishing stories about them.
When a super injunction has been given this would mean that the judge felt that the individual involved should have their privacy protected. If a news paper then goes ahead and writes a story involving the individual, the they could be said to be in contempt of court.
In May 2011 The Sunday Herald (a Scottish newspaper) published that Ryan Giggs was alleged to have had an affair with Imogen Thomas. The editor, Richard Walker, however stated that the injunction was not set in place in Scotland, the rules only applied in England and Wales.

Libel and Defamation: Libel is where something is written about a person which is false and damaging. It is a form of defamation. Defamation is saying or writing something that is not true and damages their reputation. For example Lord McAlpine has accused Sally Bercow of libel. He claims that Bercow falsely linked him to sexual assault of a child allegations through tweets on Twitter.
Here is a link to the full story on the subject http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/apr/16/lord-mcalpine-libel-sally-bercow

Coverage of Elections: With elections being a very serious matter, it is extremely important for any coverage of it to be done fairly and without being bias as this could sway peoples decisions on the way that they are going to be voting. If there is a complaint about the coverage then this has to be dealt with as soon as is possible and in a professional way as it needs to be sorted before too much is out in the open to the public.


Official Secrets act: This in an act which is used to protect governement secrets. If anything got out that wasn't supposed too, then it could cause serious things to happen. If anyone is found to be leaking secrets then they could face upto 14 years in jail. It is illegal for a person to collect, record or publish information which could help the enemy.
An example of a offical secrets case is when the Guardian published information about the phone hacking scandel. Corrupted police handed files over to the gurdian revealing who told them that the murdered Milley Dowler's phone had been hacked. Here is the full story http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2038406/Met-uses-Official-Secrets-Act-force-Guardian-reveal-source-hacking-stories.html

Introducion

In this blog I will be analysing the legal and regulatory constraints in radio and news production. I will also look at the ethics and news values when producing radio news.