1. Legal & Ethical Issues in News

2. Anyone can sue...
Tort -- a wrong other than breach of contract for which an injured party is able to bring a lawsuit against the person who injured him/her
Civil Law vs. criminal law
Time & Money
Lose Case, Win Appeal

3. Lawsuit process Complaint and response Must respond
Deny everything, move to dismiss
Discovery (interrogatories, depositions)
Set trial date / settle out of court
Trial (which court jurisdiction?)
Appeal

4. LIBEL
Libel = false report that damages the reputation of an individual
Elements needed to prove libel:
False, presented as fact
Publication
Identification
Defamation (reputation, not character)
Fault
Negligence
Actual Malice

5. LIBEL Defenses against Libel—U.S. Truth Privilege
Fair Comment & Criticism

6. PRIVACY Invasion of Privacy - 4 types: False Light
Publishing private facts
Appropriation
Intrusion

7. False Light
Although not recognized in Texas, ______ is when content of a story creates a false impression of someone they have no connection with and that harms them.

8. Limited Invitation
NOTE THIS EXAMPLE:  Restaurant lawsuit against CBS station-->"The end result? Broadcast journalists can photograph in public places, but if their behavior becomes overly intrusive, they also can find themselves in court.” 
This is an example of Limited Invitation and Private Property (trespass).

9. Access to information Free Press-Fair Trial Shield Laws
Balance between news coverage hype and a fair trial in the courtroom
Cameras in the courtroom introduced in 1965; two-thirds of states allowed by 1991
Presumptively open
Shield Laws
State laws that protect reporters from naming anonymous sources for police investigations
Freedom of information
State and federal laws give citizens and journalists the right to view government documents
Open meetings
U.S. Patriot Act 2001 has taken away access rights to many federal, state documents
HIPPA 1996 has complicated access to health information that is generally public

10. Access to information Anti-SLAPP legislation Limited Invitation
Apparent Authority
Trespass
Police orders
Public vs. private property
Designated Public Forum
Inaccessible public property
Private property
(see outline link)

11. News Ethics
RTV 440

12. As such discussion implies, law and ethics are intertwined.
Often, unethical activities also are illegal.
Ethics is a branch of philosophy, not of law, and the distinction between the two is clear.
Ethics is / are the rules of living and conduct that you impose on yourself, or that your profession strongly suggests you should impose on yourself, and few enforceable penalties exist.
Definition of Ethics

13. Many ethical problems that reporters encounter come from knowing the competition is in head-to-head combat—and pushing hard In their zeal to be first with the best story.
Some reporters overstep the boundaries that define ethical behavior.
Sometimes not about deadline but about just getting attention as getting a great story.
Effect of Competition

14. In the 1980s a third of U.S. citizens believed news reports were often inaccurate.
In 2000 that number jumped to almost two-thirds of those polled.
Belief that the media try to portray their coverage as fair; but has a slant – either toward a liberal or conservative bias.
Effect of Competition

15. Context of an ethical decision
Moral agents –communicators with a particular motive commits an act –either verbal of non-verbal – within a specific context directed at a particular individual or audience
Ethical decisions are always made within a specific context
Evaluation of the ethical decision requires examining the moral agent’s motives
Context of an ethical decision

16. Ethics training is a process of instilling moral values and attitudes
Values: building blocks of attitudes—the learned emotional intellectual and behavioral responses to persons, things and events.
Three components of attitudes:
affective—the emotional side
cognitive—the intellectual side
behavioral—individual’s predisposition to respond
Sources of ethical development: parents, peer groups, role models, societal institutions
Ethics training

17. Socialization--the process by which all these introduce the individual to the conventions and norms of a given society.
Your ethics choices are based on your socialization.
Codes of Ethics – enforcement? How can they be enforced?
 Which gives us more freedom in our society—law or ethics?
There is no absence of ideology 
Ethics training

18. Situational -- The practice of judging a situation based on the good that will likely come from a particular course of action
Judeo-Christian—says you live up to absolute standards of conduct because the actions are good, not because of consequences
Utilitarianism—create the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.
Egalitarianism—the notion that individuals should be treated equally in terms of rights and responsibilities—
Ethics theories

19. Ethics theories Many others…
Overall, some are duty based—deontological
some are consequence based—teleological
You’re driving on the freeway and the speed limit is 75…
You’re in a state where there is no enforcement outside city limits…
Ethics theories

20. Examples / cases …

21. Image Manipulation

22. You are researching an investigative report about a palm reader who is said to con elderly people out of their life savings. You send a colleague in to the palm reader at her place of business and she tells them to get lost.
So -- you decide to visit with a hidden camera to see how she answers questions not knowing you’re a reporter.
Hidden camera

23. You hear that someone is flagging down elderly people in RVs coming through down and telling them there’s smoke coming from under their RV, then they go under and squirt oil. They offer to do a quick repair.
You set up a sting with a hidden camera.
Hidden camera

24. An emotionally disturbed man holds hostages inside a local bar
An emotionally disturbed man holds hostages inside a local bar. He says he’ll kill one of the hostages unless he can broadcast a message to his wife.
Police ask you to loan them your video camera so two of their officers can pose as a reporter–photographer crew to gain entry to the bar.
Hostage sitution

25. To show how easy it is for minors to buy liquor, you send a seventeen-year-old minor into a couple of liquor stores, record video of the purchases through the store windows with a long lens from a van across the street, then walk into both stores, camera rolling, to interview the clerks. The clerks protest that you are guilty of entrapment and ambush journalism
Ambush journalism

26. You’re producing a half-hour special on drug use in your city and have learned the address of a drug dealer. You go to the house, but no one answers when you knock on the door. You then notice that a side door is standing open. You determine the house is vacant. Will you go inside to check out the place or will you not enter the house?
Trespass

27. It’s the same drug house but you hear the Commerce police are doing a drug bust. They tell you where to set up. When police arrive and set up their perimeter, you ask the sergeant if you can go in with them as they enter the house, so you can get the fleeting video. Will you go in?
Apparent authority

28. You’re friends with a local concert promoter
You’re friends with a local concert promoter. He gives you backstage passes for night two of the big concert to come as a fan, asking you to come night one as a reporter to cover this concert and others he has upcoming. Will you accept the gift?
Accepting gifts

29. You attend a fund-raiser that has a free buffet for all attendees, who have donated money to be at the event and who are there bidding on auction items. During the meal, before it’s time to get shots of the auction, you ask the event host if it’s okay to have something to eat. Should you?
Accepting gifts

30. Splash Kingdom sends you a Video News Release – a complete PKG that tells about their Grand Opening in town. It’s a slow news day. Should you run the story as a regular news story within your newscast?
Furnished news -- VNRs

31. A local bar and club is cooperating with the TV station you work for to do a special about drinking and driving. The assignment editor gives you the story.
Your religious views prevent you from using alcohol or condoning or promoting its use, so you ask not to cover the story. You’re told it’s a legitimate story, to cover it or you’re fired.
Personal ethics

32. Others Carla calls 9-1-1 Tower Jumper
Freeway police chase and shootout
Airport gate access – security
Suicide attempt on the overpass
Body parts on the freeway ###
Others