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Re: [OM] Re: [OT] News media practices

Subject: Re: [OM] Re: [OT] News media practices
From: Andrew Fildes <afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2001 16:41:00 +1100
Lex wrote -
>Codes of conduct and ethics *do* exist for journalists.  And, as should be
>the case with most such standards, compliance is voluntary in the United
>States.
>
>An American journalism colleague of mine studied and wrote her thesis in
>England, where she contrasted the practice of journalism with that of the
>U.S.  As a specific example she chose an incident several years ago in
>England in which the government censored news reports about tainted milk,
>which led to untold numbers of uninformed persons being poisoned - all in
>the interest of protecting the dairy industry, the economy and, of course,
>the public from "panic".

As I remember, the British Government uses a 'D' Notice on some stories - I
think you aren't actually forbidden from publishing but if you do, you'll
never get another word from official sources. A significant threat which is
used more informally elsewhere and quite effectively by police forces for
instance - "print it and no cop will ever speak to you again."  Then, most
censorship is informal, voluntary and structural - we're not even aware of
it.
Oh, and Australian tabloids aren't as sensational as the British type,
especially since the 'Truth' folded - or even the US yellow press (if the
London Sun and the National Enquirer can be regarded as newspapers...)
As for good taste - what if the Daily News had refused to use WeeGee on
those grounds...
Andrew



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