The Newspaper Industry: How moral is it?

I want to research how moral it is writing a story about somebody, whether they are a celebrity or not, talking paparazzi photos of somebody and how the stories are found. Not only do i want to discover if it is okay to write about somebody when they really don't want it written about them, but i also want to find out if the ways the stories are gotten is morally okay.

My overall opinion before research is that writing untrue stories about somebody and people being constantly hounded my paps (paparazzi) isn't a very nice thing to do. But who is to say these things don't benefit the person whatsoever?

There are many cases which spring to mind when thinking about the morals in the newspaper media, some with bad and good outcomes. Here are a few cases i have looked at in depth:

Rupert Murdoch, The News of the World and it's phone hacking scandal

This story/case was an international scandal and rock many a boat. Rupert Murdoch previously owned 'News corporation', which was a company which then owns 'News International'. News International publishes The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times and previously News of the World.

This year, employees of the News of the World were accused of phone hacking and police bribery - all to get a story. Investigations in 2005-2007 found that the paper's phone hacking activities were limited just to the Royal family, celebrities and politicians. However, in July 2011 it was revealed that a murdered school girl Milly Dowler's phone was hacked into by a journalist when she was missing, making her family have hope that she was still alive. The phone hacker deleted important voicemails that the police may have needed to solve her case. It was also reported the newspaper hacked into deceased soldier's family's phones and the victims of the 7/7 bombings, causing a public outcry against News Corporation and Rupert Murdoch himself.

Big companies such as Ford Motor Company, Virgin Holidays and the Co-operative group have pulled out their advertisements from the News of the World due to the discovered phone hacking scandal. As the scandal was affecting most of the newspaper world, and causing accusation, enquiries and dislike of the newspaper, Rupert Murdoch took it to himself to anounce that the 10th of July issue will be the News of the Worlds last, after 168 years in print.

The scandal as a whole showed the world that journalists and papers would in some circumstances do anything for a story, and that privacy isn't that private.

                                                  

Paparazzi Photo

I have always been quite interested into who benefits the most out of a paparazzi photo of a celebrity or anyone in the public eye. The word 'papparazzi is Italian for 'photojournalist', which is exactly what they do. is it the newspapers who print the photo where the public will see it, the photographers who take the photo or the subject themselves?

The Celebrity

Not everybody who has their photo taken by the paps is necessarily a celebrity, but to make it more understandable lets say that everybody who has their photo taken by the paps is one. The bigger the celeb, the bigger the crowd of paps and fans, making just a walk in the street for the celebrity very difficult. so how does a celebrity benefit from having their photo taken? The idea that bad publicity is good publicity can definitely be applied. More publicity, the celebrity is more noticed and talked about, therefore more people will be interested in what projects they have on. A celebrity may also get free clothes as designers and clothes brands can 'advertise' their clothes on them. Many celebs have complained that the paparazzi never leaves them alone, sometimes leading to contracts. Due to the reputation of paparazzi as a nuisance, some states and countries (particularly within Europe) restrict their activities by passing laws and curfews, and by staging events in which paparazzi are specifically not allowed to take photographs.

The Paparazzi/Photographer

These can either work free lance, selling specific photos to the newspapers and magazines, or they can work for the newspapers and magazines taking photos specifically for them. Recently there has been a rise of photo agencies which are companies who employ photographers to take photos and the company then sells the rights of the photo to the newspapers and magazines. A photo can say a thousand words, therefore can be sold to up to millions of pounds - that is why paparazzi are so competitive to get an exclusive, first photo. Famously the first photo of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt together was sold for reportedly millions. Recently, not only have cameras been used to take photos, they have also been used to film the celebs - because photos can be made from it, you can film the reactions of the celebrities, they can be shown on the television (creating more publicity and more people will see it) and also, the celebrity can speak and it will be recorded.


                                         

The Newspapers
A controversial first photo of a celebrity on the front of a newspaper can sell more of that issue, so, a newspaper would be willing to buy a photo for a lot of money. A photo can be a subject for a story, and also be something which a story can come from.


Here are a few videos of celebrities that have gotten angry at the paps - this is another reason why it benefits the paps to have a video camera (helps with legal reasons also):


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This one shows Helle berry getting understandably angry at the paps after they are taking photos of her child. There are MANY video cameras.

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