The Press and Jade Goody

When Jade Goody was first diagnosed with terminal cervical cancer, the printed media's coverage was less than objective. Here was a woman who had sold her personal life for money ever since she made her moronic mark in Big Brother years previously.

Although Ms. Goody's diagnosis was terrible and her prognosis even worse, I felt somewhat ashamed to be part of such a fickle industry.

The British press, especially the 'red tops' were treating Ms.Goody as the 'People's Princess', some working class hero who stood up in the face of adversity and took on her illness. The reality star's courage and bravery is not in question here. No, rather it is the similarities to Princess Diana that were made which completely appalled me. This woman was not half the woman the Princess of Wales was. FULL STOP. This point is not open to argument.

The sub-editors of papers like the News of the World should be ashamed of themselves. 'Goodbye Princess' their headline the day after her funeral. Only a week previously had one of their columnists lambasted the fickle nature of the printed media for the overly-sympathetic display towards a woman to whom most people regarded as somebody with no discernible talents.

My heart goes out to her family and especially children, but the press needs to look at itself closely and do the professional thing: objectivity is the cornerstone of journalism.

Values and Ethics in Reporting

The field of journalism is awash with various codes of conducts and standard practices to which most professionals adhere. However, some take advantage of the system for personal gain. Look at the use of confidential sources. If "off the record", a source may never be revealed. Controversies like "Jimmy's World" ( a running serial about an 8 year old boy hooked on heroine) deceived the modern press when it turned out that "Jimmy" did not exist. The writer (Janet Cooke) deceived common practice to further her own career.

The use of photos is also a contentious issue. Should editors post pictures of dead bodies? For example, there were pictures available of Princess Diana in her fatal car crash, but night editors thought against the use of these photos as they were deemed to be unacceptable and against the recognised codes of conduct within mainstream print journalism.

Sensationalism within the popular press has been deemed ,by some, as unethical behaviour. In some circles, tabloid media's supposed exaggeration of stories is in breach of journalistic values. However, it can be argued that certain 'sensationalised' pieces have not actually altered the truth, rather the writers have put an exciting spin on stories which were once drab and colourless.

Coverage of Court Stories

The Courts are always places of drama and excitement. However journalists must always be careful about how they cover their stories in regard to who they can name, the crime that's been committed etc.

Sexual offences are generally kept out of the public's knowledge as the story may infringe on the victim's right to anonymity. Rape, molestation and other deviant crimes being heard in court may be known to some journalists but until they receive confirmation that the victim wishes to give up their right to anonymity and only then can they publish the court proceedings.

An example of such behaviour is the recent incest case in the West of Ireland. The mother was never named because her identity would of course lead to the victims of her terrible crimes. However there are some cases, like that of gangland crime, which are encouraged by the public to be printed. It is a case of "name and shame" and most journalists are only too happy to oblige. Ever since the public outcry after the murder of Veronica Guerin, most gangland bosses are afraid to kill off journalists seeking to uncover the truth. In this way the field of journalism not only reports news but can sometimes keep the perpetrators of crime at bay.

Two Different Styles!

Each and every single paper has its own style! Each paper writes in a way which grabs its own selective audience. Although there are times when the styles of certain papers lands them in hot water! The two papers that I have decided to compare and contrast are The Sun and the Irish Independent.

The Irish Sun is undoubtedly the cause of much controversy within the industry of printed media in Ireland. Regardless of the page 3 girls, the Sun seem to use more colloquialisms and damning vocabulary than their broadsheet counterparts. For example, the infamous "Fritzl" case. The Indo ran a very removed but factual and formal view of the controversy. However The Sun ran stories containing words like beast and sicko. Although it is hard to hold back your disgust in the case of the Austrian child rapist, one can assume that there is no place in supposed objective print media for such subjective vocab as beast or sicko.


However one must admit that The Sun uses language like this to draw in their audience. The popular press can be regarded in some circles merely as a form of entertainment and, by jazzing up their stories and sensationalising their pieces with evocative language, they ensure a high circulation while consolidating loyal readership. The Indo, on the other hand, ensures their loyal leadership by straight talking, factual representation of important events.

Analysis of use of photographs in printed media.

The use of photograps in papers has been around ever since the camera has been around. Photographs are not placed there to fill up space (but sometimes are during a slow day), but rather to give the reader a sense of what it was like to be somewhere, or to give the reader first hand imagery of a war zone or a joyous occassion.

However pictures can also raise an ethical eyebrow. What is acceptable? Should you use a picture for sole gain irrespective of who you may hurt. Examples of situations like these include pictures of people who have been murdered, most recently in gangland crime. Pictures of gunshot victims have been available to a lot of editors, but most have refused to print them because of the people they may hurt.


Pictures also hold somewhat political power over the government. For example, the student marches attracted record numbers nearing 15000. These pictures show the public the extent to which the students are willing to fight. It was the same situation for the over 70s "grey army" walking down Kildare Street. Without appropriate pictures, much of the occassion might have been lost on your typical newspaper reader.

U.S. Presidential Elections-Power of Television

So what can I say about the US Presedential Elections? It was a seemingly neverending saga. It all began with with the votes in the caucauses and the primaries the year before. The press seemed to make the elections a tournament based procedure. First there was the semi-finals: Barack Obama versus Hilary Clinton. On the other side there was John McCain and Mike Huckabee. Of course that's when the squabbling started, especaily within the press. Rumours of unrest and internal spats within both Republican and Democratic campaigns were the ideal way of fattening the inside of papers on this two year journey to the White House.

I found the television to be the best form of communicating the election to the public. Of the channels available, I found that Sky News was by far the best channel to watch. It had very good displays in studio detailing where the election would be won and lost. It showed very clearly how the electoral college vote system works, it forecasted how both sides were competing in the swing states and live reporters at the scene added to the huge spectacle. Radio also competed very well during the election campaign and to a lesser extent so did the papers. Yet neither o these 2 mediums could hold a candle to television. Nevertheless channels like Sky News could , nearly in real time, bring you live feeds of where all the drama was unfolding. It was great to watch it all going on in front of your eyes, even if that meant staying awake through the night.

It seems clear to me that the power of the television media was put on full show and the professionalism of a channel like Sky One shone through with fantastic indications of competent and interesting news reports.

Biggest Drug Bust in the State's History! Online Vs Printed Media!

This week I decided to look at the multi-million Euro cocaine haul caught off the south coast of Ireland. Instead of looking just how the papers dealt with it i decided to look at the Internet media as well.

In "Operation Seabight", which involved Gardaí, Customs and the Naval Service, the LE Niamh detained the 18m (60ft) yacht, Dances with Wolves , 257km (160 miles) west of Mizen Head.
A boarding party from the LE Niamh carried out a search of the yacht in an operation late at night and found a large number of packets of cocaine.
Initial estimates suggest that the haul exceeds the 1.5 million tonnes of drugs, worth €440 million, recovered last year from Dunlough Bay near Mizen Head in west Cork.

I believe the papers did a very good job showing the extent of the drugs haul. There were diagrams and tables of facts relating to the haul to be found. These included a map showing where the drugs were sourced and where they were intended to go. It is fair to say that the printed media is limited. Whatever is on the paper is there. There are no other sources of information. This is the complete antithesis to the internet. The internet, especially sites like sky news and the irish times online, offer a myriad of alternate links to further your knowledge in what you are reading. This is the inherent problem with the paper industry and a key factor in the argument that the medium is dying. There always will be more information available online than in the papers. Bring this together with the rise of online "citizen journalists" and it really looks like it's the beginning of the end for the printed media.

Log onto theirishtimes.com and it is clear to see. Breaking news more often than not supplied by AP or Reuters fizzles through onto your computer screens faster than it can be printed. There really is no chance of catching the online industry. Papers have now been forced to promote promote and promote some more to stimulate flagging circulation, becoming more like an advertising Mecca rather than a from of much needed communication.