An approach to media ethics

Parameter	Definition	Example
Public interest	news reports or media constributions should be of public interest and of some concern to the people who are consuming	Amy Winehouse´s last escape vs. the truth about the cologne disaster
privacy	collides with the parameter of public interest – some people want to know everything about “thier” star but you have to respect the right of informants	Britney Spears – she was “hunted” her whole life and some videos about her were too private and she perished with it. Everyone wanted to know everything.
neutrality	media has to be neutral to be informative – if you want to inform people factual about e.g. an event or an accident you can´t write your own opinion	Sometimes articles are “manipulated” because they have an own opinion in it and they get people to think the same – e.g. articles from the BILD
taste	sometimes reporters use catchy hedlines which are not tasteful only to arouse people´s attention.
truth	Reporters somtimes pimp the aricle or report with some extra information but not everything is true. Sometimes reports are invented and some things are not really proved.	Patrick Swayze´s death – on the 19th May 2009 has been reported Patrick is dead but he died on 14th September 2009