This document summarizes key points from a journalism lecture about watchdog and lapdog journalism. Watchdog journalism informs the public about secrets and holds those in power accountable, while lapdog journalism keeps secrets hidden for profit. The lecture discussed the tension between journalism as a public service that champions truth versus a private business. Examples of effective watchdog journalism discussed were the Watergate scandal and WikiLeaks releases, while codes of conduct for protecting lives were debated. Democracy and freedom of speech were also discussed in relation to watchdog journalism.

1. BA Journalism: week 3
DATE: 27/10/2016

2. WATCHDOGS OR LAPDOGS?
HOLDING POWER TO ACCOUNT
◦ In this Thursdays journalism and society lecture I learned the difference between a watchdog and a lapdog.
◦ Watchdog journalism is when the public are informed of secrets and things become more transparent to the
public, they watch to see if the people in power are doing the right thing and hold them accountable for
any wrongdoing.
◦ On the other hand, lapdog journalism is the opposite. Where secrets are kept hidden and there is a business
agenda to make profit instead of telling the truth to the public.
The libertarian theory is the most dominant theory of the media, there are four key functions of the theory
and these are:
◦ Informing the public
◦ Scrutinising the government
◦ Staging a public debate
◦ Expressing public opinion
Some of the expressions of the liberal ideal include ‘the 4th estate’, ‘investigative journalism’ and ‘watchdog
journalism’.

3. KEY POINTS FROM THE LECTURE
◦ There is central tension of what journalism should be. Journalism as a business, concerned with what people
consume in private for pleasure vs. journalism as a public service, the champion of truth, freedom and
democracy.
◦ An example of watchdog journalism is Watergate. This case clearly illustrates holding power to account as it
resulted in the removal of a corrupt president. This case raised the status of journalism, and investigative
reporting in particular.
◦ Watergate shows how important it was that Woodward and Bernstein investigated this case and were led in
their investigation by a Washington insider otherwise the Watergate myth would not have been exposed or
may have taken longer for it to be exposed.
◦ WikiLeaks is also another example of watchdog journalism. Examples include major releases of information
such as in November 2010 when information was released on the Secret State Department.
◦ WikiLeaks is an easy way to release information since anyone can publish information on there at little cost.
Also, huge quantities of information can easily be copied and distributes, instantly and globally.

4. THE SEMINAR AND MY THOUGHTS
◦ A key question in the seminar was: How do you deal with watchdog journalism?
When dealing with watchdog journalism we discussed if there should be some codes and conduct. This is
because you are placing peoples lives in jeopardy. For example, the panama papers is an example of watchdog
journalism and it was a famous case because the public found out that well known leaders and famous people
had accounts which were illegal. A lot of them avoided paying taxes due to it. Some of the people involved
were the children of Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif, actor Jackie Chan, Mark Thatcher, the son of
former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, etc.
Democracy and freedom of speech also came up in the lecture.
Common people believe that they don’t have the power to change what is going on. It poses the question of
whether the level of democracy has gone down or not. In my opinion, since we do live in a liberal country
where there is a democracy we are able to have successful watchdog journalism where things can be exposed
and common people can successfully leak information through websites like WikiLeaks. On the contrary, it is
harder for people to do this in a country where there is no democracy. So although it can be argued that the
level of democracy has gone down because common people feel they don’t have power, there are websites
available where they can expose people and leak information, and this is something which people in countries
where there is a dictatorship, like Saudi Arabia may not be able to do.