The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) created guidelines to prevent misrepresentation and ensure factual, unbiased reporting. The NUJ guidelines address sensitive topics like terrorism, race, and disability. Journalists who are NUJ members must follow the guidelines and NUJ code of practice when writing. The code aims to uphold media freedom and prevent harmful, inaccurate, unfair or discriminatory information. It also protects journalists' sources and allows them to refuse assignments that breach the code.

1. Task 10
Emily Monsey

2. Social & Cultural Awareness
It is common for journalists to write about large groups of people and categorize these people to their readers to give them
information, regardless of whether they have first hand experience or not or know anything about these people. To the
readers that haven’t had any prior experience or knowledge of the people the journalist is referring to can end up with an
opinion that is purely from the article they have read due to the influence some writers have on their readers. Due to this,
journalists have to ensure that their writing is appropriate and follows the guidelines in which they have to follow to avoid
offence or controversy. Their writing must not include any biased opinions that could potentially cause upset and they also
have to present the people they are talking about in an honest and helpful way rather than only including their own opinions
and most likely offending people. The national union of journalists created their own guidelines as a result of a lot of
misrepresentation of certain groups, and in order to stop this from happening they have made a set of rules and ways of
writing about these people or topics. If a journalist was to write an entire article using their own opinions with no factual
evidence to back it up, it would result in many complaints and also risk of upset from the readers. Due to the massive
amount of following some of the newspapers and magazines have, it is even more essential for the journalists to ensure they
aren’t creating an article that could easily sway someones opinion on something that could be easily offensive or untrue in
any way. In news reporting this is even more crucial due to the large and viewership that news programmes can have, this
means that all of the news has to be factual and in some cases not all information can be revealed, such as with crime
investigations many of the suspects or victims cannot be named due to law reasons and this is essential that journalists
respect this and stick to the guidelines that they have been given.

3. NUJ- The National Union of
Journalists
The National Union of Journalists are a group that support journalists and their writing by use of guidelines and rules set by
them which can help journalists when writing and other areas of their job if they are uncomfortable writing about a
particular topic for example. The NUJ are also the reason that journalists stick to writing factually as they created a set of
rules that journalists must abide by if they are a part of this union. The guidelines were created as a result of many disputes
of news not being factual and honest, and these guidelines now mean that all news is appropriate and suitable with the
correct language and way of explaining things without creating offence for their readers or listeners. Without use of the
NUJ journalists can struggle with their writing which can lead to writing about something in an inappropriate way and can
then result to damaging the publication the writer works for. The NUJ created guidelines for the reporting of; Terrorism,
Race, Asylum or Immigration, HIV, Age, Disability and Suicide.
As all of these topics or subject areas could quite easily cause offence or controversy the union set up rules and guidelines
that journalists should follow when discussing them. They basically help to explain a story or situation in a way that can be
seen as useful and informative to whoever is reading/watching or listening which can also help to avoid potential lawsuits
as many cases have resorted to this regarding improper language or biased opinions being used in articles.
Do to the journalists being responsible for what they are writing and also the newspaper or magazines being in jeopardy if
anything was to be released that caused offence/controversy the NUJ also supply a hotline for the journalists part of the
union so if they are reporting on anything that could be seen as difficult to talk about in a respectful and unbiased way they
are then able to ask people working for the union to ensure their writing is appropriate and suitable for the subject avoiding
them being the cause of any upset. The NUJ code also includes a ‘conscience clause’ which basically means that if a
journalist has been given something to report on and they personally feel they can’t for any number of reasons or maybe
just don’t feel it’s something they believe in or support they can refuse to write about it to the editor or whoever has asked
them. So anything that is in breach of the code means the journalist can be free to not write the article if they are a member
of the union and feel it is inappropriate. If the journalist then does decide to not write it, they will then have the support of
the union, as long as it is in breach of the code set by the NUJ. The union also has a code of practice, in which journalists
follow and governs the way that they should work. The members of the union are expected to follow these 12 rules when
writing which are;

4. 1. At all times upholds and defends the principle of media freedom, the right of freedom of expression and the right of the
public to be informed.
2. Strives to ensure that information disseminated is honestly conveyed, accurate and fair.
3. Does her/his utmost to correct harmful inaccuracies.
4. Differentiates between fact and opinion.
5. Obtains material by honest, straightforward and open means, with the exception of investigations that are both
overwhelmingly in the public interest and which involve evidence that cannot be obtained by straightforward means.
6. Does nothing to intrude into anybody’s private life, grief or distress unless justified by overriding consideration of the
public interest.
7. Protects the identity of sources who supply information in confidence and material gathered in the course of her/his work.
8. Resists threats or any other inducements to influence, distort or suppress information and takes no unfair personal
advantage of information gained in the course of her/his duties before the information is public knowledge.
9. Produces no material likely to lead to hatred or discrimination on the grounds of a person’s age, gender, race, colour, creed,
legal status, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation.
10. Does not by way of statement, voice or appearance endorse by advertisement any commercial product or service save for
the promotion of her/his own work or of the medium by which she/he is employed.
11. A journalist shall normally seek the consent of an appropriate adult when interviewing or photographing a child for a story
about her/his welfare.
12. Avoids plagiarism.

5. Connotation
Connotations are something that are created by use of a word, they are things that people can think or feel when hearing or
reading a specific word. Due to this journalists have to be very careful about what kind of words they use when describing
or talking about something, as the connotations created by the words can instantly categorize or stereotype without the
journalist even directly doing so or meaning to.
For example; If someone used the word ‘bird’ or ‘chick’ or ‘babe’ when referring to a woman this has many negative
connotations that could be seen as offensive to a woman if this was used in an informal chatty magazine as this would be
the most common place to see these kind of words. These words have connotations of ‘unclassy’ or a woman thought of as
an object or animal rather than a person. However this kind of language would be very unlikely used in a magazine now a
days. On the other hand words such as ‘old’ or ‘crippled’ can still be used and definitely carry many negative connotations.
The word ‘old’ can connote being ill or unfit or even frail which can obviously easily offend many people. Also using
words such as crippled instead of disabled or any other more appropriate choices will definitely cause controversy if used in
a news report or article due to the negative connotations the word has.
As a journalist it can be very hard when trying to phrase something or explain something in a non-offensive way whilst still
informing their readers of truthful information that is going to be helpful and informative to them, so thinking of possible
connotations when writing can avoid upset or complaints from their readers. This basically just means that the writer can
then come up with more appropriate words or phrases to use in their writing and means that they are still informing their
audience in an appropriate way.

6. Alternative Readings
Journalists have to write their articles with an audience in mind due to the target audience of the magazine they are writing
for as the majority of the people reading the article will be regular readers and will fit the target the magazine aims for.
However the journalist also has to consider other potential readers that possibly wouldn’t usually read it and has to write it
in a way that is going to generally be fit for anyone that could read it, meaning no offensive terms or words can be used
along with no biased opinions and generalisations that could offend the people that don’t usually read it as even though
their usual target audience may not find any offence and actually really enjoy the article, other people could have a
completely different perspective of the journalists work and find it offensive and inappropriate which then causes
controversy which typically isn’t something a publication wants, especially if it is portraying them negatively.
Minority groups, victims of crime and subcultures for example could read an article and find it extremely offensive and see
it in a completely different way to what the target audience does. This can cause many problems for both the writer and the
publication in which the article is shown, as it all depends on each individual persons interpretations, opinions and
experiences. This could happen for example if a journalist tries to write a story about something they aren’t experience with
themselves, but writes it anyway with their audience in mind but then offending someone who has actually experienced it
and knows what it’s actually like. This kind of situation can happen very easily due to the large amount of people that read
some of the magazines and newspapers out there as the journalist has no real idea of what type of people could pick up the
magazine/newspaper and read their article excluding the general target audience they usually write their stories for.
For example, a journalist could write about a specific crime, with no personal experience on what it feels like to have it
happen to them and then offend a victim of a crime. Even if the article doesn’t purposefully show offence and hasn’t been
written with the aim to cause upset. This basically just means that if a journalist is writing about something they constantly
have to consider other people as well as their main target audience as anyone could read it. Journalists can then write an
article that is both suited to what their audience likes to read and also be done in a way that could be entertaining for other
people also.

7. Objective
When writing, journalists have to ensure they are credible as without this kind of reputation many people can choose to not
read your work due to the risk of it being untruthful and not based on any factual knowledge. Many journalists out there
now only write to expose people and write stories that are going to cause problems and even in some cases ruin peoples
careers, and to do so they use their own biased opinions to create a negative impression of a person or business to their
readers to then believe. This kind of writing causes many problems and can result in lawsuits and also the loss of jobs for
both the journalists and the business in many cases if it has causes any major problems that the public are then not happy
about. The agenda that many journalists have when writing only use evidence that supports and proves their own ideas and
beliefs on the topic they are speaking about, however they avoid the use of any information that does not support their ideas
meaning they are creating an extremely biased article that can persuade people to believe in something that isn’t entirely
factual or correct in any way. This kind of writing is done by many journalists, with some even entirely making up a whole
story with no factual evidence at all to prove what they are saying, this is just done to attract attention to a business or
person they are writing about and to draw attention to themselves and their writing to generate other press attention.
Most newspapers have a political agenda which they consider in every article they include in the paper to ensure they are
promoting whatever political beliefs they have. Editors will also push for the journalists to write stories that are correct in
the way they have been written and ensure that the writing supports the papers political agenda or else the article will not be
used. Using political opinions in an article for a newspaper is extremely common and happens constantly in broadsheet
newspapers on purpose to persuade their readers to think the same as thy do without directly saying so. There are also many
news channels on TV that do exactly the same as they constantly show things and say things that will change the mind of
the listener/reader without them even knowing as they have such a mass impact upon their readers/listeners due to the
amount of people that are interested in the news.

8. Accurate
Accurate writing is absolutely essential for journalists as without it, many lawsuits can be filed and also controversy and
upset surrounding the article. Using accurate writing also links with being credible, all of the writing the journalist does
must show accurate and factual knowledge that is backed up by evidence to support it, as without this it results in the
reputation of the journalist being severely damaged in some cases and also the subject of the article being damaged by it.
All facts must be completely accurate with substantial evidence to back it up and support it, along with dates times and
quotes being gathered accurately with factual knowledge behind it. There have been many cases when the articles have not
been correct or factual in any way causing distress and upset from the subject of the article and damage in reputation for the
writer and the publication in which they write for. Many journalists write for the reaction and media buzz and attention that
will come with writing a false article or they can do it to purposely damage a persons reputation but in doing so can ruin
their own as well. An example of a journalist writing with no fact or evidence to support their ideas and story would be the
news reporter for The New York Times, Jayson Blair, 27. Blair has first started working as an intern but quickly worked his
way up to the National desk earning constant promotions in his time of working there. However this all stopped when he
was found to have been making up entire stories and submitting them to the magazines. The editors of the magazine
thought Blair was always travelling in order to write his stories and conduct interviews without any evidence of him doing
so as there was actually no hotel or flight receipts ever handed in by Blair. In actual fact he was in his New York apartment
writing the stories from home entirely making the stories up, writing false quotes without even meeting the people he was
writing about. The news paper stated that, “poor communication among senior editors, as well as a lack of complaints from
the subjects of his articles, allowed Blair to escape detection”. He was only found out when the people he has claimed to
have interviewed showing direct quotes from them in his article rang the New York Times to explain that Blair had never
even met them. This was when he was reporting on the homecoming of rescued prisoner of war Pfc. Jessica Lynch when he
has described the house in which she lives as “overlooking tobacco fields and cattle pastures” which turned out to be
completely false along with the quotes he had supposedly taken from his interview with Lynch’s family. Faking articles had
become a routinely thing for Blair to do and he is now not currently working for the paper any longer.

9. Truthful
Journalists writing has to be truthful and this is possibly the most important thing for their writing to be. Without truthful
writing and facts that people can actually trust the reputation of the journalist and also the publication in which they work
for can be seriously damaged as a result. Journalism is all about writing factually and truthfully so that readers believe what
they are writing and so that they can be seen as credible. Writing untruthfully means a journalist then starts writing with no
evidence to back themselves up which results in it turning to fiction, this causes many problems including potential
lawsuits as it breaches libel laws and many others due to it being completely made up. Many newspapers and magazines
will do this on a regular basis as they may not completely make stuff up but they will however twist and change facts to
make their own publication sound better and to fit it with their own beliefs, this is common with political facts and stories
that are shown in the newspapers as they want their readers to believe what they are telling them. This is done particularly
with facts and numbers to sway the readers own thoughts and persuade them to support the political side in which they
support.
This can be done in an obvious way or sometimes it is done in small ways that are hard to pick up on but they constantly
plant things on both TV channels in the news and also in newspapers to make their readers and listeners agree with them
and convince them to change their mind if they don’t have the same thoughts and beliefs on a topic. Allegations can also be
made in newspapers and magazines very commonly which does have the potential risks of breaking libel laws and lowering
their reputation with many people. This is done to make a person look bad in the press and to try and get their audience to
think bad of this person in order for them to believe what the newspapers have been telling them. An example of this
happening in journalism would be the ABC news reporter Jonathan Karl who was recently found out to be lying in order to
persuade the public to believe a lie regarding a political matter. Karl tricked everyone who heard his story into believing
what he was saying, he claimed to prove that the White House has made partisan hay with the Benghazi talking points in
those first few days after the attack on the consulate in Libya. This was however found out to be a lie, created by
congressional republicans who were out to get the president Obama which Karl then aided by intentionally misleading and
lying to ABC’s audience when reporting on this story.

10. Fair & Balanced
Being fair and balanced runs along with same lines as being truthful in writing which is something all journalists must stick
to and ensure they are being in their articles and reports. Being fair and balanced in a report basically means you have to go
into it with an open mind and forget about your own personal beliefs and thoughts on the topic as this can result in
misleading your audience and then creating a biased report. To ensure a journalist stays credible and has a good reputation
when it comes to reporting on the news being balanced, honest and unbiased is essential as it can be the difference between
having your audience believe you or not. A lot of journalists have a lot of power over what people believe as many of their
audience believe what they hear/read because it is being reported as news and should be factual and something to be
trusted, however this is not always the case as many journalists use their own beliefs in their work. The NUJ specifically
created a code on ethics for journalists to follow to avoid untruthful and biased writing being created, in this code it states
that journalists should never write in a way that is going to lead to hatred or discrimination. This means they have to avoid
using their own beliefs and thoughts on the topic if they know that it is something that is going to be negative and present a
person or situation in a dishonest way. Journalists writing needs to be balanced and created in a way that is even to both
sides, so exploring both sides of a dispute for example would be crucial otherwise it would appear like the journalists had
picked a side and it writing in favour of a person. This can then allow their readers to create their own opinion on the
argument for example and then come to their own conclusion instead of being persuaded without even realising by reading
the article. This is so constantly done by journalists as they clearly don’t follow this particular code or rule when writing as
they write in order to entertain and convince people and maybe sometimes don’t even realise they are putting so much of
their own opinions into their writing as it is very easily done. Many journalists write this way in order to entertain their
audience and write in a way that is suited to their readers and also pick a topic and then go on to show their thoughts in a
way that their audience will agree with them. For example if a magazine were to write about a celebrity argument and their
magazine commonly writes in favour of one of the celebs involved and they know their readers like this person they will
then write the article in favour of that particular celebrity and then present the other person involved in a negative way to
please their audience and target the people that read it.

11. Defamation
When it comes to journalism, many laws and legal aspects are involved to ensure that the publications don’t get in to
trouble and so that the articles don't create a controversial response as this can be very negative for the magazine/newspaper
and can ruin their reputation along with the journalists.
Defamation is a false accusation, it is when someone is presented in a negative way that isn’t all factually true regarding an
offense. If an offence is reported in the press it is essential that it is written about in a tasteful way and in a way that isn’t
going to hurt the reputation of a person, however when a journalists writing is accused of being defamatory against a person
it means that they haven't being truthful when reporting about it. This could mean they have written wrongly, lied or misled
their audience to exaggerate and cause more media attention. Defamation is basically the complete opposite of what a
journalists writing should be as it should be truthful, honest and also entertaining but in a way that doesn’t accuse or
misrepresent in any way. This kind of writing can lead to many lawsuits against a person, including libel as it is accusing
someone of committing a crime in many cases which has to be taken very seriously. Defamation can include writing
wrongly about someone's words or actions, this can be done in order to make a person look bad or to generate attention.
This is constantly done in both newspapers, magazines and TV, but particularly in print publications as many journalists
write an article so that their audience will pick up the magazine and buy it because it looks interesting as this kind of story
adds a lot of drama. It is most commonly involving celebrities and also politicians but also members of the public in some
cases. Magazines will particularly pick on celebrities to write this kind of story on because they know that their readers will
be interested in a story like this, however they do not consider the legal conflict this can then cause.
An example of this happening to a celebrity would be a case involving Tom Cruise as he was accused of ‘abandoning’ his
six-year-old child by both Life & Style and In Touch magazines. Cruise then filed a defamation suit against Bauer
Publishing Company in which the two magazines are a part of, demanding $50 million in damages over cover stories
printed by the publications. A private settlement was agreed at the end of the case and was not disclosed to the media, the
publishing company also released this statement; 'Bauer Publishing, In Touch and Life & Style never intended to
communicate that Tom Cruise had cut off all ties and abandoned his daughter Suri and regret if anyone drew that inference
from anything they published.'

12. Copyright & Children and Young
PersonsCopyright -
Copyright ensures the complete ownership of a persons work, you can claim copyright on anything you have created just as
long as it fits within the regulations in which to claim it. It basically means that if you create work that isn’t already out
there and you don’t want anyone else taking that same idea or using it as their own, you can then own it so if anyone does
attempt to take it and pass it off as their own work with no permission to do so by the owner they can be sued and charged a
fine. Journalists have to be careful not to break any copyright laws in their writing or with any images they use in an article
as this can be easily done if you don’t check that it has got copyright or not. They can use the work but only if they have
got permission to do so by the owner of the work. Many cases of copyright have been people reproducing work that wasn’t
theirs and then claiming they did create it themselves without any confirmation by the owner of the work. Plagiarizing
work is also something journalists cannot do in their writing. This is when you take work that isn’t yours but you claim it is.
This would then lead to copyright infringement.
Examples; In 2012, it was reported that Jonah Lehrer self-plagiarized several works he submitted to The New Yorker] All
five of these articles now appear on The New Yorker website with editor's notes listing the articles' previous places of
publishing, including The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Wired, and The Guardian. A correction posted on The
New Yorker website claims that Lehrer also misrepresented the source of a quote taken from an article by another
author. Lehrer has since apologized for the reuse of his own work.
Children & Young Persons -
When journalists have to write about children or young people it is essential they do so in an appropriate way and write
following the regulations given to them. The editors code of practice involves a list of rules that a journalists must stick to
when writing a story so that it is seen as appropriate and also informative. This set of rules is very clear as it avoids
potential lawsuits against the magazines and any upset or controversy that could be caused if it wasn’t written in the correct
way. These guidelines are especially clear when considering writing about any criminal cases that involve children as this
is a topic that could potentially offend many people or be written in a way that could be deemed inappropriate. Consent
must be given when using any images and any contact to ensure that no lawsuits are involved also.

13. Confidentiality & Official Secrets
Confidentiality –
At times a journalist has to talk to a person that was involved in a criminal case, whether it be a victim of an attack, a
witness or a criminal in order to gain information and to get an idea of their thoughts and feelings surrounding the case for a
story they are writing. If the person agrees to do the story and speak to the journalist it will often be with the agreement that
it will be confidential. This means that the journalist cannot release the name of the person. If the person is named without
consent it can lead to lawsuits and also the exposure of the person that wasn’t supposed to be mentioned. As a result of this
journalists are protected from having to reveal their sources and aren’t forced to include any names or details that are
confidential in their writing. This can be through choice of the person as commonly with victims of a crime, they do not
want to be named and the criminals may not actually be allowed to be named under the law. For the investigation to be
thorough and include all the vital and important information that readers will want to know it is often essential for
journalists to speak to people that were involved in the case. This means that they will be able to inform their audience of
information that they wouldn’t find out anywhere else. The editors code of practice states that ‘Journalists have a moral
obligation to protect confidential sources of information’. This basically means that a journalists is morally obliged to not
reveal their sources in some cases to protect peoples identity whist still informing their audience of as much information as
possible. An example of a journalist protecting information would be a reporter in America who covered and then revealed
information about a mass murderer. The journalist Jana Winter who works for Fox News was set to report the shooting
rampage in a movie theatre in 2012 involving James E. Holmes who was charged for committing the massacre. Holmes had
been seeing a psychiatrist and sent in a notebook revealing his thoughts and feelings and also including what he was going
to do with some drawings of him with a gun shooting people. The journalist, Winter, received information about the details
of what was in the notebook and was then approached by Holmes’ lawyers who were trying to force the reporter to tell
them who her sources were and what they had told her. Under journalistic law Winter is not obliged to expose who her
sources were as this would then affect all reporting from then on as journalists would feel they could never report using any
sources.
Official Secrets –
As well as protecting peoples privacy and names under a code, journalists are also required to protect state secrets and
national security under the Official Secrets Act. If a journalists is working in a job that involves them finding out secrets
involving something that is covered by this act then they are then made to sign the ‘Official Secrets Act’ before and after
employment to ensure they do not report or expose state secrets as this could but a lot of people in danger, possibly the
whole country if it were to be reported. Also if journalists find out something that affects national security they have been
previously forced to explain everything they know and to reveal their sources as a result of the act as this is a matter of
national security and their information could be crucial for certain people to know.

14. Codes of Practice
There are ethical responsibilities a journalist has to consider also when writing and reporting the news,
this includes the set of codes of practice that include things such as the NUJ codes and the ‘editors code’
which basically inform journalists of how they should conduct their work. These guidelines avoid many
controversial ways of reporting and ensure that the amount of offense caused by an article is as limited as
it can be if not non-existent. They also help to avoid any legal case being filed against publications as it
helps journalists to structure and write their articles in the correct and in a respectful manner. Having
these standards to look to when writing means that journalists and editors can avoid things going wrong
and can report news the way that their audience will like and understand. Many journalists do break the
codes but as it is not law that a writer has to follow them it isn’t actually something that can be stopped. It
can however cause great offense to readers if the codes are broken as it then means they have gone against
something that could have prevented upset. The media industry regularly changes and adjusts these codes
to ensure that they are up to date and can be interpreted in a way that is useful to the reporters and writers.
It has been found however that many journalists and editors break the codes on a daily basis when
writing, whether this be to entertain or to cause drama and a lot of media attention. The readers can also
complain if they feel that a journalist of editor has been inappropriate or offensive in some way and they
can then report this to the ‘Independent Press Standards Organisation’. In doing so this organisation can
then look at the writing that has caused the complaint and this can then hopefully be resolved.

15. Privacy
Privacy is extremely important in journalism as it helps celebrities or well known people to avoid having their
personal life all over the press and for too much of their private life to be revealed to people in the media. It is a
vital section of the editors code of practice that must be respected as it explains that everyone is entitled to respect
for their private and family life, home, health, and correspondence, including digital communications. An intrusion
of any of these factors can result in serious consequences for the journalist involved, the editor that ran the story and
the publication overall as if the person being spoken about in the press isn’t happy and feels that it is in fact an
invasion of their privacy they do then have the right to involve the law and have a suit filed against them. This not
only gives the publication a worsened reputation but it also makes other celebrities and even the public less trusting
of the magazine/newspaper. The NUJ states in it’s code of conduct that journalists are advised to listen to that they
should not ‘intrude into anybody’s private life, grief or distress unless justified by overriding consideration of the
public interest’. The invasion of privacy is a constant worry for many celebrities as journalists do not always listen
and abide by the code of conduct they are given to follow when writing stories as they have often been caught out.
An example of this kind of thing happening is when the phone hacking started, this occurred everywhere and many
famous people and politicians had their phones hacked and information or images leaked online. Newspapers were
involved in this, and this makes it the perfect example of the media completely neglecting the code and the right to
peoples privacy and private lives. Also many photos were leaked particularly involving female celebrities where
nude photos on their phone were released to the media. This definitely was not for the concern of the public and was
only done to humiliate and generate publicity.

16. Intrusion
The editors code of practice states that a journalist must not intrude in to grief or shock. This
is extremely important as this kind of thing must be taken in to consideration when
journalists are writing in order to be sensitive surrounding the subject and also their private
life. In these cases enquiries and approaches must be made with sympathy and discretion in
order to achieve an article that people actually want to read and not feel uncomfortable or
offended in any way when doing so. In these kind of situations it can be very easy to offend
or come across as being disrespectful, and in order to avoid this, journalists can look at the
codes of practice to see how they should write the story and what kind of thing is
appropriate to include and generally the right way to phrase it. However all of this does not
mean that they cannot write the story at all, it simply means that when writing these things
have to be taken in to consideration, they have to ensure that they are going to right way
about it and that they are keeping to the facts and not dramatizing anything that could come
off as misleading or untrue for the person involved or the reader. ‘Intruding’ would mean
that the journalist has included far too many personal or private details that weren’t or
shouldn’t have been discussed in the press. Intruding when dealing with a story as sensitive
as this can result in law suits as the story must be completely factual and not elaborated in
any way.

17. Harassment
When writing as a journalist it is absolutely essential that they do not come across as
‘harassing’ people. The editors code of practice is very clear about this topic in particular as
it can have very serious consequences if not dealt with in the correct manner. The code
states that journalists must not intimidate, harass or persistently pursuit a person as this is
then dealt with as an harassment case and can lead to a bad reputation of the publication
involved, for the reader and a lot of bad publicity in general surrounding the situation, at
times involving the law. Paparazzi are often seen as harassing celebrities as they are
constantly surrounding them, asking questions and continuously taking pictures, sometimes
getting too close to the celebrity which is often reported also in the media. Once a journalist
or anyone in the media is told to stop contacting/photographing a person, they must stop
otherwise it can be then considered as harassment and that person will have a case against
the journalist. This is repeatedly shown in the media as celebrities are always photographed,
however in some cases it has been slightly more serious as many paparazzi have gone to the
homes of the celebrities and tried to take pictures here which breaches the privacy of the
person and can also be classed as harassment if done more than once after being asked not
to. There has also been a case where a celebrities child/children have been pictured with
them and this has also been a breach of certain codes which is then dealt with in a more
serious manner. Harassment overall has to be dealt with extremely seriously and with
caution as journalists are asked to consider this always in their writing and with the images
that they take. Editors can also be involved seriously if they run a story or image that has
been classed as ‘harassment’ of the journalist that wrote or took the photo.