Media Watch essay

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Media Watch is an Australian television forum, aired on ABC1 and recently presented by Paul Barry, that comments on, analyses and critiques Australian media. The primary aims of Media Watch are to examine and expose media bias, mistakes that media outlets have made, and breaches of the Media Alliance Code of Ethics. It seeks to clarify for the Australian public truths about the content of media presentations and the ethical implications of actions involved. Media Watch discusses examples of unethical behavior related to Australian media, such as abuses of power, policy backflips, conflicts of interest, deceit, manipulation, misinterpretation, plagiarism, technical lies and straight out fraud. In doing so, the program promotes the importance to society of media outlets adhering to the Code of Ethics and makes reference to the Code’s principles, including honesty, fairness, independence, respect, and the public’s right to information. Two stories of media mistakes previously examined by Media Watch include a story on the broadcasting of misinformation regarding two suspects of the Boston Marathon bombing, and a story on the misreporting of facts concerning a 2012 policy of Northern Territory government.

The first of these stories was discussed in episode 13 of Media Watch, aired on April 29th 2013, in which the program addressed the mistake made by media outlets of reporting misinformation regarding two suspects of the Boston Marathon bombing (April 15th). In the days that followed the bombing, the names of falsely accused suspects Mike Mulugeta and Sunil Tripathi were hastily thrust into the media spotlight, after the misinterpretation of a Boston police report and the appearance of numerous false allegations on Twitter. In Australia, news reports soon followed, from Seven, Nine and Sky News, with some claiming that these suspects’ names had been confirmed by Boston police officials, and others not attributing the information to any source. This error committed by media outlets in reporting misinformation breached the Code of Ethics criteria 1: Report and interpret honestly, striving for accuracy, fairness and disclosure of all essential facts, and 3: Aim to attribute information to its source. 

The primary stimulus of this breach can be attributed to the public’s desire for the immediacy of news, and the resulting weighty pressure that is placed on media outlets to be the first to deliver the insider details of news stories. To address these desires of the public, media outlets often disregard accuracy in order to uncover and deliver news with immediacy to audiences. The resulting consequence in society is the delivery of inaccurate news to the public, which in turn can mislead citizens and lead them to form misinformed opinions, judgments, and perspectives on topics discussed on the news.

In an earlier episode of Media Watch, episode 2, aired February 11th 2013, the program exposed a similar mistake made by tabloid media outlets of publishing misinformation, in this case relating to a policy of the liberal Northern Territory government involving cash payments to eligible house owners. Accurate information about the policy was first announced in a media release made by Alison Anderson, Territory Minister for Indigenous Advancement. However, in the week that followed, numerous false announcements and distortions of the information contained in the
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