media ethics and the U. S. of A.
Last night I was reading a Huffington.com post about Christian Bale allegedly assaulting his mother and sister and I happened across the following sentence: "British police do not name suspects who have not been formally charged." That put me severely in shock. I hadn't realised that it would have to be specifically stated in an American media outlet that no, the police does not publicly identify suspects that haven't been officially charged yet. That must mean that this isn't the case in the U.S.
Now, I'm all for freedom of the press, but I in that case I'm glad that in Austria (and probably most other European countries) it is intrinsic to media ethics that suspects are not named in the press period. Not ever, unless it is in the interest of the public. And that's one of the few things which I am happy about in this country.
I still can't believe that this isn't the case everywhere else in the world...
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2 comments:
To tell you the truth, I couldn't tell you what the official policy is. The police here will name a "person of interest," but say that they haven't been formally charged. Also, with the state of the media and paparazzi the way that it is, a lot of times the media gets a hold of it and leaks it.
To tell you the truth, I couldn't tell you what the official policy is. The police here will name a "person of interest," but say that they haven't been formally charged. Also, with the state of the media and paparazzi the way that it is, a lot of times the media gets a hold of it and leaks it.
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