8. Ethical Considerations: Journalists’ Perceptions of Professional Practice

Watchdogs under pressure: Pacific Islands journalists’ demographic profiles and professional views

“…In New Zealand, 93 percent of journalists thought it was acceptable (Hollings et al, 2016). Our findings thus seem to support a key argument put forward by Ramaprasad et al (2019)-that such investigative techniques tended to be generally more accepted in the Global North, where they were part of journalism's monitorial role. While Pacific Islands journalists also favoured the monitorial role, there are clear practical limits on what they can do and this may lead to greater disavowal of such investigative practices.…”

“…Obviously, such practices go to the heart of journalism's monitorial role, which, as we have seen, receives widespread support in our sample. It is, however, still considerably more controversial than for the global average reported by Ramaprasad et al (2019). In their study, only 34.9 percent of journalists globally would not approve of the practice, with 51.9 percent saying it was justified on occasion, and 13.1 per cent saying it was always justified.…”

“…Indeed, it seems that Pacific Islands journalists are generally more risk-averse than their colleagues elsewhere, because even the second-least controversial practice-using hidden microphones or cameras -was seen to be justifiable by only around 40 percent, compared to 66 percent of the globe (Ramaprasad et al, 2019). The most controversial practices were 'publishing stories with unverified content', 'accepting money from sources' and 'claiming to be somebody else'.…”

The news expectation predicament: Comparing and explaining what audiences expect from the roles and reporting practices of reporters on right-wing extremism

“…Journalists’ role conceptions seem to be related to the reporting practices they perceive as acceptable (Baugut and Scherr, 2017). While previous research has extensively investigated whether journalists justify questionable reporting methods such as claiming to be someone else or paying for information (Plaisance et al, 2012; Ramaprasad et al, 2019; Weaver and Willnat, 2012), studies are lacking on whether news audiences actually expect these practices from journalists. Particularly when it comes to reporting on right-wing extremists who sometimes attack journalists verbally or physically (Baugut and Neumann, 2019a, 2019b), audience expectations calling for more aggressive reporting methods can place journalists in an ethical predicament.…”

“…Journalists’ ethical orientations have been empirically explored across the globe (Ramaprasad et al, 2019; Weaver and Willnat, 2012). However, research is lacking on how audiences want journalists to respond to ethical dilemmas.…”