Posted on 12/19/2014 7:27:06 AM PST by Kaslin
The widespread reporting on hacked emails from Sony Pictures -- spurred by the upcoming release of an allegedly funny movie about assassinating North Korean despot Kim Jong Un -- might encourage some gloating from people who would like to bring Hollywood down a peg. But hold the schadenfreude. The media's ethics -- or seeming lack of ethics -- are troubling.
Take CNN "Reliable Sources" host Brian Stelter in an interview with the program "Access Hollywood." His ethical position? Anything goes, as long as the journalists aren't the hackers.
"It would be wrong and it would be illegal for the journalists to do the hacking and find these stolen documents," Stelter declared. "But once they're out in the public domain, they are, I'm sorry to say, fair game. They are sort of a free-for-all. That doesn't make it right necessarily, but it makes it inevitable."
Sorry? Don't kid yourself. He's thrilled.
Max Read, editor-in-chief of the bottom-dwelling website Gawker, is even less conflicted. "The idea that a journalist should refrain from publishing them because it might 'validate the hackers' actions/aims' is genuinely incomprehensible."
In other words, journalists have every right to exploit whatever the hackers steal. So much for all those lectures about compassion or ethics. Ends justify means. Juicy "scoops" trump any question about how the information was obtained.
When hackers for an evil entity procure private information through illegal means, isn't there a reason for the media to restrain itself?
Conservatives might enjoy powerful Hollywood liberals like Amy Pascal and Scott Rudin hypocritically trading racially insensitive jokes in their emails about the black movies they're guessing President Obama likes. Gossips might like silly gossip about Denzel Washington or Leonardo DiCaprio.
But is any of it accurate, or even any of our business? Everyone writes things in his private correspondence that could be painted as insensitive or mean-spirited. There is no exception. Who would like to see his private thoughts broadcast to the world because of a hacker violating their privacy? Film journalist Mark Harris prodded "everyone who's gloating over stolen emails" that "you must all feel very, very secure about your own correspondence."
Isn't there personal information that shouldn't be shared, not just Social Security numbers or financial information, but private chats that no matter how salacious are just that -- private?
The North Koreans have demonstrated they -- and God knows who else -- can target anyone at any time. What role should the media plan in refusing to enable this assault on civilized society?
Liberal producer Aaron Sorkin insisted that Hollywood documents shouldn't be revealed since there is no national interest in them, unlike the "Pentagon Papers." I suspect the Oliver Stones and Michael Moores would agree. But would Sorkin and Stone and Moore agree that an oil or coal company or a tobacco or gun manufacturer should be given equal protection?
It is time for the media to consider a standard similar to the way TV networks treated streakers in the 1970s. They made a decision not to display the offenders, and the offense faded away. Wouldn't it be more ethical for the media to refrain from publishing any information gained by illegal means?
Besides, if the media tout freedom of expression, the Sony hacks were a boomerang. As Slate editor Jacob Weisberg pointed out, "Journalists resisting what they see as an attempt at censorship by Sony are cooperating in a larger act of censorship, directed at Sony." That North Korea comedy might have been another raunchy romp, but America doesn't look strong when foreign tyrants kill American movies. And our national media don't distinguish themselves by enabling the viciousness of our enemies.
Sheeeeyit. If Jon Voight or Kelsey Grammar or Charlton Heston were the subjects of those derisive emails, I guarandamntee you the consciences of the Men Seeking Men media and Hollywood trolls would not be the least bit conflicted.
The Norks can only cyber terror via China.
Emails to or from George Bush were hacked a while back. That is how we first found out about his painting.
Film journalist Mark Harris prodded “everyone who’s gloating over stolen emails” that “you must all feel very, very secure about your own correspondence.”
I don’t know about everyone else, but YES I Am. But then again I do not lead a life of hypocrisy, I actually practice what I preach, unlike Hollywood.
“Media ethics” has become an oxymoron. In old movies from the 1930s through the 1950s, reporters were typically portrayed as cigar-chomping, hard-drinking, excitable buffoons. After “All the President’s Men,” reporters began to fancy themselves as “professionals” akin to doctors and lawyers. But, to me, they are what they have always been.
Journalism has always been about shaping the narrative. It has never been about just the facts, or a neutral portrayal of the events. Anyone would believes otherwise is deluded.
The only reason that there is any idea of “Media Ethics” is the they yellow journalism of the late 19th Century came back to bite Pulitzer and his ilk.
the they = that the
Today was a bad day to give up proofreading...
The media is a business. Ethics take a backseat to profits.
The information is out there, freely available on the internet. If the media doesn’t report it, the public still gets the information, but the media loses revenue. So, basically people are expecting the media to lose money taking a meaningless ethical stand, from what I can tell.
I’m waiting for the “HANDS UP, DON’T SHOW IT” T-shirts to come out.
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