academic mania :media ethics

Introduction


“Media are instrumental in the transmission of cultural values.
They provide important values and offer symbolic cues for
standards of conduct, including ethical behavior,”
wrote Louis A. Day in his Ethics in Media Communications.

However in the information age with a fierce competition
forcing the media to struggle hard, the traditional concepts of
social responsibility might have been challenged.

This is especially true with tabloid journalism’s trying to satisfy
the public’s thirst for violence and sexually related contents.
Unethical conducts such as invasion of privacy,
inaccurate information, fabrication of facts, etc. are listed
as major concerns of media ethicists around the world.

In Thailand, to handle sexually offensive issues is much more
tricky when there is neither strict law enforcement nor
the control system. There are no conclusive viewpoints
and opinions on what the media are obliged to do
and forbidden to do.

Among special problem areas on sexual matters come sex crime
and pornography. Recently two cases of them occurred in
Thai society ( a woman accused of raping a man and a nude
advertorial on a magazine’s front cover.) In the paper,
these two cases are examined to see how the media acted in
response. The observations given here are based on the concept
of the media’s functions together with ethical theories in
mass communication.


Case : The first ever woman accused of raping a man

On November 19, 2003 Thairath newspaper’s headline read
“ A big shock . Female Teacher Rapes Male Ninth-Grader”
stunned the whole community. The news piece dealt
with an accusation on an English teacher at a high school in
Samutprakarn province of raping one of her students.
She was said to have tricked the boy into her office to
have sexual intercourse with him for several times.

Soon the issue got the media attention due to its following
news values ( Hodgson,1996) :

1. Proximity : The matter occurred in Thai society and
it certainly interested Thai people especially those
concerned parties such as the school, the family
members of the two sides and acquaintances of both
the teacher and the student, etc. It also raised questions
on the educational system among Thais.

2. Impact on members of people : What happened
did not affect only the two parts but also a large number
of people. Directly and indirectly. Seriously and
slightly affected. They include the population of teachers,
the student body as well as worried parents and so on.

3. Accidents , crime , natural disasters : sexual assaults
are counted as one of the most serious crime.
It is no wonder why the subject matter became a very
favorite topic of the press at that time.

4. Unique , bizarre people or events : “ Rape ” cases
usually deal with men violating women. Conversely
this case featured a woman as a rapist and a boy as
a rape victim. Having this uniqueness , this story even
attracted both the press and the readers more.

5. Nostalgic, humorous, sad or ironic people as events:
News pieces that read a male teacher rapes a female
student are common. But what is ironic here in
this matter is the accusation that an older female
teacher raped a male youngster. The fact that a woman
is not capable of raping a man and it is physically
impossible might lead to people’s curiosity to find out
how that happened.

6. Federal and other governments : Later when federal
institutions such as the Council of Attorney, the Ministry
of Education voiced out their comments about that
sexual assault, the media and people were again
drawn to the matter.

7. Timeliness : When one side had to say something,
the other had to feedback on that . As the matter
progressed, new details were reported every now
and then. Everyone wanted updated bits of this hot story.
New details emerged all the time.

To conclude, this first ever case of a woman accused of
raping a man appeared to be a very hot story. And
the press tried their best to get the most specifics
and updates of the story. Their competition for fast news
brought about several inappropriate practices.
They are:

1.Lack of thoroughness

At first the matter was made public stating that the
female teacher raped one of her male students as
appeared in Thairath newspaper of November 19,2003,
Khao Sod newspaper of November 19,2003 and Daily
News newspaper of November 19,2003. But on the very
next day, the media reported it otherwise saying that
the teacher defended herself claiming that she was raped.

And later on the matter became clearer and more
conclusive that it was not a rape as it was reported
in the first place.

The media fell into a trap called “Feeding Frenzy“
or the act of rush to cover a sensational story (Agee,
Ault and Emery, 1997). Instead of checking all facts and
finding evidence before reporting it to the audience,
the media’ s only concern is fast news. Though in the end
the case was made clear, the media already misjudged
the teacher ruining her reputation and career making it
a very painful experience for the innocent.

2 Improper presentation of the matter

Rape cases are considered as serious, hard news.
They should be reported in an informative and
factual way. They are not supposed to be treated as
a drama having a plot, a climax, a twist or good
and bad characters.

In this matter, first the media featured the woman as
an antagonist, and the boy as an innocent character.
Then the matter turned upside down. The villain(teacher)
was mistaken and proved to be innocent with the help of
supporting characters ( lawyers ). It reached the climax
and the mystery was solved when the boy’s classmates
testified against him, in favor of the teacher.

Apart from making it look dramatic, the media also
abused and deployed the tone and manner of the story
when reporting it to the public.

For example, the use of “role model”, “horny” in the
mentioned newspapers all helped paint the teacher bad.
This is not a civil and ethical of the media to do so;
especially, when the court had never reached a verdict yet.
The accused should be treated with respect and decency.

3. Invasion of privacy

“ The media are so hungry for stories. They are not to
violate the rights of either the boy or the teacher by
publishing offensive stories, headlines and pictures,”
printed in Bangkok Post of November 22,2003.

Above is a statement voiced out by Mr.Sanpranit
Koompraphant the Director of Children’s Rights Protection
Foundation on the media’s coverage of the matter.

Sex crime is a very sensitive issue dealing with sexual
misconduct, not a very pleasant side of life. Traditionally
the media have tried to avoid exposing the names,
the addresses including faces of both the victim and
the accused ( Day, 1997: 125.) This is not to psychologically
violate the victim again, placing trauma and stigma
on the already unfortunate.

In this ”teacher – student rape” case, the Thai community
had witnessed the media’s initial attempt to use aliases for
the concerned parties. However, this did not last long
before they could not resist the competition and started to
reveal all the personal details as well as pictures.

Though there are no particular laws against the media’ s
revelation of the news figures’ intimate details,
the media cannot just publicize whatever they want to.
They cannot take it for granted and use old-fashioned
excuses saying that it is for the public’s interest
and benefits. They should have agreements on standards
of conduct in dealing with this kind of vulnerable
and sensitive subject matter.

The media practitioner should have an ethical mind
when dealing with these problematic sexual issues.
True, it is difficult. But it can be and must be done
despite of having no strict law enforcement and loopholes.

To be ethically sound because of the laws is good
but to do so because they feel that it’s their responsibility
is even better.


Case : The first ever nude advertorial on a magazine’s
front cover

Picture

The pictures shown are the cause of another war of discourse
on the subject matter of nudity in Thailand.

This fashion shooting features Yossavadee Hassadeevichit
and her boyfriend, Justin Randall Farr almost naked having
only KTC Visa Mini Credit Card to cover the groin area.
It made a hot news piece for the following aspects:

1. Proximity : The fact that this set of shooting features
a Thai super model on a Thai magazine (Image),
available on marketplace in Thailand attracted
Thai people’s attention.

2. Impact on members of people : The matter worried
various groups of people especially those who are concerned
about Thai values. Though the impact is seemingly intangible,
it had a cultural impact on the Thai community on the ideology
of nudity particularly when we are still trying to negotiate
westernized trends in the Thai contexts on what is appropriate
and what is not.

3. Unique , bizarre people or events : The unique characteristics
of this advertorial fashion lie in the following:

3.1 The shoot features the female model with her boyfriend
in a very sexually seductive pose. Both of them practically
wore nothing.

3.2 The product advertised is a credit card, which
fairly speaking, has nothing to do with this provocative
fashion shoot.

3.3 The barely shoot was printed in a fashion magazine,
one of the most popular and best-known ones amongst
teenagers and young adults primarily targeted at females,
not one that aims for male readers or the so-called adult
magazines (eg. Playboy, Penthouse, etc.)

4. Prominent people : People are interested in the activities
of the notable. In this case, Yossavadee Hassadeevichit is
considered one of the Thai super models. She is well-known
for her sexy poses. This time when she outrageously
featured on the magazine, the public was definitely attracted
to the matter.

5. Federal and other governments : The matter got heated up
when it was criticized by the federal organizations
such as the Ministry of Culture, the Commission of Religion,
the Office of Police and so on. The matter would have
been less questioned if that credit card had not been issued
by Krungthai Bank, a state-owned bank .

6.Timeliness: When concerned parties poured out their views,
it made good news. The media keep updating the matter
by interviewing particular persons involved to capture the audience.

This problematic fashion shoot got a blast of criticism
and comments for two major reasons. One undoubtedly
involves overly sexual exposure in the Thai context.
The other is on the relevance of the use of supposedly nudity
as the selling point with the product of a credit card;
especially , one issued by a state-owned bank.

The following are some of the remarks from Manager,
Daily News, and Kom Chad Luek newspapers on February 25,
2004 respectively:

Credit Card to be Questioned ‘ Art or Pornographic?

“ Naked… Yo-Yossavadee Hassadeevichit a super model posed
with her boyfriend for a credit card advertisement.
It has drawn a lot of criticism. The bank issuing the card
maintains the shoot is fine.”

“ I need not say anything. Though nipples, pubic hair and
the sex organ are covered, leaving it to the viewers’
imagination, this is an example of selling sex.

It is even worse to see the advertisement is for a credit
card issued by a state-owned bank” said Veerasak Kowsurat,
Deputy Minister, the Ministry of Culture.

Even today the definitions of pornography and art
are still unclear. That applies to Thai society as well,
as Commander Lieutenant Picharn Jittirat, Commander,
Office of the Police stated in Kom Chad Luek newspaper of
February 26, 2004, “In Thailand the law states that sexually
offensive materials are pictures with the sex organ exhibited.
And with this very attribute, it is breaking the law.”

The distinctions between nude and sexy attributes have long
been in dispute but no clear-cut criteria have been established.
After all one person’s pornography may be another’s art.
But from these headlines on the first pages of well-known
newspapers and magazines, it is conclusive that not
the whole Thai community ethically and conscientiously
approves this printed matter. It surely has upset and offended
concerned parties in particular.

But a more frustrating part lying beneath all this is the way
the media responded to the matter. This advertorial fashion
shoot made itself “ the talk of the town” and had its presence
all over the media. This hot issue got the media’s attention
right away. Thai people got informed about the matter and its
controversy but in a light and shallow level .

All the media had to say was about the figures and postures
of the two models, the two sides of opinions (those who like
and dislike ), accusative attacks from the state organizations
and defensive claims and explanations from the producers.

What was lacking was the media’s own viewpoints and critiques.
As the watchdog of the society, the media are expected to
not only tell but also explain what is going on. But for this issue,
unlike all other political, economic or social issues, there were
no irrefutable and concrete conceptions towards this one.
The media never voiced out their point of view whether or not
it was nudity, and whether not it is acceptable in Thai society.

However a very unexpected and unlikely source of definite
conviction on the matter was the model herself when she appeared
on the TV program called “ Samakom Chom Dow”, basically
a light – hearted and entertaining talk show late at night.

In the show, Yossavadee was asked whether she would take
more fashion shooting jobs that expose a lot of skin in the future.
Yosawadee simply said no. Then she talked about this credit card
fashion and referred to it as nudity. She also mentioned that
it was too much for Thai society . And she apologized for that.


All of the arguments presented here lead to two pleas to post
on the media. One is the request on the ethical standards for
ruling judgments over sexually indecent material. The other is
the moral sensibilities of the media in setting proper boundaries
to accommodate both the producers and concerned public.

We can see that when dealing with touchy and controversial issues
on sexuality, the media seem to adopt an intermittent and
unstable standpoint on their duties and functions towards
the society. In other words they are unable to accomplish
what they are supposed to do.

According to one of the best known and foremost theories
discussing the media’s functions ; Lasswell’s Three Functions
( Littlejohn, 1996 ), the media are to perform the following :

1. Surveillance of the Environment : The media are to gather
and disseminate the information to society. For this function,
it can be stated that the media have done a satisfactory job
since people are informed of new events almost at
the real-time basis.

But what to ask for more from the media is the way they treat
the stories and their presentation styles. They should show
more respect and civility when publicizing the sex-concerned stories.
Doing so the media’s professionalism will be recognized
and elevated. Thus more credits and credentials will be granted.

2. Correlation of the Parts of Society : The media should also explain
and interpret the news to help the members of the society
understand the whole sense of it. Clearly, the media have not
fulfilled this requirement.

From the two cases mentioned, it is seen that the media fail to
make people understand what is going on, its backgrounds,
consequences and end results.

These aspects should be linked and weaved together to create
thorough understanding of the big picture of the matter.

From the contents and the presentation styles, it seems the media
just want to excite the crowd with new details. And they apparently
lost the ethical battle to the competition. The news stories should be
reported in order to make people aware of the incident in a form of
educational and informative, not entertaining pieces.

3.Transmission of the Social Heritage : The media should pass on the
social and cultural values from one generation to the next. For this
very function, the media seem to fail badly. It can’t be denied
that in this fast-paced society, we need timely and up-to-date
information. But at the end of the day, the media should offer
comprehensive sets of instructions and guidelines so that people can
develop themselves accordingly. What could be added are more
analyses and critiques from the media.

However, before they can direct or guide people on what is right
and what is wrong, they need to have their firm standpoints of
their own and should hold on those.

To conclude, the media, viewed as a crucial institution in a community,
are supposed to help people keep abreast of what is happening out
there by performing the three functions stated. Humanity in general
is supposedly better off after reading or hearing or seeing the news
brought to them by the media for one reason. It gives them knowledge.

Certain expectations are placed on the media as mentioned in Agee,
Ault and Emery’s Introduction to Mass Communication,
that journalists are to endure hardships, danger, and even give
their lives to make people know the truth as best they can find it.

They should insist on accuracy, professionalism and sensitivity
in reporting.

Take Janet Jackson’s breast show on the live broadcast of Super Bowl
as an example. The day after the incident occurred, the Federal
Communication Commission (FCC), the main government media
watchdog in America swiftly demanded a thorough investigation as
the matter was considered offensive causing national controversy
and outrage among the viewers. Then CBS television which showed
the game quickly apologized. The matter shows how the media
are monitored and demonstrates their act of social responsibility.

Now that the censorship on the press no longer exists in Thailand,
some possible schemes to be used to inspect the practices of
the media are

1) to have the Ombudsman System : This is a kind of self-criticism.
Thai press could have a board or commission hired to investigate
questionable and problematic journalistic conduct and give comments
or recommend actions.

2) to empower and strengthen those journalistic organizations such as
the Press Council of Thailand, Thai Journalist Association etc.
These institutions should be recognized and accredited as a
regulatory apparatus by the public, the government
and the press themselves.

However, to make these work, we need to have strict rules
and regulations, unanimous code of ethics together with grave
penalty like what they have in the United States, Sweden, etc.
The journalist should obtain a license for his of her professionalism.
Unethical and socially irresponsible media practitioners and
organizations are to be punished and suffered.

Having all these hopefully will uplift journalistic standards of conduct.
With their better moral and ethical conscience, the media will
eventually be awarded with the public’s trust and respect.
In that sense the media themselves will really have become the
fourth estate as they have been thought of.









References

English

Agee K., Ault H. and Emery E. Introduction to Mass Communication.
12th Edition. Longman, 1997.

Children’s Rights Protection Foundation Director Warns the Media.
Bangkok Post. November 22,2003: 2

Day A. Ethics in Media Communication :Cases and Controversies. 2nd
Edition. Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1997.

F.W. Hodgson. Modern Newspaper Practice : A Primer on the Press.
4th Edition. Focal Press, 1996.

Littlejohn W. Theories of Human Communication. 5th Edition.
Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1996.


Thai

23 Year-Old Teacher Rapes 13 Year-Old Student. Kom Chad Luek.
November 19,2003: 1.

Big shock . Female Teacher Rapes Male Ninth- Grader. Thairath.
November 19,2003: 1.

Credit Card to be Questioned ‘ Art or Pornographic? Manager.
February 25, 2004: 1.

Naked… Yo-Yossavadee Hassadeevichit a Super Model Posted with
Her Boyfriend for a Credit Card Advertisement. Daily News.
February 25, 2004: 1.

Thai Laws with Loopholes. Kom Chad Luk. February 25,2004: 4.

Talk show. Samakom Chom Dow, March 24 , 2004.

Teacher Defended the Boy Came on to Her. Khao Sod. November 19,
2003: 1.

Weird.. Horny Teacher Tricked Student to Rape. Daily News.
November 19, 2003: 1.

http://www.thairath.co.th/. November 20-22,2003.
http://www.dailynews.co.th/. November 19-20,2003.
http://www.komchadluek.com/. November 19-22,2003.
http://www.khaosod.co.th/. November 20-22,2003.
http://www.nationgroup.co.th/. February 8-9,2004.