Week 6 Blog Post: Rupert Murdoch Phone Scandal

Read up on the Rupert Murdoch phone scandal. You can find some links (from TIME online) I posted up in Week 6, as well as read up on the Newsweek coverage of the news. In relation to the news coverage on the scandal, answer the question: "The news media should be blamed for the unhealthy paparazzi culture and going to the extremes for sensational news. How far do you agree?"

I agree to a certain extent that the news media should be blamed for this unhealthy paparazzi culture and going to the extreme for sensational news. Although the news media are the ones who actually collect and distribute the sensational news, everyone is responsible one way or another.

News media want juicy news to create more publicity. Thus, they chase after sensational news such as the private lives of famous people. However, sometimes they cross the line and use underhand methods to obtain these sensational stories, sometimes even compromising their integrity and trust. For example, News of the World, whom Sara Payne trusted, hacked her phone and accessed her voice mails to get sensational news to publish. It was described as the “ultimate betrayal”. News corporations often compete with one another to be the first to get the information, and as such, news corporations become even more desperate, which causes them to use the wrong method of obtaining information.

However, the unhealthy paparazzi culture is not to be blames on the news media entirely. The reason why news corporations publish these sensational news is because of the high demand from the readers. People like hearing about gossips of the rich and the famous. Due to this strong appeal from the public, together with the interest of attracting readers, news media hunt high and low for delicious news.

Another group of people who might also be responsible for this unhealthy paparazzi culture would be the politicians. Before the phone scandal, British politicians would rather build relationships with Rupert Murdoch's empire than policing its reach. Apparently, they were afraid that Rupert Murdoch would publish the scandals of the politicians. The politicians were therefore afraid to intervene the unhealthy paparazzi culture.

Therefore, I believe that the news media, the public and the politicians all have a part to play. Thought it is easy to blame the news corporations, everyone is guilty of being part of the unhealthy paparazzi culture.