“Telling Tales In the Shadow of Giants: Canada, Ireland, and the Ethics of Crime Coverage.”

Authors

Romayne Smith Fullerton, The University of Western Ontario
M J. Patterson

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2016

Volume

31

Issue

3

Journal

Journal of Media Ethics

First Page

174

URL with Digital Object Identifier

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23736992.2016.1188010

Last Page

187

Abstract

A study done in Canada and Ireland and in the 2 countries that cast a long shadow of influences over them—the United States and England respectively—suggests that the press council/ombudsman self-governing structure recently implemented in Ireland might help the Canadian press to gain more independence from court controls and regain a deeper sense of its own stated mission. The study included in-depth interviews with journalists and scholars in all 4 countries, close readings of sample crime coverage, and examinations of prevailing ethics codes and accountability practices. The Irish said they are discovering that by foregrounding ethics, they have relaxed the battle against legal restraints and—to some measure—dug out from under the competitive pressures that had threatened to bury their primary mission.