The recent Virginia Tech shootings have sparked media interest all over the world, but have journalists gone too far this time in getting their front page exclusives?
It has been revealed that journalists were using bloggers and facebook accounts, by sending messages to witnesses of the shootings, in an attempt to get them to speak out about their terrifying experience, despite being warned to stay away. Journalists have a reputation for being intrusive and willing to go to any lengths for a story, but this was purely insensitive. The students had just witnessed their friends being shot in a frenzied attack, yet the journalists didn't seem to care about giving them space to allow them to grieve in privacy. This latest ethically wrong tactic hasn't done journalists' reputation any good.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Phone-in scandal: a media frenzy?
Today's front pages are littered with articles about GMTV's latest phone-in scandal, investigation and the recent findings. For a day time TV show that previously held a high reputation of itself among it's audience, it's not looking too good for them, as recent evidence proves the popular show can be linked to fraudulent activities associated with phone-in competitions. However, it's not just GMTV under investigation. Since the phone-in scandal was discovered a few months ago, various other popular TV shows-including Blue Peter-have been accused of dishonesty to their viewers when holding phone-in competitions.
Amidst all of the coverage in the newspapers of recent, there is a programme on the so-called 'scandal' being advertised on the BBC, in which phone-in competitions are portrayed to be fraudulent, misleading and untrustworthy. Is this just another example of the media making something out of nothing by multiplying it by 10 to make it newsworthy?
GMTV released a statement today claiming they had no involvement in such activities; all of their phone-in competitions take place through a strict role of conduct basis. They also claim that the phone-in competitions are operated by another company who is responsible for deciding on winners and the phone-in charges. So how is it that the papers just point the blame directly to GMTV and the company actually responsible for this scandal goes unscathed?
The reputation of GMTV and Blue Peter has been damaged to a severe extent already, despite there being no conclusion from the investigation. Viewers of both shows put their trust into the programmes when participating in competitions. For the loyal fans of both shows, this media frenzy may have affected their decision to participate in future competitions, as well as affecting the viewing stats.
Until OFCOM finish with their investigations, there is no way of knowing whether the media hype is justified. If however GMTV is found not guilty of the scandal, the media will be responsible for ruining a well established and highly regarded reputation which has been built up over decades.
Amidst all of the coverage in the newspapers of recent, there is a programme on the so-called 'scandal' being advertised on the BBC, in which phone-in competitions are portrayed to be fraudulent, misleading and untrustworthy. Is this just another example of the media making something out of nothing by multiplying it by 10 to make it newsworthy?
GMTV released a statement today claiming they had no involvement in such activities; all of their phone-in competitions take place through a strict role of conduct basis. They also claim that the phone-in competitions are operated by another company who is responsible for deciding on winners and the phone-in charges. So how is it that the papers just point the blame directly to GMTV and the company actually responsible for this scandal goes unscathed?
The reputation of GMTV and Blue Peter has been damaged to a severe extent already, despite there being no conclusion from the investigation. Viewers of both shows put their trust into the programmes when participating in competitions. For the loyal fans of both shows, this media frenzy may have affected their decision to participate in future competitions, as well as affecting the viewing stats.
Until OFCOM finish with their investigations, there is no way of knowing whether the media hype is justified. If however GMTV is found not guilty of the scandal, the media will be responsible for ruining a well established and highly regarded reputation which has been built up over decades.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
