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4 / INSIGHT

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Responsibility

Responsible journalism cannot be more important now

By Charleen Chen

esponsible journalism can- what officials say without doing any a news story, most of the journalists
not be more important now. fact-checking. go all the way out to dig out as much
R When fake news goes viral To ensure accuracy, journalists information as pos-
around the globe in no time, a piece should never overly rely on interview- sible. Such an at-
of news coverage can act as a powerful ees, particularly government officials. titude is profes-
weapon. Grace Leung Lai-kuen, lecturer of the sional but it may
While Ethical Journalism Net- School of Journalism and Commu- invade other
work, an alliance of news workers nication at the Chinese University of people’s privacy.
aiming to strengthen journalism Hong Kong, notes questions officials Leung criti-
around the world, advocates the prin- receive can be categorised as expected cises that to make Grace Leung
ciples of ethical journalism, most me- and unexpected ones. Questions that news juicier, many Lai-kuen
dia practitioners are just paying lip are expected usually relate to big is- reporters go too far
service. When will the news industry sues, such as policies. The media can and deep when collecting informa-
start to drop all the ill practices and raise questions to information offic- tion, so much so that they put peo-
act responsibly? ers beforehand, so that officials can ple’s private life under the sunlight.
To err is human. Government of- prepare their answers. Questions that “Public information like deaths and
ficials may provide false information are unexpected may lead to rushed injuries in an accident is supposed to
from time to time even they are of- answers with incorrect information. be reported,” Leung continues, “but if

ten considered as a credible source. Journalists must check the fact by other things that are irrelevant to the
What needs to be taken care of is the doing additional research after inter- incident get published, it may become
way journalists handle information. views of such kind. a privacy issue.”
In most cases, reporters directly cite From interviewing to publishing Citing a car accident in Hokkaido
which involved Hong Kong famous
actor Eric Tsang as an example. Le-
Ethical Journalism Network proposed five core principles of journalism: ung says while public information in-
truth and accuracy, independence, fairness and impartiality, humanity, cluding drivers, injuries, and location
and accountability. is released, some news outlets reveal
a lot of information about a woman