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to know Tsang. But in reality, quite the opposite
Tsang’s incident may ring a bell. is true, especially when the internet
The death of Princess Diana, back takes the lead. News stories are spread
in 1997, leaves a shocking impact on in a blink of an eye, and the journal-
the world until now. To shake off pa- ism industry turns a blind eye to ac-
parazzi, the driver drove at a very high countability. Many news practitioners
speed thus accidentally bumped into a make excuses by blaming the internet,
pillar, taking away Diana’s life. which allows readers to keep a record
This serves as a painful reminder: of news reports easily. They justify
tragic consequences could happen their reluctance to make correction by
if the press invades one’s private life. claiming that even if a mistake is cor-
How unfair it was for the princess. rected, false reports have been spread
When she tried to protect her privacy, already.
a fundamental human right, she sacri- Journalists can be so cruel that
ficed her life. they are seldom aware of the harm
The cases above are just the tip of they have caused. Ordinary people are
the iceberg. Not just famous people, often hurt by the media. In reporting
press nowadays are inclined to neglect a car accident, journalists may por-
privacy of the general public. Jour- tray a victim as a good father, men-
nalists must strike a balance between tioning his contribution to his family
seeking the truth and respecting pri- as a breadwinner over the years. But
vacy, for it is both a legal-moral and bringing this up has nothing to do
life-death issue. with the accident and will not com-
sitting next to Tsang in the car. The In journalism, there is no such fort the victim’s family. Rather, such
woman, who allegedly is the girlfriend thing as “what’s done is done”. When news rubs salt into the wounds by re-
of Tsang, had no direct relation to the a news story turns out to be fake, or minding the family their loss. What’s
cause of the accident. However, many people involved in certain news sto- worse, when they demand to remove
journalists tried to gossip about her ries demand to correct false descrip- such private contents from the news
relationship with Tsang by exposing tion about themselves, journalists and coverage, most journalists will refuse
her personal details, such as her ex- editors must take the responsibility to to do so.
husband, occupation, and how she got right the wrong. Cases like this happen all the time,
and it is very unethical for journalists
to turn a deaf ear to the voices of ordi-
nary people, simply because they are
not politicians or celebrities. Journal-
ists should put themselves into others’
shoes to produce news stories with
humanity that makes the world a bet-
ter place, but not harm.

Edited by Sarah Poon
& Fangdong Bai

Every news outlet must take journalistic responsibility