Tag Archives: ethics

November 23, 2015 · 10:29 am

Drilling down on suppression orders – with a call for reform #mediaiplaw

Suppression orders should be precise and address imminent publications likely to prejudice the case, not be futile and should only follow a request for removal, University of Melbourne senior lecturer Jason Bosland explained to the 2015 IP and Media Law Conference at the University of Melbourne Law School today (November 23).

Melbourne University’s Jason Bosland calls for reform of suppression orders

However, the courts continue to issue broad suppression orders that lack these qualities. Presenting a paper co-authored with Timothy Kyriakou, he explained that most suppression orders covered prior convictions and the vast majority were made against the “world at large” rather than at specific individuals or organisations.

“This indicates that orders are being made as a general precaution in a lot of cases rather than in response to an imminent publication,” he said.

He suggested reforms limiting magistrates’ court powers, giving all levels of the court system the same suppression order powers. Another anomaly was that the Supreme Court lacked power to issue a suppression order to ensure the safety of a person, a power held by the Magistrate’s Court.

His abstract explained:

In recent years, decisions in Victoria and New South Wales have considered the power of courts under the common law to restrain the publication of prejudicial material by the media, particularly in light of such material being published, or potentially published, on the internet.

This paper distills the principles established in those cases. It also considers whether and to what extent they continue to be relevant following the introduction of the Open Courts Act 2013 in Victoria and the Court Suppression and Non-publication Orders Act 2010 in New South Wales. It then examines the making of such orders in Victoria and assesses whether the courts have been complying with the relevant principles. Finally, some suggestions for reform are presented.

In his paper ‘The media’s standing to challenge departures from open justice’, Curtin Law School’s Michael Douglas argued the media was disadvantaged by suppression orders in ways most other parties were not.

Departures from open justice directly affect the legal rights and interests of media organisations. He argued that at common law, media organisations may intervene as of right, as a matter of natural justice, in any proceedings contemplating a departure from open justice.

“Open justice is essential to the integrity of our justice system. When a court departs from open justice, it is appropriate that media organisations are able to question whether the circumstances warrant the departure,” his paper stated. The paper addressed the issue of non-party media organisations’ standing to challenge departures from open justice.

In several jurisdictions, the issue is resolved by statute, but the position is not uniform around Australia.

The paper explained the position under the differing statutes and at common law. It focused on the common law position which remained in some jurisdictions, where the standing of media organisations was controversial.

“The orthodox view, expressed in older NSW authorities, is that media organisations have no absolute right to be heard at common law,” he stated, challenging that orthodoxy, following a contrary, Western Australian line of authority. The paper explored the link between principles of standing and the principles of natural justice drawn from High Court decisions.

The full conference program is here. Our paper (Pearson, Bennett and Morton) is titled ‘Mental health and the media: a case study in open justice’ (see earlier blog here).

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Disclaimer: While I write about media law and ethics, nothing here should be construed as legal advice. I am an academic, not a lawyer. My only advice is that you consult a lawyer before taking any legal risks.

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Tagged as ABC, communication and media law centre, communication ethics, copyright, disruption, ethics, intellectual property, journalism ethics, law, media, media law, Tom Morton, university of melbourne

November 23, 2015 · 9:24 am

How startups focus on the execution of business plans, with less intent on controlling IP

By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw

Entrepreneurs might undertake strategies that abandon formal IP protection in favour of being quicker to market and investing in capabilities – that is, focussing on an idea’s execution – University of Toronto Professor Joshua Gans told the 2015 IP and Media Law Conference, in his keynote address at the University of Melbourne Law School today (November 23).

Professor Joshua Gans delivering the keynote to the Media and IP Law Conference at the University of Melbourne.

He unveiled an economic model developed with colleagues Scott Stern and Kenny Ching featuring two key propositions.

“Execution allows you to maintain market leadership so control buys you only delay,” he said.

“Control only is cost in that regard. It only delays you without giving you additional benefit.

“Even aside from resource constraint issues, control and execution are substitute strategies. The whole is not greater than the sum of the parts. You want to advise firms to pursue control or execution but not both.”

He explained execution-oriented firms will hit key milestones more quickly and will be less dependent on significant venture capital investment.

He argued against what he said was the common assumption of IP analysis that the strength and use of IP is exogenous.

“Here I argue that is is endogenous and depends on the choices of entrepreneurs/innovators in their business strategy,” he promised in his abstract.

“I demonstrate that entrepreneurs can undertake strategies that abandon formal IP protection in favour of being quicker to market and investing in capabilities — that is, focussing on execution.”

Joshua Gans is a Professor of Strategic Management and holder of the Jeffrey S. Skoll Chair of Technical Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto (with a cross appointment in the Department of Economics). Since 2013, he has also been Area Coordinator of Strategic Management. He is also Chief Economist of the University of Toronto’s Creative Destruction Lab. In 2012, Joshua was appointed as a Research Associate of the NBER in the Productivity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program.

He has also co-authored (with Stephen King and Robin Stonecash) the Australasian edition of Greg Mankiw’s Principles of Economics (published by Cengage), Core Economics for Managers (Cengage), Finishing the Job (MUP) and Parentonomics (New South/MIT Press). Most recently, he has written an eBook, Information Wants to be Shared (Harvard Business Review Press).

The full conference program is here. Our paper (Pearson, Bennett and Morton) is titled ‘Mental health and the media: a case study in open justice’ (see earlier blog here).

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November 19, 2015 · 8:41 am

How to challenge a ban on naming a mental health patient

By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw

UTS colleague Associate Professor Tom Morton, ABC lawyer Hugh Bennett and I will deliver a paper in Melbourne next week on our experiences applying to the Mental Health Tribunal of NSW for permission to name a forensic mental health patient in an ABC documentary and in our academic works.

The occasion is the 2015 IP and Media Law Conference, hosted by the Centre for Media and Communications Law at the University of Melbourne Law School, November 23-24. The full program is here. I plan to blog a few of the highlights of the sessions I attend.

Our paper is titled ‘Mental health and the media: a case study in open justice’ and we present on the first morning of the conference. Here is its abstract:

News and current affairs reportage about forensic mental health cases raises a host of competing interests, including the public’s right to know about mental health tribunal processes; a patient’s right to privacy, treatment, and recovery; and victims’ and the broader community’s interest in learning the longer term consequences of a publicised serious criminal act. This article details a case study of the legal processes involved in applications for permissions to identify a forensic mental health patient in NSW in an Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio National Background Briefing documentary ‘The Man Without a Name’ and in subsequent research blogs and scholarly works including this article. It begins by backgrounding the restrictions on publicising mental health tribunal cases in Australia, summarising the case study, examining the specific restrictions applying to the Mental Health Review Tribunal in NSW, detailing the processes followed in the successful application by the authors to name the patient, comparing the case with Australian and British cases, and making some recommendations for further research and reform.

Tom and I recently co-authored an article on the ethics of that same experience in Pacific Journalism Review, titled ‘Zones of silence: Forensic patients, radio documentary, and a mindful approach to journalism ethics’. Here is our abstract. Full contents of the edition and subscription details can be seen here. Reference: Morton, T. and Pearson, M. (2015). Zones of silence: Forensic patients, radio documentary, and a mindful approach to journalism ethics. Pacific Journalism Review, 21(2), 11-32.

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Tagged as ABC, Background Briefing, Buddhism, Buddhist journalism, communication ethics, Eightfold Path, ethics, forensic patients, journalism ethics, law, mark pearson, media, media law, mental health, mindful journalism, mindfulness, NSW Mental Health Act, radio documentary, Right Speech, Shelton Gunaratne, The Man Without A Name, Tom Morton

October 6, 2015 · 2:03 pm

Zones of silence: Forensic patients, radio documentary, and a mindful approach to journalism ethics

By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw

Congratulations to Pacific Journalism Review editors David Robie, Annie Goldson and Barry King on their newly released special edition ‘Documentary Practice in the Asia-Pacific’.

I was honoured to be invited by research colleague Associate Professor Tom Morton from UTS to co-write an article centred upon the law and ethics behind his ABC Background Briefing documentary ‘The Man Without A Name’, broadcast in 2014. In the article we detail the story behind the documentary and the legal and ethical challenges we faced in navigating the publishing restrictions of the NSW Mental Health Act and some related legislation.

PJR Special Edition vol21(2) OP FINAL CORRECTED 685wide_0

Cover of the special Pacific Journalism Review edition Volume 21 (2)

Here is our abstract:

This article explains a collaborative and critically reflective journalism research project stemming from the wish of an incarcerated forensic mental health patient to be named in public communication about his case. The authors are academics and journalists who embarked upon a combination of journalism, legal processes and academic research to win the right to name Patient A in a radio documentary and in academic works—including this journal article and research blogs. As a case study, it explains the theoretical and ethical considerations informing the journalism and the academic research, drawing upon traditions of documentary production, the principle of open justice and the ethical framework of ‘mindful journalism’. It concludes by drawing lessons from the project that might inform future practitioners and researchers embarking upon works of journalism and research involving vulnerable people and a competing set of rights and public interests.

Full contents of the edition and subscription details can be seen here.

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September 4, 2015 · 10:11 am

Mindful journalism in focus on @RNmediareport

By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw

Mindful journalism was the focus of a segment on Radio National’s Media Report (@RNmediareport) this week (September 3, 2015) when I was interviewed by host Richard Aedy (@richardaedy) on the application of Buddhist ethics to reporting.

Interested? You can listen to the 10 minute segment here.

Our book Mindful Journalism and News Ethics in the Digital Era: A Buddhist Approach (Shelton Gunaratne, Mark Pearson and Sugath Senarath eds; Routledge, NY, 2015) explored the possibilities of applying mindfulness techniques to journalism practice.

I’ve also written a shorter account of the basic principles in the journal Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics, and the editors have been kind enough to make that article available for free viewing as a feature item on their website here. You might also want to explore some of their other fascinating articles on media ethics here and perhaps subscribe.

I’ve also written an article on the “Right Speech” aspect of mindful journalism for the International Communication Gazette titled ‘Enlightening communication analysis in Asia-Pacific: Media studies, ethics and law using a Buddhist perspective’. Its abstract and link to the full article is available here.

The article backgrounds important critiques of the Western approach to communication studies, and considers how globalized communication and media studies has become, before exemplifying how a secular Buddhist perspective might offer 2,500 year-old analytical tools that can assist with media analysis, law and ethics.

The article proposes the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths and their associated Noble Eightfold Path (magga) can be fruitful tools for informing communication theory and analysis, and media law and ethics.

The article begins by assessing the extent to which communication and media studies in Asia and the Pacific has shifted to accommodate non-Western approaches.

In media analysis, it suggests the Buddha’s teachings on Right Speech (samma vaca) offer key understandings to assist with the deconstruction of media texts. In media law and ethics, it extends the application of Right Speech principles to comparing defences to libel (defamation) as they have developed in four Western jurisdictions.

Here is a brief extract on that aspect:

In this globalised, multi-cultural and multi-jurisdictional Web 2.0 era there should be no reason why the Judeo-Christian lens should have a monopoly on our examination of communication law. A mindful reading of defamation law benefits from a consideration of both Right Speech principles and concepts of necessary truth-telling. While it is far-fetched to expect judges and legislators in the West would turn to Buddhism for the reform of defamation law, an effort to abide by truth-telling and Right Speech principles could operate effectively when professional communicators are attempting to avoid libel litigation when pursuing their stories. Further, they present excellent tools for an alternative analysis.

Analysis of the development of defamation defences in Canada, the UK, Australia and the U.S. benefit from a Buddhist reading. In Grant v. Torstar Corp., 2009 SCC 61, [2009] 3 S.C.R. 640, the Supreme Court of Canada developed a ‘responsible communication’ defence to defamation for matters which might not have been able to be proven absolutely as true, but were still diligently reported and were clearly in the public interest to be aired within the spirit of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protection of free expression. ..

It is possible to implement a Buddhist approach using the Right Speech teachings from the Noble Eightfold Path to conduct an analysis in this area of communication law. The author proposes to do this more thoroughly in future work. However, for the purposes of this argument we might return to the Abhaya Sutta cited earlier and contrast these defences as they have been developed in these jurisdictions (Thanissaro, 1997). Crucial to the Canadian ‘responsible communication’ defence and its qualified privilege cousins in the UK and Australia is the extent to which reporters and publishers honestly believe in the truth of the defamatory material published, even though they might not have the firm evidence to prove this in court. They would pass the Buddhist (mindful journalism) test if they had an honest belief the material was “factual, true, beneficial” while perhaps being “unendearing and disagreeable to others”, as long as they had chosen the “proper time” for reporting it (Thanissaro, 1997). However, the U.S. defences driven by the First Amendment takes this liberty a step too far under this schema, because it allows unbeneficial, unendearing and disagreeable material to be published about public figures as long as it has not been done with malice. It also allows for untruthful gossip-mongering, as identified earlier in the Saleyyaka Sutta (Nanamoli, 1994) as ethically problematic. Such analysis shows promise in the field of media law analysis, reform and policy development because it provides a working ethical framework to apply to legislation and the fact scenarios of particular cases.

The article applies the ‘Right Speech’ principles of Buddhist ethics to analysis of the Royal family prank call episode which resulted in a High Court appeal in Australia and to a racial discrimination case heard in Australia’s Federal Court over comments on a West Australian news website.

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Tagged as Buddhism, Buddhist journalism, communication ethics, communication law, Communication theory, Dao of the Press, defamation, Eightfold Path, ethics, First Amendment journalism, law, libel, mark pearson, media, media law, Media Report, mindful journalism, mindfulness, Radio National, Richard Aedy, Right Speech, Shelton Gunaratne

May 29, 2015 · 3:26 pm

Towards a mindful approach to media law and ethics

By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw

How might we begin to apply Buddhist ethical systems to the analysis of media law and ethics?

I explore this question in an article just published online and to appear in a forthcoming print edition of the International Communication Gazette.

It is titled ‘Enlightening communication analysis in Asia-Pacific: Media studies, ethics and law using a Buddhist perspective’. Its abstract and link to the full article is available here.

The article begins by assessing the extent to which communication and media studies in Asia and the Pacific has shifted to accommodate non-Western approaches.

Here is a brief extract on that aspect:

In this globalised, multi-cultural and multi-jurisdictional Web 2.0 era there should be no reason why the Judeo-Christian lens should have a monopoly on our examination of communication law. A mindful reading of defamation law benefits from a consideration of both Right Speech principles and concepts of necessary truth-telling. While it is far-fetched to expect judges and legislators in the West would turn to Buddhism for the reform of defamation law, an effort to abide by truth-telling and Right Speech principles could operate effectively when professional communicators are attempting to avoid libel litigation when pursuing their stories. Further, they present excellent tools for an alternative analysis.

Analysis of the development of defamation defences in Canada, the UK, Australia and the U.S. benefit from a Buddhist reading. In Grant v. Torstar Corp., 2009 SCC 61, [2009] 3 S.C.R. 640, the Supreme Court of Canada developed a ‘responsible communication’ defence to defamation for matters which might not have been able to be proven absolutely as true, but were still diligently reported and were clearly in the public interest to be aired within the spirit of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protection of free expression. ..

It is possible to implement a Buddhist approach using the Right Speech teachings from the Noble Eightfold Path to conduct an analysis in this area of communication law. The author proposes to do this more thoroughly in future work. However, for the purposes of this argument we might return to the Abhaya Sutta cited earlier and contrast these defences as they have been developed in these jurisdictions (Thanissaro, 1997). Crucial to the Canadian ‘responsible communication’ defence and its qualified privilege cousins in the UK and Australia is the extent to which reporters and publishers honestly believe in the truth of the defamatory material published, even though they might not have the firm evidence to prove this in court. They would pass the Buddhist (mindful journalism) test if they had an honest belief the material was “factual, true, beneficial” while perhaps being “unendearing and disagreeable to others”, as long as they had chosen the “proper time” for reporting it (Thanissaro, 1997). However, the U.S. defences driven by the First Amendment takes this liberty a step too far under this schema, because it allows unbeneficial, unendearing and disagreeable material to be published about public figures as long as it has not been done with malice. It also allows for untruthful gossip-mongering, as identified earlier in the Saleyyaka Sutta (Nanamoli, 1994) as ethically problematic. Such analysis shows promise in the field of media law analysis, reform and policy development because it provides a working ethical framework to apply to legislation and the fact scenarios of particular cases.

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Tagged as Buddhism, Buddhist journalism, communication ethics, communication law, Communication theory, Dao of the Press, defamation, Eightfold Path, ethics, First Amendment journalism, law, libel, mark pearson, media, media law, mindful journalism, mindfulness, Right Speech, Shelton Gunaratne

April 27, 2015 · 2:40 pm

Lessons in ‘Right Speech’ and mindful communication in Queensland defamation case

By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw

THE comedians on the Ten network’s ‘The Project’ had some fun with defamation last Friday when they used a fairly sobering Queensland case as the reason to interview me on the basics of that law.

First up, a clarification. Near the end of the segment they seemed to imply quite incorrectly that I am a lawyer which, of course, I am not!

Mark Pearson (@journlaw) interviewed on The Project about defamation 24.4.15 [At 33 mins 15 secs]

There is a serious side to this. The Queensland case they used as the segue to my very rudimentary explanation of defamation law was Sierocki & Anor v Klerck & Ors (No 2) [2015] QSC 092 where Justice Flanagan had ordered a total of $260,000 in damages be awarded to the plaintiff and his company over various Internet slurs against them by his former business partner and others.

The defendants had earlier failed in their attempt to prove the truth of the imputations that the plaintiff was fraudulent; was a conman; had committed adultery; had used illegal drugs; was evil; was a thief; was a liar; and preyed on the innocent and that his company’s services were disreputable; unprofessional and encouraged threatening behaviour. Quite a slur indeed.

The Courier Mail reported earlier that the plaintiff was also suing Google for $2.6 million over its search results linking him to the sites containing those imputations.

The case is interesting for media law students for a range of reasons – the large award of damages, the fact that they were Internet publications, and for the proposed action against Google.

But I find the most instructive lesson is the extent to which a dispute between business partners can escalate so far out of control that one should take to the Internet to cast these kinds of aspersions against the other.

Justice Flanagan noted in the judgment that the cause of the original dispute was unknown, but the result has been enormous financial and emotional cost to all parties.

Our new book Mindful Journalism and News Ethics in the Digital Era: A Buddhist Approach (Shelton Gunaratne, Mark Pearson and Sugath Senarath eds; Routledge, NY) examined some of the causes of such disputes and the damage that language can cause to reputations and relationships.

I take this further in a forthcoming article in a special issue of the academic journal International Communication Gazette, edited by my Mindful Journalism lead editor Shelton Gunaratne.

In that article I examine the religious origins of defamation law and proceed to link it to the Buddhist concept of “Right Speech”, writing:

In this globalised, multi-cultural and multi-jurisdictional Web 2.0 era there should be no reason why the Judeo-Christian lens should have a monopoly on our examination of communication law. A mindful reading of defamation law benefits from a consideration of both Right Speech principles and concepts of necessary truth-telling. While it is far-fetched to expect judges and legislators in the West would turn to Buddhism for the reform of defamation law, an effort to abide by truth-telling and Right Speech principles could operate effectively when professional communicators are attempting to avoid libel litigation when pursuing their stories. Further, they present excellent tools for an alternative analysis.

The basic premise of Right Speech in Buddhism is that words should not be spoken (or written or published) if they are not factual or true, or if they are unbeneficial, unendearing or disagreeable to others. All of these elements seemed to apply in this case, or at least that was the tenor of the judgment. Of course, sometimes hard truths do need to be told, but we need to ensure they are provable as true or that we can operate under some other defence excusing their publication.

The Internet offers inordinate opportunities to those seeking to defame others. This is the latest in a series of judgments demonstrating that even when one side wins a record damages payout for defamation, nobody is really a winner when reputations are damaged for no defensible reason.

We need to look to our moral compass when speaking or writing ill of others and ask whether we have an ethical foundation for doing so.

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Tagged as Buddhist journalism, Dao of the Press, defamation, Eightfold Path, ethics, journalism, law, libel, mark pearson, media, media law, mindful journalism, mindfulness, Right Speech, Shelton Gunaratne, the project

March 18, 2015 · 9:50 am

New @journlaw updates posted in privacy, anti-terror and confidentiality of sources #MLGriff

By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw

We have just posted numerous updates to the fifth edition of The Journalist’s Guide to Media Law – A handbook for communicators in a digital world (Mark Pearson & Mark Polden, A&U, 2015) on the journlaw.com blog.

Order through Booktopia at http://www.booktopia.com.au/the-journalist-s-guide-to-media-law-mark-pearson/prod9781743316382.html

Thanks to Leanne O’Donnell (mslods.com / @mslods), Virginia Leighton-Jackson and Griffith University media freedom interns and students we have been posting fresh material via this blog’s Media Law Updates menu.

You can find updates on recent cases, legislation and Australian and international media law news on the following topic areas:

Social Media Law

Free Expression

Legal and regulatory systems

Open Justice and Freedom of Information

Contempt of Court

Covering Court

Defamation

Secrets, Confidentiality and Sources

Anti-terror and hate laws

IP and copyright

Privacy

Law of PR, Freelancing and New Media Entrepreneurship

The sheer pace of change in all areas of media law is astounding so we have have built several mentions of journlaw.com into the chapters and discussion questions as a go-to resource for media law students.

We would also appreciate your input – whether you are a student, journalist, academic or lawyer.

Please email any contributions to these update sections to me, Mark Pearson, at journlaw@gmail.com .

Of course, the book and the journlaw.com examples are not meant to offer actual legal advice. Professional communicators must seek that advice from a lawyer when confronted with a legal problem. The most we claim to do is offer an introduction to each area of media law so that journalists, PR consultants and bloggers can identify an emerging issue and thus know when to call for help.

Order via Booktopia: http://www.booktopia.com.au/the-journalist-s-guide-to-media-law-mark-pearson/prod9781743316382.html

Disclaimer: While I write about media law and ethics, nothing here should be construed as legal advice. I am an academic, not a lawyer. My only advice is that you consult a lawyer before taking any legal risks.

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Tagged as Australian media, ethics, free expression, freelancing, journalism, Journalist's guide to media law, law, mark pearson, mark polden, media, media law, mindfulness, open justice, PR law, press freedom, public relations

March 2, 2015 · 1:00 pm

Journlaw running updates to The Journalist’s Guide to Media Law

By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw

OUR fifth edition of The Journalist’s Guide to Media Law – A handbook for communicators in a digital world (Mark Pearson & Mark Polden, A&U, 2015) is now in bookshops and I will be running updates on each topic area via journlaw.com as we work towards the next edition.

Order through Booktopia at http://www.booktopia.com.au/the-journalist-s-guide-to-media-law-mark-pearson/prod9781743316382.html

Thanks to Leanne O’Donnell (mslods.com / @mslods), Virginia Leighton-Jackson and Griffith University media freedom interns and students we will be posting fresh material via this blog’s Media Law Updates menu.

There will be updates on recent cases, legislation and Australian and international media law news on the following topic areas:

Social Media Law

Free Expression

Legal and regulatory systems

Open Justice and Freedom of Information

Contempt of Court

Covering Court

Defamation

Secrets, Confidentiality and Sources

Anti-terror and hate laws

IP and copyright

Privacy

Law of PR, Freelancing and New Media Entrepreneurship

We would also appreciate your input – whether you are a student, journalist, academic or lawyer.

Please email any contributions to these update sections to me, Mark Pearson, at journlaw@gmail.com .

Order via Booktopia: http://www.booktopia.com.au/the-journalist-s-guide-to-media-law-mark-pearson/prod9781743316382.html

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February 19, 2015 · 11:53 am

‘Mindful Journalism’ out Feb 24: excerpt and review copy request form here

By MARK PEARSON Follow @Journlaw

We are excited that our book Mindful Journalism and News Ethics in the Digital Era: A Buddhist Approach (Shelton Gunaratne, Mark Pearson and Sugath Senarath eds; Routledge, NY) will be available from February 24.

Review copies are available from Routledge by filling out this request form. Please see the publisher’s synopsis.

The term ‘mindful journalism’ is a concept I introduced more than a year ago in the inaugural UNESCO World Press Freedom address at AUT University Auckland, drawing upon the earlier substantive work by my esteemed colleague (and lead editor of our book), Emeritus Professor Shelton Gunaratne, who has been working for decades on the intersection between Buddhism and journalism.

I developed my application of this in a paper to the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) conference in Dublin in July 2014, which was revised for publication as an article in Ethical Space published in December 2014.

It is being published as part of the Routledge New York Research in Journalism series. My key point was that one does not have to be a Buddhist to incorporate the key principles of mindful journalism into one’s work. In fact, most of these very moral principles are evident in the teachings of all the world’s great religions. However, for those who lack a moral framework for their ethical decision-making, a secular application of these non-theistic principles can offer a moral compass. They offer a series of normative or aspirational goals we can strive for, but rarely reach. They also provide a schema for the analysis of ethical decision-making by journalists.

To give you a taste of mindful journalism, I offer this short extract from my chapter on ‘The Journalist and Mental Cultivation’ in Mindful Journalism where I explore the possibilities of Buddhism’s ‘Right Mindfulness’ (meditation) for journalism:

A journalist could find value in several elements of this process – from the pausing to think about the duration of a single breath for calming purposes, followed by a self-assessment of thoughts, perspectives and feelings about the story or matter at hand, including breaths to acknowledge the changing nature of things, the separation of the journalist’s ego from the story, and breaths devoted to the implications of the story for those it might impact upon, from the individual who might suffer through their actions being exposed through to others who might benefit by learning from that person’s experience. Thinking about those thoughts might bring clarity to decisions related to the story – suitable priorities, whom to interview, what to check, questions to be asked, and how the facts might best be presented. Recording those thoughts – in a note or audio form – might offer a retrospective justification for the journalist’s actions if they are later called to account. Such metacognition can even become evidence in some court proceedings resulting from a story to demonstrate a journalist has acted in good faith in making “reasonable inquiries,” even if the publisher cannot prove the truth of the reputation-damaging material, as is the case with criteria for the qualified privilege defence in some jurisdictions.

Interested? You can read further extracts from the book using the “Look Inside” interface at Amazon. Enjoy.

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Tagged as Buddhist journalism, Dao of the Press, Eightfold Path, ethics, journalism, law, mark pearson, media, media law, mindful journalism, mindfulness, Right Speech, Shelton Gunaratne