Ethical Issues of Crisis Reporting in Pakistani Media

Abstract

This study is based on the qualitative content analysis of three private televisions news “GEO, EXPRESS and DUNYA NEWS” to explore ethical issues such as irresponsible reporting, unauthentic information, and sensationalism in live reporting of the crisis. The main purpose of this study is to know whether or not television news channels violate ethics in live reporting of the crisis. All national and international bodies of journalism said that media must follow media ethics for the general interest of society as no society afford free and irresponsible media. Data in the form of different news reports of GEO, EXPRESS and DUNYA televisions has been collected carefully and analyzed. For the purpose of this study three incidents i.e Bhoja airplane crash, Jinnah Avenue incident and Wagah border Lahore blast have been selected to explore ethical issues in live coverage of the crisis. It has been observed that private television channels violate media ethics in live coverage of crisis due to many factors like the competitive nature of the market, less control of editorial policy, lack of training and awareness. The study suggests that all stakeholders including media houses, authorities and civil society should form a comprehensive code of conduct to ensure implementation of media ethics for the general interest of society.