There is no real journalists’ code of ethics
By Zan Azlee

Journalists’ code of ethics is something hot on many people’s lips these days because of the recent incident where a newspaper photographer was punched at a funeral service.

He was taking pictures at the funeral of a victim of the MH17 tragedy when he was assaulted by a family member. He suffered a cut nose and a damaged camera.

When news of the incident first surfaced, many people were on the photographer’s side, claiming that he was just doing his job and he became a victim of assault.

He made a police report and the media also reported it like it was. Even journalist associations started condemning the act, calling for action to be taken against the assailant.

Then the other side of the story started emerging, as it always does. Apparently, the photographer (and other journalists there) was not respecting the grieving family’s privacy.

Now, I don’t really know the exact details since I wasn’t there, neither have I spoken to the photographer, the family members or anyone at the scene.

But here’s my two cents’ worth of what I think about the journalists’ code of ethics. There is no fixed code of ethics practised by journalists. [Click to read the full article at The Malaysian Insider]