A Beginners Guide to Public Interest.

A journalist is supposed to work in the public interest but what the may or may not entail is often unclear. In a industry where public interest is used to justify the breach of ethical codes and laws is it important to know what information is in the public interest and what information is simply of interest to the public. In this essay I will attempt an examination of the two concepts and ask if there is a different between a journalist exposing something in the public interest and writing something, because it is of interest to the public.

To examine the difference between something in the public interest and something that is of interest to the public a journalist must first unpack the meaning of the word interest because in each phrase it has different connotations. The two definitions of interest that are relevant to the question are:

• The feeling of wanting to know or learn about something or someone: “She looked about her with interest.”
• The advantage or benefit of a person or group: “We are acting in the best interests of our customers.”

[Oxford Dictionary. (2015). (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/interest)]

While these different connotations of interest are now unpackaged for the journalist to understand it doesn’t differentiate between which information is of benefit to the public and which is of interest to the public. While the differentiation is subjective varying between journalists a number of journalistic authorities have published guidelines to help journalists understand what information is of benefit to the public.

The two journalistic authorities that will guide the journalist to defining what information is of benefit to the public are the Press Complains Commission (PCC) and OFCOM. The PCC explicitly states that public interest is not confined to their definitions as if it is interpreted to narrowly or widely the code would constrain investigative journalism. Their guidelines are:

• Detecting or exposing crime or serious impropriety.
• Protecting public health and safety.
• Preventing the public from being misled by an action or statement of an individual or organisation.

[Editors Code Book. p1. Press Complains Commission (PCC). (2011) (http://www.pcc.org.uk/assets/449/Public_Interest.pdf) (http://www.pcc.org.uk/assets/696/Code_of_Practice_2012_A4.pdf)]

The PCC also makes a point that there is no exclusivity between what is of interest to the public and public interest, for example Wikileaks published a draft of the Intellectual Property Rights chapter for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which is a subject to both public interest and an interest to the public.

[Wikileaks publishes draft of secretive TPP trade pact. CNET. (2013). (http://www.cnet.com/news/wikileaks-publishes-draft-of-secretive-tpp-trade-pact/) (https://wikileaks.org/Second-release-of-secret-Trans.html)

In conclusion to answer the question: Is there a difference between a journalist exposing something in the public interest and writing something, because it is of interest to the public? The answer is both yes and no, public interest and interest of the public are not mutually exclusive ideals. A journalist is able to expose and write something that is of interest to the public provided that is also in the public interest. In a Communications Committee regarding the future of investigative journalism Alan Rusbridger, former editor-in-chief of The Guardian said:

“The first bar is to consider the harm of what is going to be done. So if you are going to do things—all journalism has an impact—what is the harm going to be that results from what you do? The second is: what is the good that is going to result from what you do; what is the public good that you are trying to achieve? The third is proportionality. Are the methods that you are thinking of using proportional to the aims that you are trying to achieve, and could they be achieved in another way?”

[The future of investigative journalism – Communications Committee. 100. Parliment.uk (2012). (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201012/ldselect/ldcomuni/256/25606.htm)

The methods used to procure the information and the harm they may incite must reflect the beneficial good the information will entail. OFCOM concides when saying:

“We only [use hidden microphones] when we are pretty certain that we’ve got very good reason to do it.”

[The Public Interest, the Media and Privacy. Morrison & Svennevig. (2002) (3.14) (http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/bsc/pdfs/research/pidoc.pdf)

Without the justification of a beneficial good to the public there is no public interest. A journalist violating privacy to procure information that is of interest of the public but no benefit to the public is not a justification for the privacy violation. The beneficial good to the public a piece of information holds is the difference between public interest and interest to the public.

My Father’s Suicide & Star Trek

Professor Green’s Suicide and Me documentary aired last week, articles on male suicide have been popping up on major news sites and #BiggerIssues has been going on for some time. It would be an injustice to not to talk about my fathers suicide and the impact it had on me.

The story of my father’s suicide mirrors many others, on Wednesday May 29th 2013 in the afternoon my mother came home from work crying, called my brother and I down into the living room; “It’s your Dad, he’s hanged himself.” she said. I heard this on the cusp of my 21st birthday and 2 years on it stands as the day my adolescence ended and sadly as a definitive moment of my life.

The time before a funeral is a purgatory of tears, shock and disbelief which followed me through the weeks until it’s time, I half expected Dad to burst through the doors behind us misquoting Mark Twain shouting: “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” but it didn’t come. The curtains closed, my father was cremated and my brother, grandfather and I stood outside thanking the handful of guests for coming; many of whom where my grandfather’s friends.

Before my fathers death my brother and I saw him a few weeks prior, we watched Star Trek: Into Darkness and he was fine; he looked good and appeared happy. I always thought of comedy as a way to help the healing process and to make awful things seem less awful, so I joke about how the movie was so bad it drove my father to suicide. In reality while I don’t know what drove him to the point where he would make the decision to take his life, but looking back on my fathers life there were clear signals that he was not okay.

My father was a severely unhappy man. He was in massive debt, his sister died of alcohol poisoning, he had very little in the way of friends, his third marriage was failing and he would suffer from mood swings where he would go from a “happy chappy”, to scarily angry and then so sad he would sleep for days. I learned that the last days before his death were not happy; his wife kicked him out over a domestic dispute and he was living with his father in the house he grew up in and where he would later hang himself.

As far as I’m aware my father never looked for help which is a common occurrence. I’ve personally fallen into this trap except I was lucky enough to get better. I’ve tried to rationalise why men don’t ask for help and it’s not an easy answer; some blame it society and it’s expectations of men while others blame biology and the anatomy of the male brain. There is no definitive answer and I don’t expect to find one, I only know that the current average of male suicide is 12 deaths a day which is unacceptable.

Not a day goes by where I don’t miss my Dad, he’ll never be at my wedding and he’ll never hold his grandchildren. My room is filled with photos of him, old RAF stuff as well as his old knick-knacks from a half strung guitar to an old mug with his name on it. I miss my Dad so much, I miss his big bushy beard and his stupid quirks but most of all I hate that he’s never going to see how happy my brother and I are because I know that would have made him happy.

For men it takes incredible strength to be willing to appear vulnerable, I’m lucky enough to have people I’m comfortable crying in front of, albeit very rarely. It’s very difficult to find comfort from a call centre or warmth in a doctors office and I think hell will freeze over before a majority of men will express genuine emotion to each other.

I really don’t know how to end this one, I would like to end it on a high note but I don’t know if things will get better. There’s a new Star Trek movie coming out in 2016 and I don’t want any more people to kill themselves. #StopStarTrek