Cash for comment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Cash for comment - Essay Example Equivalently, this is to imply that given liberty of serving personal growth and interests alone without stepping over similar rights of other individuals, one may take pride in earning bucks filthy enough by the quantity and act to the extent of breaching terms of integrity. It is as if the condition imposed by the latter must be absent and related criticisms be relieved of for ‘Cash for Comment’ to prove its state of affairs blameless among involved parties, say of journalists primarily, who could be gaining mass after mass of wealth if allowed the entire freedom from elements of guilt with deliberate immodest advances. This, however, is never the case for the 1999 scandal in the field of mass communication which itself introduced the label phrase ‘Cash for Comment’ through major personalities known to have gone into certain wicked ways running counter to the intended course of noble and responsible journalism. To recall prominent names as John Laws, Alan Jones, 2UE, and the Australian Bankers’ Association is to likewise give key ideas that would in brief concretize depiction of the ‘Cash for Comment’ incident. In particular, the event marked the turning point in history of an industry for which heightened skepticisms were raised following ABC’s Media Watch program exposà © in July 1999 of Sydney’s talkback radio show host John Laws whose positive on-air opinions regarding financial institutions were alleged to have been arranged as merchandise for the sponsoring banks. Laws basically failed to disclose in public the nature of commercial negotiations made with the sponsors, leading thus to serious charges against the station’s licensee 2UE for not complying with suitable regulations set through the Commercial Radio Code of Conduct which by Australian Broadcasting Authority or ABA requires commercial radio licensees to ensure no viewpoints are misrepresented or relevant information is withheld . ABA divulged findings of breaches incurred by 2UE through Laws’s fault of promoting remarkable critique for banks and banking industry on-air which according to ABA was actually made with the objective of reducing negative comments by J. Laws â€Å"from a present average of four a week to nil, concurrently receive positive comments from Mr. Laws, over and above the paid advertisements..† (Johnson, 2000). So, during the incident John Laws, along with Alan Jones whose involvement eventually got dismissed, was in acquisition of massive sum or cash in return after granting affiliates the desired comments within the program and public forum. At this point, the presenter likely gave into a trance-like state of seeing nothing else of significance but his craft while no border distinguished his knowledge of integrity from that of editing a known existing truth. Such shameless deed of crossing the line that resulted to negligence of duty and of respect for responsible broadca sting deserves regulatory sanctions having violated the fourth section of the Broadcasting Services Act of 1992, stating â€Å"to encourage providers of commercial and community broadcasting to be responsive to the need for a fair and accurate coverage of matters of public interest and for appropriate coverage of matters of local significance.† (ABA, 2000). Similarly, the Commercial Radio Code of Conduct expressed agreement to the violation committed by the licensee based upon its requisite of guaranteeing that all advertisements be not