ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses ethics of investigative journalism. Zran argues that journalism ethics relate to how to distinguish between the public interest, the individual and society’s right to be informed and a journalist’s right to access information. The judgement depends on the ethics of any decision, on the ethical framework used to justify it, and on the values adopted in this context. Ultimately, what journalists and editors need to decide is to determine who will benefit from the publication of his/her investigative reports in the first place. Zran also asks if the press is committed to the democratic accountability of officials, the question to be asked is whether or not the citizen will benefit fairly from the publication of newspaper investigations. Whose interest does investigative journalism serve when publishing a specific news story? Does the press fulfil its social responsibility to reveal corruption for instance? Who will be affected? And whose rights, can be violated? Most discussions on the ethics of investigative journalism, further argues Zran, have focused on whether there is an ideal method which can be useful in exposing the wrong behaviour of officials? Is resorting to deception considered legitimate when the aim of the journalist is to tell the truth?
