ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors give a drugs scenario as the background to explore issues about media law and reporters' ethics to help the reader think about some of the interview contexts involved. A women’s magazine featured a cover story with the TV star distraught at the graveside of the man’s dead son. There are also rumours of police corruption. Several prominent business people are alleged to be laundering drug money. In the Australian context, Pearson states that 'continuous telephone calls, persisting despite requests that they cease, could be considered a nuisance, while a series of phone calls merely seeking an interview for a story would not normally be considered as such. Jane Light decides to follow up on the parents’ claims about the TV star who apparently introduced their children to heroin. Journalists need to be cautious about some issues when interviewing to avoid defamation.
