1. A case study in ethical failure - Pacific Journalism Review

MEDIA ETHICS AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Bacon & Nash 2004). While this study focused on international stories, it is
likely to reflect local patterns.
Reporting deaths in custody: 1991-1995
The Royal Commission included thousands of days’ hearings in courts scattered
around Australia and resulted in many volumes of evidence and reports.
Daily reporting continued to cover some more newsworthy parts of the hearings,
although when the commission travelled to remote destinations, the media
was often left behind. The interim reports were covered and, as already explained,
the release of the final report itself turned into a minor media event.
Then the media again moved on. As suggested by the SMH, the ‘story was
over’.
Two years after the RCIADIC, the Australian Centre for Independent
Journalism began a project focusing on reporting of cultural diversity. Student
journalist Barbie McKee (1993) reported that the commission’s recommendations
were ‘strangely absent from our conscience and from the media
...The salient and urgent message seems to have moved from the realm of
social justice into a bureacratic, legal and administrative roundabout’ (Voices,
1993, p.6). The Voices editors found that the limited number of stories published
on deaths in custody usually failed to quote key Aboriginal sources
who were involved in the issue. They concluded, ‘we found ourselves returning
to the theme that a number of stories chosen could only be told by giving
those often denied a voice, a chance to express their views. Journalists place
great value on balance yet so often their so-called reliance on legitimate sources
leaves important parts of a story out. Hence our title Voices’ (Voices, 1993,
p. 2).
McKee interviewed the National Committee to Defend Black Rights
(NCDBR) spokesperson Maurice Walker who complained about the ‘turtle
pace’ of reform and the rising numbers of Aboriginal people being imprisoned,
and commented on the bitterness of relatives of those who had died.
When asked what he felt had been achieved, Deaths in Custody Watch committee
spokesperson Ray Jackson said, ‘Absolutely nothing. In fact a sum of
A$430 million is being spent and yet deaths in custody are still continuing. In
fact there have been 52 deaths since 1989 and nothing’s changed’ (Voices,
1993). These voices and views barely surfaced in the national or local media.
Just before McKee published her report in November 1993, deaths in
28 PACIFIC JOURNALISM REVIEW 11 (2) 2005