Ethical standards should be appropriately followed by everyone, no matter their social class or status. When it is broken, false information can lead to charges being laid.
A report on 7 News.com follows these standards correctly, following New South Wales police, it features dash cam footage which reveal a police officer who is verbally harassing a citizen. The lady, only going by the title “Mai”, was told to turn into a parking lot for an RBT (Random Breath Test). She was then harassed by a nearby officer after having to wait in the line behind a van (Chapman, 2019).
Although the content displays unethical standards on the officer’s part, the report follows correct procedure. It doesn’t feature any evidence of false and misleading information, nor has any discriminatory content been included. The report includes clean and honest content.
The only possible issue which could be raised, is the consideration of a biased representation against the police officer. However, the additional footage supports an honest claim against the officer, and no further claims have been made that are not featured in the video. In addition to this, the article also ends on a positive and equal note, quoting that the “Safety of both the community and officers is paramount.” (Chapman, 2019). This reminds readers that they are not taking sides and continue to hold an equal view towards both parties.
“When she accused the officer of “harassing me for being careful”, he can be heard on the video replying: “I’m harassing you for being stupid.” “
Alex Chapman
This is quite pleasing as the publisher had the perfect chance to use this footage as leverage in negatively portraying the police force as a whole. The article could have easily been written with a strong bias against the force, yet it wasn’t. It follows correct ethical standards and keeps the slate clean, leaving the interpretation up to the belief to the viewers themselves.
Reference
Chapman, A. (2019). Police accused of harassing driver during Queen’s Birthday weekend breath testing. 7 News. Retrieved from https://7news.com.au/politics/law-and-order/police-accused-of-harassing-driver-during-queens-birthday-weekend-breath-testing-c-157582
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