Amanda Knox’s murder conviction was overturned by an Italian court on October 3, 2011. The American student had been charged with the murder of her British room mate in Perugia, Italy. The trial had been followed very closely by the media, national and international, and there were accusations of biased reporting. In this bibliography I will review two newspaper articles and a radio report on Knox’s acquittal and analyse them regarding bias and partiality. Stephen Ward’s journal article, which I review as well, provides one possible framework for such analysis. Ward’s article discusses an example of partial reporting in connection with patriotic bias, which is an especially interesting string of thought considering the internationality of the Knox story and its coverage.
Ward, S. J. A. (2007). Utility and Impartiality: Being Impartial in a Partial World. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 22(2-3), 151 – 167.
The author is currently a professor of journalism ethics at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has published and edited several works about media ethics (University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2010). In this particular journal article Ward develops a model of ethics in order to show how partiality can be integrated into impartial reasoning. Regarding ethical frameworks, Ward prefers an eclectic approach that “recognizes a plurality of principles and criteria” (Ward, 2007) over master-principal theories, “because they fail to capture the complexity of ethical life and decision making” (Ward, 2007). Thus, his view on partiality in journalism is also an eclectic one. Instead of advocating either the principles of partiality or impartiality, he prefers what he calls “mitigated impartialism” (Ward, 2007), meaning that while impartialism is favourable, so is partialism (to some degree) which is a natural human trait. Applied to the issue of patriotism in journalism this means that a claim to patriotism may be legitimate but should not overrule the journalistic principles of truth-seeking and independence. While Ward’s approach seems very practicable and reasonable it is also somewhat weak. Who determines at what point the fine line between enough and too much partiality is crossed?
Platell, A. (2011, October 5). What is it about Amanda Knox that so chills the blood? Mail Online. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2045078/Amanda-Knox-What-Foxy-Knoxy-chills-blood.html
Platell is an Australian born journalist and currently working as a columnist for the online edition of one of Britain’s most popular newspapers, the Daily Mail (Morris, 2008). Writing this article she did not even attempt to assume an impartial stance on Amanda Knox’s recent acquittal. While she states that she does not want to make a statement on whether Knox is guilty of killing Briton Meredith Kercher or not, she then continues by attacking Knox’s personality. The article is opinionated and partial. Platell uses an array of factoids to explain why, in her eyes, there is something "unsettling“ about "Foxy Knoxy“ (Platell, 2011). While Platell’s article is a column and thus can be expected to be a little more partial than other news outlets, it is hard to understand why Platell would have such a harsh and pronounced opinion on Knox’s character. By interpreting facts/factoids that only show one side of the debate and by using nicknames and accusatory language elements, she does exactly what she explicitly denied doing: implying that in her opinion, Knox is guilty and the acquittal is, if not wrong, at least questionable. It is impossible to say why Platell is writing in such a biased manner, patriotic partialism (the murder victim being from the UK, and Platell writing for a UK paper) may be playing into that to some degree.
Povoledo, E. (2011, October 3). Amanda Knox Freed After Appeal in Italian Court. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/world/europe/amanda-knox-defends-herself-in-italian-court.html?_r=1&ref=amandaknox
The Canadian born Povoledo works for the Italian state radio and for the New York Times, covering Italian issues. She brings significant knowledge about the Italian culture and the Italian court system to the topic; but instead of analysing and interpreting the events in court and the acquittal, she merely recounts what happened in court and how people reacted to them. She does not judge; she manages to cover the different aspects of the story equally extensively. This makes her article believable and a source of information that a reader can trust and thus enables the reader to form his/her own opinion about the trial and its outcome. This unbiasedness is intentional; Povoledo even briefly mentions the “role of the media, both local and international, which have been accused of excessive — and often biased — coverage of the case” (Povoledo, 2011) and thus sets herself apart from the mentioned biasedness. The New York Times being widely regarded as a trustworthy news source, this intentional impartiality seems very fitting. In contrast to the above reviewed piece by Amanda Platell this article is not a column but rather a news article and has thus been written with a different approach regarding the degree of analysis and commentary involved.
Alberici, E. (Reporter). (2011, October 4). AM [Radio broadcast]. Sydney, NSW: Australian Broadcasting Company.
The reporting Emma Alberici is the ABC’s Europe correspondent and has twice been nominated for the Walkley awards for journalism (ABC, 2009). She is keeping her report (presumably on-site) about Amanda Knox’s acquittal neutral, stating facts and providing background information. The intermittent segments of the crowd, Amanda Knox or other news readers speaking add diversity to the news report and through the different voices used the listener may perceive an increased objectivity. Alberici manages to achieve a desirably unbiased report of the trial outcome, even though she does briefly touch upon the emotional side of the case by playing a sequence of Italians shouting and complaining against the verdict. Alberici’s voice and tone sound neutral which presumably is helping listeners to perceive the report itself as neutral. This is an advantage that radio has over written media – the voice and tone can be used to add another layer of meaning, for example sarcasm, resentment or joy. While objectivity in news is generally desirable, the ABC has, as the national public broadcaster, additional guidelines and responsibilities regarding impartiality. Alberici adheres to these guidelines and produced an informative report of Knox’s acquittal.
Reference List
Alberici, E. (Reporter). (2011, October 4). AM [Radio broadcast]. Sydney, NSW: Australian Broadcasting Company.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation. (2009). Emma Alberici. Retrieved on October 25, 2011, from http://www.abc.net.au/profiles/content/s2774192.htm?site=news
Morris, S. (2008). My Life in Media: Amanda Platell. Retrieved October 25, 2011, from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/my-life-in-media-amanda-platell-805351.html
Platell, A. (2011, October 5). What is it about Amanda Knox that so chills the blood? Mail Online. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2045078/Amanda-Knox-What-Foxy-Knoxy-chills-blood.html
Povoledo, E. (2011, October 3). Amanda Knox Freed After Appeal in Italian Court. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/world/europe/amanda-knox-defends-herself-in-italian-court.html?_r=1&ref=amandaknox
University of Wisconsin-Madison. (2010). Stephen J. A. Ward. Retrieved on October 24, 2011, from http://ethics.journalism.wisc.edu/conference/third-annual-journalism-ethics-conference/2011-ethics-conference-participants/stephen-j-a-ward/
Ward, S. J. A. (2007). Utility and Impartiality: Being Impartial in a Partial World. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 22(2-3), 151 – 167.
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