The topic of my case study revolves around the issue of invasion of privacy. Although privacy invasion is looked down upon in any context, many other problems arise when privacy invasion is followed by large-scale exposure. The subject of my case study will involve much more than just an individual spreading private information about another person to their friends, it will examine the ethics of media exposing private information. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay The media outlet that will be reviewed is TMZ. In terms of pop culture media, TMZ is arguably the biggest in the world. For many years, they were infamous for being the first media outlet to publish shocking information and, more importantly, the first media outlet to obtain highly sensitive or private information about celebrities or public figures. Medical records, divorce papers, court proceedings and bank statements are just a few examples of the types of documents TMZ is able to obtain and publish on its website to accompany a news article. With the exposure of documents containing information that is not only private within the meaning of the law, but has the potential to cause irreparable harm, the concept of media ethics comes into play. Some questions that need to be asked are: Is it ethical for TMZ to release these documents? Were these documents ethically obtained? Should TMZ be responsible for any possible repercussions from the images? As noted above, while there are many different examples of times when TMZ has apparently crossed into questionable ethical waters, there is one specific case that I would like to present as a primary example. . The situation revolves around the birth of North West, the daughter of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. In June 2013, TMZ published a leaked photo of North West's birth certificate ("Kim Kardashian North West's Baby - Holy Shit, I Don't Have a Middle Name! (BIRTH CERTIFICATE)"). The problem was that West and Kardashian hadn't announced to the public where Kardashian was giving birth, what her daughter's name would be, and that she was even about to give birth. TMZ was the first media outlet to receive and publish this leaked photo, and they even stated as much in the article ("Kim Kardashian's Baby Northwest - Holy Shit, I Don't Have a Middle Name !(BIRTH CERTIFICATE)"). While the ethical question here certainly involves an invasion of privacy, it also involves the possible safety of a minor given that the location of West and Kardashian's daughter was not intended to be made public. First, let's take a look at TMZ's image policy. containing private information. In their privacy policy, TMZ states in their “How We Use Information” section that they will post images containing personally identifiable information, including legal and medical documents (“Privacy Policy). Additionally, the policy states that this applies to any information you wish to submit to TMZ regarding a person or situation. For example, if you have inside information and choose to submit it to TMZ for potential tips, they may include your name as a source. While this would require an entirely separate case study on the ethics around maintaining anonymity, let's stay focused on whether or not TMZ was ethically right to publish the birth certificate.Next, in our ethics review, it's worth noting that TMZ never justifies why. or why they choose not to publish certain images or information. Since the privacy policy is very open, it seems that as a company they don't really have any limits regarding this type of information. TMZ chose not to acknowledge the controversy surrounding the birth certificate release and only quietly removed some of the more controversial information from the post in order, one would assume, to avoid any potential legal consequences. To further confirm that this is a path that TMZ has already taken, I would like to compare this situation to a past situation where TMZ was sued for posting an allegedly "sexualized" video of an "Everything" star. little ones and tiaras” (“TMZ Pulls Down “Child Star Video ‘Toddlers and Tiaras’”). TMZ was sued for posting this video on their site, and instead of releasing a statement regarding the situation, they simply removed some of the content from the article and settled out of court ("TMZ Pulls Down). Child Star Video “Toddlers and Tiaras”” With all of this in mind, it’s still very obvious that TMZ does not operate under strict media ethics guidelines and cares more about the success of its Everything articles. As in the case of the "Toddlers and Tiaras" video, history shows us that the disclosure of private documents, such as medical documents, often leads to legal action by the victim. In Kardashian's case. , it would not have been surprising if she chose to take legal action Another element of the ethical review that should be addressed is whether or not other media outlets publish the same photos as TMZ. It seems that other media outlets, particularly those devoted to pop culture, are choosing not to take the same risks as TMZ. Interestingly, many other media outlets will remove themselves from the article altogether and simply link viewers to the original TMZ article. For example, the New York Times often publishes articles giving viewers very general, non-invasive information about the story. An example of this would be if TMZ was the first to publish a leaked audio recording, and the New York Times chose not to include it in its version of the article ("Celebrity Gossip Website Expands Reach with scoops on the stars of a different Field"). Again, it's important to note that the New York Times made it clear that this was a TMZ story. The reason this is important is because it shows that there is a clear difference in ethical policies between the two media outlets. The final element to consider before using ethical theory to decide whether or not TMZ acted ethically in publishing the birth certificate is the nature of TMZ's sources. Shortly after TMZ published the leaked birth certificate, they published another article revealing that Kardashian's medical records had been inappropriately accessed at the hospital by one or more hospital employees ("Kim Kardashian - I was the victim of surveillance at the hospital). The article goes on to say that the leaked information regarding West and Kardashian's entire situation was leaked to the media by these employees, and that the employees in question were subsequently fired. Given that TMZ was the first media outlet to publish the birth certificate image, it would appear that TMZ is engaging with sources that clearly do not adhere to any strict ethical standards. Putting this together, it would appear that not only does TMZ have loose ethical guidelines when it comes to publishing information.