Media on Media

The recent phone hacking scandal that caused the shutdown of the 168-year old paper, The News of the World in London, has rocked the Western world, especially the United Kingdom and the United States. 

The UK is watching closely to see if this scandal, in which Prime Minister Cameron has found himself in the thick of things with almost amateurish decisions he made with regard to Coulson and Brooks, will be his undoing.  He may not come out of it unscathed, but most feel that after the damage is done, he will survive the crisis. 

Across the ocean, the Americans have called for a Congressional hearing to investigate allegations of phone hacking of family members of 9/11.  The Americans have stringent rules about spying on citizens in the United States, but not of foreigners in the country or Americans and non-Americans in foreign countries. 

The hue and cry in the United States is about protecting the rights of Americans rather than the right to privacy of citizens of the world.  In the days to come, it will be interesting  to see if a “Mediagate” is going to emerge from this, exposing many other media on both sides of the divide that have indulged in this act.  It remains to be seen if the media is going to report the wrongdoings of those in their own profession with the same degree of scrutiny.