This is an essay about journalism and the ethical norms of journalism. Four famous cases have been analyzed; Watergate, News of the World, Joy Rahman and Bill Clinton. When analyzing we used the theories of Denis McQuail and the ethical guidelines of the Swedish Journalist Association. We have also used the ideas of utilitarianism to analyze the chosen cases.

We aimed to analyze the roles of the journalists involved and found that the ethical norms are customizable to each and every case. In the Watergate-case the journalists act somewhat in contrast to the ethical guidelines but do so in order to favor the public, which makes it approvable. The journalists at News of the World engaged in hacking the telephones of different individuals in order to be first with news about them and their personal life. The public did not consider this acceptable. Joy Rahman was accused of murder and was sentenced to a lifetime penalty though he claimed to be innocent. A journalist found out about this and made a coverage range about his case. This aroused sympathy among the public, which in the end got him acquitted. Bill Clinton was accused of having a love affair with Monica Lewinsky. Media reported intensively about this. At first Clinton denied it, which made his political opponents (and the public) wonder what else he might be hiding. To summarize our conclusions: in some cases it is acceptable to discard the ethical guidelines in favor of the public interest but you need to be aware of the impact such a publication can have on someone’s personal life.