Absence of Malice Essay

March 18, 2010
Communication Law Paper Absence of Malice is a movie about Megan, a news reporter who writes an article on a business-owner named Gallagher. Megan conducts a secret investigation of his life and is soon convinced that Gallagher is involved with a murder of a local union leader. The article contained evidence against Gallagher. When Gallagher confronts Megan and sets her straight, they both team together to prove his innocence and get involved romantically among the way. Absence of Malice takes us on a journey through the riveting world of journalism. The movie portrayed Megan as an investigative journalist. This character does many things that go against the journalistic code of ethics. Truth, accuracy, fairness and balance should always be put forth when journalists report and write up stories. Megan did not follow these rules. Megan allowed the facts of a secret investigation to be leaked to her. She then prints a story that contained no attribution about the investigation. The worst part of all is that she became involved with Gallagher, who was the subject of the investigation. No respectable journalist would allow any of this to happen. Absence of Malice touches on ethical issues related to the American press and the abuse of police investigation. From this film, we realized that the media plays a huge role in how people see the world based on what they read or see on television. Gallagher’s reputation was somewhat ruined by the story that was published by Megan. This is a example of a reporter trying to break a story first and not verifying the sources. A true journalist would double check all sources and not worry about who was the first to break the news. There is no way Megan should have been allowed to publish the things she did. It makes people wonder how it got past her editors. I feel that Absence of Malice was in a way a mockery of the journalism field. It was based off the Washington Post reporter who won the Pulitzer Prize but later had to return it because her story was made up. The antics that Megan did in the film Absence of Malice are not only unethical but unbelievable.