The Public’s Right to Know in Media Ethics Vs.The People’s “Obligation to Know” in Hebrew Law

• In Event: Journalism Ethics: Cases and Frameworks

Abstract

This study compares the Western world’s liberal-democratic codes of media ethics, which are based on the precept that the public has the right to know, and the extreme Ultra-Orthodox stand, which holds that it is the public’s duty not to know. It presents a new approach, derived from an analysis of ancient Jewish texts and a study of norms in Jewish communities around the world, that falls between the two, which affirms that the public has a duty rather than a right to know.

Author

• Tsuriel Rashi, Bar Ilan University, Israel